Best. Gift. Ever.
Southern Maryland readers and newsmakers recall their most memorable holiday presents
Just after Thanksgiving, we asked our readers to think about Christmases past. We asked folks to recall the best gift they ever received. Also, our staff writers in Southern Maryland posed that question to a handful of newsmakers in our area. So here are treasured memories of treasured Christmas presents. Enjoy.
‘Cliffmas’ tree helps family deal with grief
In September 2010 the celebration of Christmas changed drastically for me and my family with the sudden death of our 22-year-old son, Cliff. Christmas would never be the same for our family.
However, it was that Christmas, in 2010, we received the best gift ever from dear friends. They gave us a ‘Cliffmas’ tree.
The tree was decorated with memories of our son. This tree has kept the joy of our son, Cliff, and Christmas peace in our home. Donna Retzlaff of Hughesville, Spring Dell Center executive director
Christmas Eve 1980, we received the best Christmas gift ever.
On the Friday before Christmas, my wife, Robbie, and I received a call from our social worker asking us to come to her office the following Monday. She said she needed to see us immediately. Her urgency led us to suspect they had a child for us.
We met Monday and had our newborn son, Jason, on Christmas Eve. Best Christmas ever.
We had over 100 relatives, friends, neighbors and coworkers visit over two days. We had waited years, but had to be ready within a couple of days.
Four years later, we received a similar call in January and we got our
newborn daughter, Sarah, near my birthday. Robert Wells of Waldorf
Documenting with a gift
I am an observer by nature. As a child I was a “watcher,” watching people, nature, things, weather, “the world go by,” so to speak.
The Christmas of 1981 I realized there was a wonderful way to document my “watchings” — on film. I received my first “good” camera, a Minolta SRT 201. Yes, it had an automatic setting, but that was not for me. I was determined, or at least passionate about, helping the world see itself through my lens.
I began taking pictures that Christmas — blurry ones at first, but they became more focused and more pleasing to the eye the more I practiced. As the fascination with my new camera grew I read the manual, experimented with aperture settings and film speeds, but mostly I just looked through the lens and shot what I loved.
That same year I lost both of my paternal grandparents to death, the following year my sister graduated from high school and I from college, two years later my mom lost her battle with lung cancer and died as well — nine days before Christmas. All of these milestones are clearly and lovingly documented in my photographs.
My Minolta lay dormant for a few years after that — life does that sometimes — but when I began my own family I picked it up again. Who wouldn’t, right? I had two beautiful daughters who needed a “history” on film.
All through their growing up years I chronicled with my camera – every triumph and heartbreak and every family adventure (and we had many), and everyday life as well.
In 2010 my father had the stroke that would take his life — at Christmas time, of course. As my sister and I and our husbands sorted and boxed his things, I found a wonderful connection. Among the many
items my father collected and possessed there they were — cameras of every shape and size, from many different eras.
An unknown passion passed on from a father to his daughter, and I am ever so grateful. Kimberly (Whitley) Bongiorni of La Plata
Skate time
My favorite Christmas gift was roller skates. They were from Santa Claus, when I was about 12 or 13 years old. It was a surprise to get the skates for Christmas; my parents always kept one present back from all of us, my two younger sisters, my brother and I, didn’t know that they were holding them back, and they would bring them out when we were done opening everything and thought that was the end of it, so it was always a surprise.
I used to go skating with my aunts, who were two to four years older than me, at the skating rink on the base in Indian Head because my dad, my grandmother and a few of my other relatives worked on base. It used to be open in the summertime from around Memorial Day to Labor Day. I always had to rent skates there, so I really wanted my own skates. Jeanie Kenlon, fleet inventory specialist with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office
‘We got it all’
My husband, Marvin Rozier, and I met in the ninth grade and we got married two years after we graduated, and we’re still together. He’s my best friend.
He comes from a family of seven siblings. Everyone died from cancer at a young age except for him and his younger sister. He even lost his twin brother. It’s been really rough in his family.
He was diagnosed with colon cancer on Nov. 3, 2013. The surgeon removed the entire colon because she didn’t want it to come back. It was major surgery. We almost lost him.
He was in the hospital for about a month and he came home with the colostomy bag. Had the cancer not all been removed, he would have had to keep that bag.
On Dec. 23, we got a call from his surgeon saying, “He can have his other surgery to remove the colostomy bag, we got it all.” He’s been fine since then. So that’s why it was best Christmas present. I couldn’t ask for anything better. Jennifer Rozier, receptionist at the Charles County government building
Working for a surprise
When I was about 8 or 9 years old I got a Sega Genesis gaming console for Christmas. The reason why it was so special is because about three to four months before Christmas my mom worked so much overtime at her job, just so she could make sure that I would get the gift that I wanted.
