Based on the lives of Orson James Richins and Mary Emma (Richins) Patten
Mary tucked the children in bed and sighed. It had been a hard year. A year ago, they had moved to Arizona by horse and wagon. The journey was hard enough with the small children, but a wrong turn out of Las Vegas had turned the 6-week journey into three months. Long days of traveling and food shortages had tested their young family. Mary had done her best to feed her family with rabbits from the desert, dutch oven biscuits and watery gravy, but by the end, food was extremely scarce. Even a puddle of water left by the rain was considered a gift.
Mary had not complained during the journey, and not even her family had known that she had endured all these trials while expecting their next baby, who arrived a few months after moving to Duncan, Arizona. Her husband, Cohn, had returned to Mesa to retrieve some of their belongings. Mary smiled to herself as she remembered her brother, Orson James, coming to get her when she had arrived in Hachita, New Mexico. Orson had arrived in a buggy to move Mary and the children and he was a sight for sore eyes.
Orson was only a few months older than Mary, and when Mary’s own mother had passed on, Orson’s mother took the children in to raise as her own. Orson and Mary had become close since they were so near in age, and others often mistook them for twins because they were together so much. Mary always thought of Orson as her guardian angel, and once again, Orson was rescuing her. As a child, she had fallen into a tank of water and Orson had pulled her out. Another time she had fallen into a barrel half full of swill, and it was Orson who had rescued her.
It was there in Orson and Edna’s home that little Lurline was born, a darling little red-haired baby girl. Mary stroked the hair of her other four daughters, Maybeth, Nelda, Thelma and June, and her only son, L.A. – short for Lachoneus. How sweet they looked as they lay there, trying hard to go to sleep. Mary had told them to go to bed early so Santa could come. They had dressed excitedly in their nightclothes and piled into bed. Mary sighed again. She hoped she had not built up the excitement for Christmas too much, knowing how very little she had to offer her children. Mary could endure many hardships herself, but it was much harder to watch her children suffer.
A loud knock at the door startled them all. The children sat up tall, anxiously looking at the door.
“Alright there, hush now. I wonder who’s at the door.” Mary walked quickly to the door, just as curious as the children.
“Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!” came Santa’s jolly cry. Santa walked in with a pack slung over his back.
Mary gasped in surprise and put a hand over her mouth in delight as she recognized dear Orson who resembled Santa Claus. The children’s reactions were even better. Little LA was jumping on the bed, squealing in delight, and June had run to Santa and thrown her arms around his legs with Thelma not far behind. Nelda and Maybeth grinned from ear to ear, their eyes locked on Santa’s bulging bag slung over his back.
“Have you been good little girls and boy?” Santa asked with a cheerful smile.
“Oh yes!” they all replied in unison.
Mary smiled, tears slipping down her cheeks, which she hurriedly wiped away. Santa winked at Mary and focused his attention on the children.
“I am glad to hear it,” Santa said, as he pulled out a gift and handed it to Thelma. “This is for you.” Santa continued to pull out a small gift and hand it to each child, tousling each one’s hair or giving them a hug.
“Here’s some candy Mrs. Claus made for you, too. Put the gifts under the tree and you can open your gift and eat your candy tomorrow. And if you go back to bed, I will be back to leave more toys.”
The children scurried to place their gifts under the tree and get back in their beds.
Mary smiled gratefully at Orson. He had figuratively pulled her out of the water tank again tonight.
Maybeth pushed the curtain aside and peeked out the window. “He is riding away on a big white horse.” Mary guided her back to her bed and tucked her in once more with a kiss on the cheek.
As part of tradition, on Christmas morning, the children woke early with excitement to see what Santa had left for them. And following tradition, Mary said, “Let me light the fire in the heater and I will peek to see if Santa has been here.” The heater had been prepared with paper and wood ready to light. Mary would tiptoe into the room with the tree and say in surprise, “Santa has been here. You can get up now.” Then Mary looked for each child’s gift. “Oh look what Santa brought L.A.”
When each of the children had opened their gifts and eaten their candy, Mary gathered her children around her. “It wasn’t easy for Santa to come see you last night. He had to cross the swollen Gila River to get to our house, but he did it for you.”
The children all agreed that Santa’s visit was the highlight of their Christmas. Mary agreed, but she knew it was her guardian angel’s visit that had been the highlight of her Christmas.
