Christmas in the 1960s usually meant a trip to Needs Creek, Arkansas (just north of Conway) to visit Uncle Alton and Aunt Mildred.

We didn’t have a bunch of gifts. Sometimes we wondered if my Dad’s 1963 Ford Galaxie would make it there without adding a quart or two of oil.

Uncle Alton and Aunt Mildred loved kids but they never had any of their own. Their nephews, my four brothers and I, were their surrogate children at Christmas.

We awoke with a country breakfast with scrambled eggs, country sausage, fresh homemade biscuits with gravy and coffee. Aunt Mildred was a great cook and she made us cakes and pies. Uncle Alton bought gallons of ice cream and we made Coca Cola floats.

On Christmas Day, we got dressed up and went to the service at Needs Creek Missionary Baptist Church (and cemetery). Everyone knew our folks and we were so welcome. After the service, all the men (including Dad and Uncle Alton) gathered on the steps to smoke a cigarette. Most of them had fought in World War II and smoking was a habit they couldn’t (or didn’t want to) break. These were all kind, Christian men who loved their families and their homes.

Uncle Alton took us crappie fishing. We watched the Andy Williams Christmas Special together on TV and it was about as good as you could hope.

When our kids came along, money was tight. We always had a Christmas tree and decorations but many times, the gifts turned out to be clothes.

It helps to have loving grandparents and our kids sure did. My grandparents were all born in the last 1800s and long gone by the time I was grown.

But my wife Susan’s parents, the Rev. George and Martha Campbell, were able to watch our kids grow up.

The problem was that we lived in Tulsa and they lived in Concord, North Carolina, and then Winter Park, Florida (in Orlando).

We tried to go to Concord as much as possible. For several years, they lived in a three-story parsonage next door to Southern Presbyterian Church where he was pastor.

They weren’t rich by any means but they were so generous with gifts for our kids. Besides our daughter and two sons, they had only one other grandchild. Sometimes we would meet them in Florida thanks to Martha’s late mother.

Spending Christmas in North Carolina was special and being in Florida for Christmas was extraordinary. (The only thing is that it doesn’t seem like Christmas when everyone is wearing shorts and T-shirts and you have to use your car air conditioner.)

Thanks to the support of our subscribers and advertisers and God’s blessing, we were able to take our family on a Christmas cruise in the Caribbean in two of the past four years.

It was very gratifying to have us all together (mostly) for a full week. We ate together. We played Trivial Pursuit (we won twice) and we took excursions together.

When people hear we were on a Carnival cruise, they think it was a drunken madhouse. That hasn’t been our experience. Sure, there are passengers who get drunk but actually that is less of a problem than on a three- or four-night cruise where some people try to stay up and drunk for 72 or 96 hours.

And on both of the Christmas cruises on Carnival, there was a wonderful Christian program on Christmas morning. People dressed nicely. We sang Christmas hymns and a lay person gave a message that included the Gospel. It was warm and inspiring.

We wanted to go on a Christmas cruise this year but the cruises were all canceled due to the Chinese coronavirus pandemic.

We considered a trip to Florida to perhaps go to Disney World in Orlando. But the chances of contracting the coronavirus in Florida – especially in crowded airports and theme parks – seemed a little too risky. And it is very expensive.

So, we are driving to Branson around Christmas time. We have rented a four-bedroom condo and most of our kids – including our grandson, 1, and granddaughter – will be with us. We all went to Branson for a few days several years ago and that was a lot of fun.

George and Martha now live in Tulsa in a retirement center and won’t make the trip but we plan on sharing parts of Christmas with them. They get to see more of our family in Tulsa than they did in Florida.

Our church, First Baptist of Broken Arrow, is having a Christmas Celebration concert at 8:39 a.m., 9:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. on Sunday, December 13. Grady Nichols is the guest artist and I guarantee it will be a great time.

Our Sunday School class refused to cancel our annual Christmas party (with about 16 people) and we got together at someone’s home on December 4.

It is my hope and prayer that those not fortunate to have family and friends to gather with at Christmas will some how find the joy of Christmas and the true meaning in a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.