Watching how hard she worked for it made the gift more special to me and I did not know why she was working so much at the time. I really did not think there was any way I was getting a gift like that for Christmas that year. It was a surprise to open it up; I had no idea. Al Davis with the Charles County Detention Center
Saving J.C.
My best Christmas gift was not one found under the tree wrapped in pretty paper and bows. In fact, my best gift was one I had already received over two decades ago, but Christmas Day 2012 gave that gift a whole new meaning. My life changed that Christmas when my husband went into sudden cardiac arrest and his heart stopped at home. Quick thinking by my daughter and friend to perform CPR, and the dedication of first responders put him on the path to a positive outcome.
I am so thankful, as is my husband, that God put the best of the best every step of the way for him that night. From Mr. Bean with Valley Lee Advanced Life Support to Shawn Davidson and his wonderful dad leaving their Christmas dinner to take the call for the Lexington Park Volunteer Rescue Squad, their kindness and sacrifice will never be forgotten. Thank you to every doctor and nurse at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital who didn’t give up when his heart stopped again and the amazing flight crew who attended to him during his flight to Washington, D.C. Because of all of you, Jay is alive and well today.
Christmas for us has always been about faith and family, but that Christmas renewed my love and appreciation for both. The flight medic told us months later that he still couldn’t believe he flew a man with the initials J.C. out of St. Mary’s on Christmas. Needless to say, having my husband on Christmas and every day is my best gift ever. Happy fifth birthday, Jay Copen. Stephanie Copen of Callaway
Finding the joy of Christmas
Gazing through little eyes of a child in 1954, I saw in the midst of trains, dolls and trucks in a Christmas store window was a bride doll. Oh my! I knew at once what I was going to ask Santa for at Garner’s and Schaffer’s Store.
Ax in hand, Daddy remarks he was going to our grandparents’ farm for a Christmas tree. Joyful excitement was in the air. It was a signal for Mommy to get the decorations from the attic. She bundled us up, and off we went on a hunt for the perfect tree.
We walked in Daddy’s footprints along a hedge path on a blanket of snow under tall pines. Oh how are cheeks did glow. The perfect cedar tree found, Daddy cut it down to the ground. Cedar-essence filled the air, a bird nest was cradled between branches.
Dusk spread over the fields. I recited an old English nursery rhyme — “Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight.”
Mommy made and hung a wreath of crowsfoot on the front door that Uncle David had gathered. The tree fit just right, out of reach of the playpen of baby brother, Shelly. We decorated it in an unorganized sort of way — it’s all about the tinsel.
Smell of snow was in the air, as we left for our traditional Christmas Eve candlelight service at St. George’s Episcopal Church.
Aroused Christmas morning at first light by anticipation and excitement. My little eyes beheld a beautiful walking bride doll underneath the Christmas tree. I was overwhelmed. I cradled her to my heart with tender care, saying, “Wishes really do come true,” and went back to bed to await the family to awake to share the joy of Christmas. Eleanor Strickland of Great Mills
‘It’s been a little while’
Peggy Yorkshire knows what’s most important to be grateful for, but she does have fond memories of a Christmas gift she received as a child.
“Other than our health ... it would probably be my first bike. That’s something you don’t forget,” Yorkshire, a Longview Beach resident, said at the St. Mary’s courthouse in Leonardtown during a break from her job as a daytime porter.
Yorkshire, now 65, was growing up at Harper’s Corner Road in Mechanicsville, with her parents and two older sisters, when she and her middle sister, a grade apart at what was then Mother Catherine Spalding School, both asked for, and received, bicycles.
“I didn’t see a sign [of it] ... until Christmas morning,” she said. “When I woke up, I think it was in the living room where the tree was. It was all put together, and ready to go.”
The identical blue-and-silver bikes had three-gear shifters and brakes on the handlebars, and also came with instructions from the girls’ parents on where they could ride them — in the yard around their home.
“We weren’t supposed to ride them on the road,” she said. “We took them on the road one day to my neighbor’s house. We were coming home, and our father caught us. He was watching us the whole time. He really scolded us.”
Her parents were just concerned for their children’s safety.
“Now we know,” she said. “We didn’t realize that, back in the day.”
And decades later, thinking about that bicycle gave Yorkshire an idea.
“I wouldn’t mind having a second one,” she said, acknowledging her riding skills might need some refreshing. “It’s been a little while.” By staff writer John Wharton
A late night surprise
On one Christmas Eve, Barbara Thompson, who was at the time 4 or 5 years old, got sick to her stomach and got up during the middle of the night. That’s when she saw the gray doll carriage sitting in the shadows of the Christmas tree illuminated by street light that came in from the window at her home in New Jersey.
“I always remember waking up and seeing that doll carriage by the tree,” Thompson said, noting that image may be the reason why she thinks of the carriage as the best Christmas gift she ever received.
Thompson, the first woman to be elected as a St. Mary’s County commissioner in 1990, said at one time she thought she was not interested in having a family or children.
