March is my least favorite month and I seldom enjoy my River until April. Seems the “Ides of March” hit me in the eye too often and the weather usually brings extreme patterns. The wind bothers me the most. So March is when I reach into my bag of memories and pull out the golden nuggets I have stored during the holiday season. It’s sorta like all that extra candy you got then and stored away in the kitchen and dining cabinets until you could gently ease it into your diet without feeling guilty.

     Each golden nugget I pull from my bag seems to bring a ray of sunshine until our sunny spring days arrive. Let me share with you some of my nuggets of December. Actually, I started collecting them on November 30th at the beautiful “Christmas in Kinsale” with all its shiny lights, memories, love, laughter, singing and music filling the air. My spiritual children, The Matt Church family, of Chester, came the first Sunday of December for Christmas and “Mother” Florence put several golden nuggets in her bag. At my Garden Club Christmas Party, which took place at Stratford Harbor Clubhouse, I put a special nugget in my bag while having a great time with my friends. The nugget was my inspiration, which always comes from my friend, Naomi. The next day, Dec. 12, at my “Homeplace” luncheon a special friend brought me an amaryllis bulb in a pot and I sat it in my sunny bay window. How miraculous that by January 7 two tall stalks had grown up with eight large red blooms bursting forth with beauty to fill the dining room, kitchen and my heart.

     I collected several lovely nuggets at a beautiful Christmas Party Baby Shower at a cousin’s home, in Montross, and a special one when our Church Youth portrayed “The Christmas Story” with the play “The Other Wiseman” at Cople Parish. During the lovely family dining at the home of Captain and Mrs. Bill Jenkins, in Reedville, I sat in the living room with my four siblings chatting as my two sister-in-laws and niece prepared the meal in the kitchen. I thought of how the ten of us had become five and I must handle this nugget carefully before another Christmas.

     That evening at Coles Point Church the inspiring Christmas Pageant, under the excellent direction of our Pastor’s wife, Barbara, and her helpers, brought a nugget that was shiny and new and one I had never collected before. I hold it tightly on these cold March days.

     My new god-niece, Kim, now in the U.S. Army, came home on Christmas Eve to watch me open my gifts and to take me to Richmond for my most precious nugget of Christmas. My dear Mom Grace, of Richmond, who has been a mother to about 1400 girls, has been very ill and I didn’t expect to see her alive again. With a heavy heart I knocked on the door of her little home off Monument Avenue thinking to leave a note and gift for someone to take to the hospital if she was conscious. A smiling 87 year old Grace, looking lovely, opened the door for her little girl ambassador, Florence. I held back the tears as I placed this nugget in my bag. 

     Spending Christmas Eve and Day with my grandniece and her two precious girls, in Richmond, brought other lovely nuggets. My favorite was her four-year-old coming early to my bed to hug me “Good Morning” before she even checked out Santa’s gifts and the large pile under the tree. There were many other golden nuggets along the holiday trail as my Christmas Day ended with a lovely family dining, in Lyells, with brother, Doug, and his precious family. One of my favorite gifts was a lovely choir doll dressed in blue and when you touch her heart she sings Jesus Loves the Little Children. It was given by a special nephew and my heart is grateful to all who touched my heart with their love. In March I remember and who knows? I just might walk outside now and find a golden spring day bathing me with warmth and beauty.

© 2002 Florence Jenkins Muse All Rights Reserved
Florence Jenkins Muse can be contacted via email at