Growing Up in Williamsport, Ohio

For Unto Us a Child is Born
 
We lived next door to the Christian Church parsonage. We didn’t go to church though my mother was a righteous person. There was no cursing, lying or drinking in our house. She never did laundry on Sunday and was careful not to offend our pastoral neighbors. However, in the forties and early fifties, all of the stores were closed on Sunday with the exception of a Jewish store in Circleville. It was a peaceful time. Sometimes my Dad took us for a ride (to be discussed later) or company came for Sunday dinner. 
 
We still got one newspaper on Sunday, which our whole family read. My Dad liked certain sections and the rest of us had our favorite parts which we sometimes argued over who got what and in what pecking order that we got them. Jean and I often argued over the comics. I liked the Word Scramble and the Tab section of the Columbus Dispatch. Our family always read the newspapers….every one of us. We got the Columbus Dispatch, The Citizen Journal, The Circleville Herald and the Williamsport News (once a week).
 
We always had books. Every Christmas my mother bought at least one book for my sister Betty and me. When I was six or seven years old, she bought us a Bible story book for Christmas. As I read the Christmas story about the birth of Jesus for the first time, I knew there was a God and felt His presence. Though I didn’t become a Christian until I was fifteen, that year a Chlld was born in my heart.
 
May you sense God’s presence and His Son Jesus be born in your heart this Christmas too!
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©Marilyn Francis Ferguson 2019
Photography/graphics by Michele Ferguson Schuck