When thinking back, it amuses her that she wanted to be “a career girl,” even though she used to play with dolls all the time. By staff writer Dandan Zou
‘So great to be home’
At 70 years old, Randy Guy recalls a lot of pleasant Christmas memories. The Christmas of 2014 was memorable for him because he was elected as the president of the St. Mary’s County commissioners earlier that month, defeating a twoterm incumbent.
“But in the military, coming home for Christmas was a big thing,” he said.
Guy served 26 years in the Air Force, including serving for a year in the Vietnam War as a flight loadmaster. So the Christmas of 1968 stands out in his mind.
“For me, just to come back alive to be with my family in Ridge, Maryland,” he said, was most important as tens of thousands of Americans died in Vietnam.
“That was a grateful time. Not everyone realizes the danger of where I was at the time,” he said, even though he and his crew were airborne for most of his missions.
In April 1968, Guy ordered a brand-new Pontiac GTO through an overseas car-buying program.
He paid $2,900 cash for his first new car from Bill Cairns’ Pontiac dealership on Great Mills Road.
“I didn’t see it until I got to Lexington Park,” on his way home to his parents’ store and home in Ridge in December, Guy said. The car was adorned with “Welcome home, Randy” across it.
Guy was 21 at the time, and it would be one of the last holidays he spent with his father, Malcolm “Mockey” Guy, who died the following year on Dec. 26, 1969. The Guys lived on the second floor of the family business, Guy’s Hideaway Bar at the corner of Route 5 and Wynne Road in Ridge. The building is no longer there.
That Christmas of 1968 “was one Christmas that I definitely enjoyed,” Guy said. “For me, it was just so great to be home.” By staff writer Jason Babcock
Photographing memories
St. Mary’s school board member Mary Washington said sharing the holidays with friends and family are the best Christmas presents.
“You can’t wrap it in paper or put a price tag on it,” she said, adding that she enjoyed being able to give to others. “It’s such a good, rewarding feeling.”
Washington said spending time together during the holidays is important because “you may not know if it’s your last time or their last time” to see each other and take a multitude of photos.
“You know, eventually people are like ‘stop taking those photos,’ or ‘that’s enough photos,’” she said.
Washington said her niece, a student at the Baltimore School of Performing Arts, was killed in a car accident “of no fault of her own” the summer before her senior year. She was 17 at the time, Washington said.
The board member said photos taken the Christmas before are “the last Christmas photos we’ll be able to take of her. She was beautiful.” By staff writer Jacqui Atkielski
The gift of forgiveness
Calvert County Commissioner Steve Weems recalled a Christmas where the gift of forgiveness was the best gift of all.
“I was 5 years old. I was very excited and in my excitement I ended up jumping off the couch into the Christmas tree to give it a hug and the tree flipped over,” Weems (R) said. “My father was on the couch. He didn’t react at all.”
Weems said that his father, whom he described as stoic and back then not a patient nor understanding man, was stunned yet forgiving of the younger Weems for leaping into the live tree. The family was able to upright the tree.
Now some four decades later, Weems says his wife picks the tree. As to whether he still hugs his family’s Christmas tree, Weems responded, “Yes, delicately, after everyone goes to sleep.” By staff writer Tamara Ward
A giving gift
Jean Fleming, director of Calvert Hospice, said the most memorable Christmas gift was one she received more through giving. Her sister died in 1983 at the age of 42, leaving behind two young daughters. Each year, Fleming’s father paid for the girls to attend the family Christmas gathering in Cleveland, Ohio.
But by 1991, his funds were running low from caring for his ailing wife for years. Fleming had a feeling this was true, so she sent the necessary money to her father so her nieces could visit for Christmas.
“I was in a position that I was able to pay for the girls to come. It was great because it was one of the last times they were able to see their grandmother,” Fleming said.
In all her years, Fleming said she can’t recall a physical gift that stuck out to her as much as being able to bring her family together that Christmas 26 years ago.
“It’s the relationships you really remember,” she said. By staff writer Sarah Fallin
‘Such a tight family’
For Dfc. Andre Mitchell of the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, his most memorable Christmas gift was being able to take in his mother and younger sister in 2014 after the death of his father.
Mitchell was a Calvert County resident working at the sheriff’s office when his father died in 2010 at the age of 46. Four years later on Christmas his mother, Caroline, and sister, Kadesha, moved in with him, something he will never forget.
“For me, having my family together and being able to look out that Christmas morning at them was my most important or best Christmas gift for me. My son was also born in April of that year and this is my mom’s only grandchild. The fact that I was able to take my mom and sister in and we’re still such a tight family is something I will always cherish,” Mitchell reminisced.
Mitchell’s family still resides in Lusby with his wife, Joy, and their son, Paxton. By staff writer Andrew Cephas