I looked around the little house that was a single car garage converted to what they would now call a tiny house. It was small but was a palace for grandma. She often said it was the nicest “house” that she had ever lived in. As I went through her home, everything I could touch or see made me remember her. I remember a rocking chair that had a special table where she played Solitaire for hours at a time. She and I played Rummy and I often let her win as she had let me win when I was just a small girl.
Since it was Christmas time when she died, gifts were wrapped and ready for the big day. Though her pension was very small, she managed to buy or make everyone something for Christmas every year. Opening the freezer door brought tears as well as a smile to my face. Since she was known for her Christmas Noodles, she had made and frozen noodles for Christmas gifts.
I found her tattered flannel shirt hanging on the hook on the back of the door. The familiar blue plaid was well worn and carried the fragrance of her as I remembered our last goodbye hug. I buried my tear-stained face into the familiar and remembered how she was always cold.
Everything brought back memories and thoughts of who this precious woman had always been to me, but none made an impact on me as the small book that was turned to the current date and bible story beside her small bed. Though myself and my family were not believers at that time, I knew my grandma, Mary Helen Camp, was up to date with her Lord and in heaven waiting for us to get there. I wish I knew what it said. It would mean so much to me now to read what she had pondered in her final days. What scripture she had gone to bed thinking about? How did Jesus greet this child of His as she moved from a tiny house to the mansion He had been preparing for her? Did she attend the Great Banquet? Hopefully, the featured dish was grandma’s Christmas noodles as it was for our family gatherings? Oh, to taste those noodles again!
But more so, I long to be fed by the Words of our God this year as we celebrate this Christmas season and remember blessings from the past. I pray those who come after me will find evidence of my love for my Lord and remember MY Christmas Noodles!
“In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you, because I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:2 ASV)
Jeanie Nihiser