As I sit here writing this blog for Christmas, it just amazes me that another holiday season is here and that another end to a year is once again upon us. I know I have asked this before, but “Where does the time go?” And, as you know, this year has also definitely been one to dismantle, sever and destroy. With the pandemic currently in full strength, mask-wearing, TP shortages, hand sanitizer use, opening and closing of businesses with job losses, this year, I would clearly say, has been placed in the category of “one to remember”…without a doubt! Most might also say that this has been, “A crappy year,” or might even say it’s, “One to forget.” However, in light of everything that has happened this year and claiming myself to be an “eternal optimist,” I have to admit that, “I still got it.”
I’m sure you all may be thinking right now, “Oh no! What glory day story are we about to hear?” But I will save you the agony and head in another direction.
We normally would put our Christmas tree up around Thanksgiving so we, as my Mom used to say, “Could enjoy the Christmas season.” I must say, it was definitely fun to enjoy the tree for a little over a month, but I totally understand now why we completed decorating the tree at that time. With eight kids and an unknown amount of work to still be completed within the next month and in time for the “big day,” I’m sure my Mom and Dad needed every bit of time they had in order to make the magic of Christmas happen without worrying about another thing to do. It was always so dreamlike and surreal how my parents made it happen so beautifully and perfectly each and every year.
To this day, not only do I still put my tree up around the Thanksgiving holiday, but I also like to carry on some of the other family traditions that we used to do that would make the season so picture-perfect…so magical.
The smell of apples and cinnamon was an ever-present aroma in our home during the Christmas season. As a young boy and with my Mom’s kettle on the stove, I always knew that the gentle jingling and jangling of the kettle’s lid created from the simmering of the potpourri contained with the container only meant that the Christmas season was near.
I also remember that there were times when the prominent smell of apples and cinnamon were superimposed with baked goods. Everything from cookies, homemade rolls, pumpkin pie, and turkey in the oven somehow enhanced the delight at that time of year.
Funny how other traditions, from a beautifully lit tree, to lights on the exterior of the home, snow quietly falling outside, snowmen in the front yard, “stockings hung by the chimney with care,” a crackling warm fire, Christmas tree festivals, a soothing and comforting cup of hot chocolate or warm cider, leaving a letter for Santa with cookies and milk on Christmas Eve, can all bring such feelings of longing and nostalgia.
Do you remember when you were young and how Christmas Eve and that night made you feel? It’s interesting to me how you’d think that as you age, where I am no longer the “tiny tot” I once was, that it would make it easier to sleep instead of finding it “harder to sleep” on Christmas Eve.
“Why is this?” I had to ask myself.
My role as a receiver and the excitement that was generated as a young boy has now turned into a giver. It’s a new type of enthusiasm and fervor that now keeps me up at night…the anticipation of a phone call from or to family and friends…the experience of watching children on Christmas morn finding out if they were “naughty or nice”...the happiness in simply seeing others receive the gifts you bestow or by simply being with family. Those are now the things that cause the restless night and have become my greatest gifts.
So what did I mean when I said, “I still got it?” you may ask?
It’s definitely not the baseball arm I used to have or the ability to run for miles and barely be winded, but that IT is the one same thing that makes the Christmas season so magical…so memorable…so fun. It’s the same thing that also made Scrooge realize what a miserable old miser he was and what made the Grinch’s heart grow ”three sizes that day”…so when I say, “I got it!” It’s the Christmas Spirit that I still got and will always have! Have you still got it?
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!!!
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