So today we begin taking down the decorations. I have always had a difficult time with this. It means the season really is over. Since I was very young this has always been a very special magical time for me. I think it probably came from my parents. My Mom and Dad always made Christmas a big deal. My Dad’s parents were dead before my sisters and I were really aware of them and my Mom’s mother was pretty old when we were growing up. My parents had lived thru the depression and my dad made it thru WWII in the Pacific, so when they could, they always made the holiday special for us. I think I believed in Santa Claus until I was in 3rd, or maybe even 4rth grade. When my mother told me I didn’t believe her. I still wanted the magic.
My wife and I always tried to make Christmas special for our kids. They really had just us. My parents and my wife’s mother were dead. Her father had remarried and was much more focused on his own life than his grandchildren. I don’t think this was much different than a lot of other people our age, The National Lampoon “Christmas Vacation” movie would always get brought up by our kids as symbolic of our generation. I guess it was.
November was always the month I dreaded. The grey rainy cold days seemed to go on forever. I would get up in the dark and come home in the dark and couldn’t wait to go to sleep. Then miraculously Thanksgiving would come and the world changed. Sleep was no longer important and I really wouldn’t sleep well until mid January.
Suddenly I began to think about putting up outside lights and decorations. When we first moved into our home, our next door neighbor and I would have a contest to see who could get the lights up first. This somewhat stopped when he ran off with his secretary, but I still put lights up. I always wanted one of those blow-up inflatable creatures to put on the front lawn, but my wife always over ruled me. She would always get a little nervous when I got the lights out and worried that I would fall off a ladder, be electrocuted, or bankrupt us with my elaborate plans.
After the lights were up it was time to begin shopping. I hate shopping!!! The Internet has been a godsend, but in the old days you actually had to go into the stores. Homeland Security could use Toys-R-Us as an interrogation center. It gets crazier as the season progresses. The craziest thing I ever saw didn’t happen in Toys-R-Us, but in Best Buy. My sons wanted a new game console. I think it was the Sega system. It was a very hot toy that Christmas and all the stores were out. Best Buy put out an ad that they had a limited amount and would sell first come, first serve. Their store would open at 8:00AM and I got there at 6:00. There were already 15-20 people there before me. We all waited until the store opened and then made a mad dash for the games. I was able to get one, but there was a mob scene behind me. I heard a yell and looked around just as a large black woman slugged a woman who had gotten the last Sega. The police had to be called and I thankfully got out of there with my prize before there were any more problems.
Another of my shopping adventures involved shopping for my wife. Most husbands have difficulty with this. If you go to any of the malls between 12/23-12/24, you will see many guys walking around with kind of a dazed panic look on their faces. One year my wife said she wanted some comfortable sweat pants. I shopped and shopped and thought I had finally found just the right pair for her. She opened the gift and said that of course they would be comfortable since they were maternity sweats, but since she had had a hysterectomy a year before she didn’t think she would wear them. Since then I have always tried to buy her something shiny for Christmas. It also now helps that she gives me a rather specific list.
The food at Christmas is also a problem. Every family has food traditions. Ours usually involved 20 lbs of sugar. I think some of the mood swings that occur at the end of Christmas are related to sugar withdrawal. I try to make everything last as long as possible. I have even been known to hide Christmas candy until St. Patrick’s Day. Since my sons have grown and left you would think this would stop, but my manic behavior continues. I would always rationalize my behavior by thinking that this could be the last Christmas. This probably came from the relatively early death of my parents, or maybe I just never really grew up and Christmas is one of the times I can still be a child who still believes in Santa Claus. I still see the benefit in this. I now see the same look in my 4 y/o grandson’s eyes. A sense of wonder and magic is one of the ways we become aware of the beauty of life. As this season ends I will put away my childish things, but I will keep holding on to my childish ways—
Merry Christmas