Christmas as we know comes but once a year. It is a very good thing that it is so limited. Just imagine if it came every month. We’d all be blithering idiots.
OK, some of us are anyhow, but a monthly Christmas would enlarge the group. One of the problems is that it seems that it becomes more commercial every year.
The original purpose (come on you know) seems to be forgotten. It is a very important Someone’s birthday. Now just because the Three Wise Men brought Him some gifts does not necessarily mean that we should be giving gifts to everyone we think should be so rewarded.
However, the plain fact is that we do. The Blonde in the house and I are no different. We also send out a slew of cards with some going to people that we only hear from at this time of the year. Of course, it is good to hear from these people, and it does bring back memories some of which lay half hidden in our memory banks. Perhaps, for that reason alone, it is good to keep in touch with people at least once a year. Memories are a part of our existence. Now, if you could just remember the good ones and forget the bad ones, it would be even better.
The Blonde and I have many memories of Christmas. Most of them are good even though our parents had little money. They still managed to make Christmas a nice day and we received gifts that we loved. We did the same with our kids even though at the beginning of our marriage our funds were limited. Sometimes I imagine my parents at least got a little exasperated when they spent money carefully on what we asked for, and then we did not use them. I recall one Christmas in particular when I about six and had asked for a wood burning set.
Today, they would probably not let stores sell wood burning sets. (I know somebody will now tell me that they just bought one for their grandchild. Heaven help the grand-kid). The set consisted of wooden images which you were directed to bring to life by the use of a very hot point on a stylus that you plugged into an electric outlet. As I said the point was very very hot, and the first time I tried it I burned my finger severely. It raised quite a blister and I would have nothing to do with the set after that.
The same thing occurred when I was about 13 and asked for some skis. My parents got me skis. Just skis, no poles and definitely no shoes – I used the one pair that I had with goulashes (remember them?). We lived in Western Pennsylvania at the time. There was a small hill nearby. It had snowed, so I took my skis to the top of the hill. I tried about ten times with my longest attempt being about eight feet. The rest of the time I spent digging myself out of the snow. I put the skis in the garage, and I have no idea what happened to them after that.
Those were “bad” memories – sort of. There were plenty of good ones. There were trains, bikes, board games, Lincoln logs, even a Red Ryder BB gun (and I never shot my eye out). Most of them involved stuff that you could do with friends – mostly outside. I had no idea that we were so deprived as there were no video or hand held games. I am happy that our grand-kids are not so deprived. Well, perhaps not that happy!
As we go through the season in a cheerful giving mood, it might not be all that harmful to recall that it is Someone’s birthday that we celebrate.
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com