Remembering Christmas

Christmas was always a wonderful time for us.  We frequently spent Christmas with parents or other relatives.  Sometimes we would spend Christmas with a family that wished to share the holidays in a special with some of the children.  We enjoyed parties and outings sponsored by various fraternities and sororities from area universities.  We enjoyed these as much for the events as for any presents we might have been given.  We held Christmas plays and participated in caroling.  Our chapel had a large nativity scene to the left of the sanctuary area.  This added a wonderful atmosphere to special services.

        But my most special memory was looking out the window next to my bed.  From the window I could see the tower for WRAL television station in the distance.   Each year they covered the tower with Christmas lights and placed a large bright star at the top.  This was a wonderful sight that I looked for each year.  It marked the official beginning of the season.       

Hide and Seek

If you can imagine from the pictures of the orphanage there would be hundreds of hiding places.  One of our favorite games on summer evenings was Hide and Seek.  Home base was a large magnolia tree located in area in front of the main building or a large tree located in the grotto. The grotto was a grassy area located between the main building front stairs and the chapel.  The nuns watching over us would sit there enjoying the evening while we played the game.  Whoever was “it” would count while the rest of us hid.  Since there were so many hiding places we had to certain areas off limits or we would never find someone.  As it was the games would go quite a while. 

One night I remember finding the best hiding place ever.  As the counter began I was planning to hide behind the wall of the grotto where there rock wall.  The wall had a space behind it next to the main building.  One of the sisters motioned for me to sit down beside her.  She quickly threw her habit over me completely hiding me.  Imagine the surprise of the counter when up I popped right in front of home base.  Of course, after that no one else could use that trick for hiding.