Red Bluff Daily News Special Publications
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/21718
4A Saturday, December 18, 2010 Red Bluff Daily News Toby with Santa Merry Christmas Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! On Christmas Eve 2004 we left Los Molinos, CA to go to Woodland, CA about two hours south from where we live now. We were celebrating Christmas with our very large family. Because of the large amount of gifts that we were taking for our family we had to tavel in our pick up truck. Earlier that day it had started to sprinkle and my husband was worried the presents would get wet. He found a large box to put the presents in and tied them in to the back of our truck. We were so squeezed in that we looked like the Beverly hillbillies! We had 3 large pizzas under the seats, my daughters’ gift to the family, and food containers on our laps. When we got there the box was so big we had to leave it by the front door. Along comes my brother Harold, the mischievous one, who decides to get inside and pull down the flaps so he couldn’t be seen. Then every time anyone rang the door bell, he would jump up throw his hands up in the air and yell out Merry Christmas Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! People were so surprised they would laugh. When we found out what he was doing we snuck around the garage and proceeded to take pictures and laugh. At one point he stuck a bow on his head and at anoth- er he decided to take a picture of us taking a picture of him! He had his sisters laughing so hard that we had to hold each other up to keep from falling! That night he set the atmosphere for Christmas! Everyone walked into the house with a huge smile on their face asking, what was that! Someone would answer its Harold! It’s just Harold! Come in and eat we have tamales, fried chick- en and even the best pizza! We had so much fun that night! We have always referred to it as the Christmas that we had Harold in the box! Sadly my brother passed away this last February. He didn’t have gifts to give out that night, but he taught us the real meaning of Christmas. Which was to enjoy each other, the life god has given us, laughter and how to celebrate god sending us his only begotten son to save the world. This Christmas eve after I put out the cookies for Santa and the star on the tree I will also put a large box outside my front door. So when all over the world we hear merry Christmas Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! We will rejoice and understand gods’ true gift of everlasting life. Story By Harold’s sister, Vangie Zamora Submitted by Darbie Gutierrez “Snowball the ornament”