Christmas of '73
I will never forget the Christmas of 1973. I was nineteen and a bride of barely six months, living in Alamogordo, New Mexico. I was so homesick and anxious for Christmas to come so that my husband, Joe, and I could go home to Bear Creek, NC to see family and friends for the holidays. My Air Force husband would take leave and it would be the best Christmas ever!
I was devastated when my husband's leave was cancelled about a week before Christmas. We sadly went to the commissary and spent our life savings on a turkey and planned to cook it on Christmas day.
Then, just in time, we got a Christmas miracle. Joe was allowed to take leave after all. We happily put that turkey in the oven to cook and started packing for the trip home. We took a cooler with a loaf of bread, a jar of mayonnaise, and turkey. We had over two thousand miles to travel which took three whole days. Try to imagine three days of eating turkey sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The night we arrived home we went straight to my mother's house where she was cooking beef stew and cornbread. Sheer Heaven! We knew it really would be the best Christmas ever.
That was a little over forty-four years ago. To this very day I won't eat a turkey sandwich.