By: Patricia Francis Good
This is no ordinary Christmas story. This is a San Antonio story that could only be told in a city known for it romantic cultural diversity, deeply embedded in the traditions of the Catholic Church.
I am not a Catholic, nor is my family. We grew up Southern Baptist in a quiet little neighborhood where the Catholics out-numbered the Baptists four-to-one. This is not a story about religious philosophies or religious differences, but rather a story about how a sign of faith delivered the true meaning of Christmas between one Catholic family and my Baptist family.
Many years ago, I was visiting my parents when I noticed the lovely Catholic family next door erecting a monument in
their front yard. It was simply an old bathtub that they stood up so that it was sitting erect. Multi-colored Christmas twinkle lights were placed ever so gently around the edges of the tub. And, finally our Catholic neighbors placed a five & ten cent store plastic statue of the Virgin Mary in the center of their newly built shrine.
For years, I passed by the neighbors’ house on my way home to see my parents. And, I always looked over into the neighbor’s adjourning front yard to see if the Virgin Mary was still standing in the upright bathtub, steadfastly keeping her enshrined post. That statue of the Virgin Mary continued to stand watch over our neighbors’ front yard, year after year.
Then, one night, the Virgin Mary statue was stolen from her sacred place in the bathtub shrine, never to be seen again. Our neighbors were poor and didn’t have enough money to purchase another statue of the Virgin Mary, so the bathtub stood empty. This Catholic family was hoping that someday they would find a way to replace their beloved Virgin Mary.
But they never did have enough money to replace her. Years went by with that bathtub shrine standing empty in their yard.
Several years later, on the day before Christmas, I took my nieces out for the afternoon to do some last minute shopping. I didn’t have much money that Christmas. So I took the girls to a 5 & 10 cent store and told them they could buy one item for their Christmas gift. As the girls and I were looking around my eyes caught a glimpse of a plastic Virgin Mary statue standing way up high on the top shelf at the back of the store. It was identical to the statue that
was stolen from our neighbor’s yard.
I remembered how my mother had told me how devastated the Catholic neighbors were when they discovered their Virgin Mary was gone. They had spent their Christmas money on her as an example of their abiding faith and had hopes of keeping her year round for many years to come as a token of their devotion & faith in the Virgin Mary and to God.
I felt the pride they must have felt the day they had placed the Virgin Mary in that bathtub shrine, and before I could change my mind I asked the manager if I could buy that dusty Virgin Mary statue off the top shelf. I am probably the only person who ever kept a receipt for buying a Virgin for a total of $19.99. My nieces helped me dust her off and got her ready for her new home in the neighborhood shrine bathtub that had laid empty for way too long.
Though the statue of the Virgin Mary was only in my possession for a few hours, I saw why the neighbors wanted her close, because that night she helped me, too. It’s a San Antonio tradition to visit one of the many Spanish Mission churches on Christmas Eve for the beautiful mariachis mass performed at midnight. You don’t have to be Catholic to appreciate the beauty of being in an old Spanish Mission, listening to the music of the horns and guitars of the mariachis to understand how people from long ago would gather and worship in such a special place. I was fond of going to midnight Mass at Mission San Jose. Strangely, even though I had attended this midnight mass many years, every single year I lost my way to San Jose! Not this year! With the Virgin Mary sitting in my back seat, I never veered off course
and drove straight to Mission San Jose, never missing a turn!
After the midnight Mass was over, my nieces and I drove over to my family neighborhood. With the Virgin Mary tucked under my arm, I quietly tiptoed over to the neighbor’s front yard. The Virgin Mary statue found her place in the neighbors’ bathtub shrine that early Christmas morning. I swore the girls to secrecy to never tell anyone what we had done. And off we drove with our little secret.
But, later when the sun came up and our Catholic neighbors discovered the Virgin back in the shrine in their front yard, they joyfully ran next door to tell my mother that a Christmas Miracle had happened!! The Virgin Mary had been returned to her rightful place in their front yard shrine.
As usual, our whole family gathered at mom & dad’s house to celebrate later that day for our Christmas dinner. As everyone was seated at the table and even before our dad led us in prayer and my mother read from the Bible, as was our custom, mother said she had an announcement. A Christmas miracle had occurred next door, and even my Baptist family was happy to share the joy of the return of the Virgin Mary to the bathtub next door. I just looked at my nieces and smiled.
You see I don’t think it matters which church you belong to, but that you have a faith that helps you through this life. And if that faith had symbols… like for instance, a bathtub shrine with a statue of the Virgin Mary in it, then maybe that shows just how personal faith really is for each of us. And, the miracle wasn’t that the Virgin miraculously appeared that night, but
that faith, in whatever form it takes, helps us understand what Christmas is all about.
Now, it’s been years & years since that happened. The Virgin Mary remains in the shrine bathtub in the neighbors’ front yard in my old neighborhood. One day, our local newspaper asked readers to submit their favorite Christmas Eve stories. Well, I thought, what could it hurt to enter this story? So, I did.
Days later I got a call from the newspaper. Very excitedly, the woman on the phone told me I had won the Christmas Eve Story Contest and that it would be on the front page on Christmas Day! She also said that I won prize money as well. Oh brother, I thought! Now I’m going to have to confess to my mother before she and the neighbors read about it in the paper!
I drove over to our old neighborhood and told my mom to sit down because I had something to tell her. I confessed everything – that I bought the Virgin Mary and that I had secretly, under the cover of night, put the statue into the neighbor’s bathtub shrine that Christmas morning. My mother’s reaction was priceless. She said before the father of the family next door died, on his deathbed, he begged his family and friends to finally admit who had returned the Virgin. But he got no response from anyone. I said, “I bet he knows now, mom! And, the rest of the family will know tomorrow because my story is going to be on the front page of the paper!” Next, still baffled by this news, she said, “But, you didn’t even know them!” I told her I always felt sorry for them when they lost such a meaningful representation of their faith. So, when I saw that Virgin up on the top shelf of the store, I knew I just had to buy it for them. I didn’t think it mattered who or how that statue got into their front yard. And, I wanted to give the next door neighbors the prize money I received for winning. And, since my mother knew them well, I asked my mom to go next door (without me, please!!) and tell them about the article that would be published this Christmas Day and give them the prize money. Thankfully, she agreed.
I learned later from my mother that when she went next door and told the family that it was her daughter, Pat who had returned the Virgin to their Bathtub Shrine, they were also stunned. And then, she told them about the article that would be published in the newspaper and finally, she gave them the prize money. What I didn’t know was this family, without their father, was struggling financially. The prize money became their Christmas money that year…. well, I call it their “Virgin Mary Miracle Money” since I think she had a lot to do with it!
Pat Good’s Cheese Christmas Trees
Ingredients Tree Base:
- 2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
- 4 cups (16 oz.) shredded sharp cheddar cheese 1/4-cup milk
- 1 envelope Ranch Salad Dressing mix
- 2 (disposable) aluminum Christmas tree pans
Ingredients Decorations:
- 1 cup of chopped parsley
- 2 jars of chopped pimento
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Directions:
- Combine all ingredients (except the parsley, pimento, and pecans) and mix well.
- Spray two aluminum throw away Christmas tree pans with Pam and layer the bottom of the pan with the parsley, nuts and pimento.
- Take half of the cheese mixture & press into each of the pans. Cover with wax paper or put into zip lock bags.
- Chill or freeze for 8 hours.
- Invert pans and pop out cheese trees; let them come to room temperature before serving with an assortment of crackers.
INSPIRATION:
