Rural Heritage December 2025/January 2026

the students. Each boy got an electric train, and every girl got a tea set. I had a friend ask me not too long ago if I remembered that Christmas. He told me how much that train set meant to him, and that he still had it tucked away in an attic somewhere. I look back on that Christmas, and maybe I don't still have the train set to remember, but I do remember my grandparents and how much they cared about me. I also remember how they cared about others and did what they could to brighten the lives of those less fortunate. The next Christmas that comes to mind, I'd have to jump ahead four or five years. I must have been about 10, maybe 11 at the most. My sister and I were now living with our dad and new stepmother in Ohio. Through an odd twist that is amazing to me now –

because I know people and understand grudges and spite – our stepmother still had a good relationship with her former in-laws from her first marriage. Apparently, when she had divorced their son, they chose to keep her in the family, and from what I could gather, they let go the son. At any rate, they accepted us into the family as well, despite the fact that we were the children of their son's replacement. We were told we could call them Grandma and Grandpa, and I feel they were as good to us as a kid could expect grandparents to be. Grandma Parcher loved to bake, and she did a lot of volunteer work. She spent a lot of time volunteering for the local fire department. The Christmas that comes to mind, she and our stepmother spent several days baking cookies and making candy for

December 2025/January 2026

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