Helen Keller's First Christmas

Wood, paint and metal collage by Judith Hannah Weiss

Most of us are aging -- no, all of us are aging.  We’ve had adventures, romances, disasters, sometimes all at once. We’ve embarked on journeys we loved, and journeys we may have regretted.  We’ve been too cool, not cool at all, not in control, too controlling.  We have quit high-end wrapping and now just stuff gifts in bags.  We are glad to be alive especially when surrounded by the scent of pine, orange and clove.

Which brings us to Helen Keller and Christmas. In 1891, when Helen was 19 months old, she contracted a high fever that left her deaf, blind, and unable to speak. Her first six Christmases had been dark silent days, like all days were for her. In her seventh year, light arrived in the form of Annie Sullivan, whom Helen called Teacher. Words arrived too, tapped into hands – as did the first Christmas Helen could comprehend.

Through tapping, she discovered that trees “grew” in parlors in December.  Helen loved collecting and preparing “orange and lemon peel, citron, nuts, apples, currants and raisins” to make fruitcakes with the family at Christmastime.  To her, these cakes were “miracles.” Helen wrote, “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.” We might all remember that on holy days — and every day — of the year.