I know it’s been a while. It was not my intention to keep my readers hanging for the next post. Too many other things came up, including a job transfer, school events for the kids, and other little things that have kept me exhausted and away from the keyboard.
Those things have also kept me from something else. Decorating the house so it can be seen from outer space. I’m nowhere near the people who burn out the power grid lighting up their house – I would like to be – but my salary won’t allow it. I had my Christmas tree up pretty much on time, just after Thanksgiving. The outside of the house got decorated a week late because of a wedding I attended. Now I find myself trying to place the 4 or 5 crates of indoor Christmas decorations all over the house. I don’t think it’s all getting put up this year. Unfortunately.
It’s too bad that Christmas just doesn’t hold the same amount of excitement as it did when I was 10 years old. We all go through that though. Now we get the thrill out of making it memorable for our children. Something that sticks out in my mind from when I was younger, was that you had one chance to catch the Christmas Specials on television, or else you had to wait an entire year to see them again. If I didn’t catch Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer on CBS, I was screwed. Frosty, same thing. If I ever missed A Charlie Brown Christmas, I don’t know if I could concentrate for the next 364 days.
One thing I remember though. I never missed a Christmas special. At least, I don’t remember ever missing one. I was always told by one of my parents when it would be on, and I would be ready, already in my pajamas, when the show started. We didn’t have programming guides on the TV back then. We used a book which had a chart in it and looked like this:
Now this is a more modern version of the insert that came with every Sunday newspaper. I’ll try to find one from the 80’s but right now this will have to do.
I don’t know what it is about Christmas that stirs up memories. Maybe it’s the musty smell of the Christmas tree box. It could be the special ornaments that you only see for about a month a year. The joy in finding a new decoration in a store that reminds of you of a decoration you had in your house as a kid.
The one thing I can’t seem to recreate? The feeling of anticipation on Christmas Eve. The desire for that new toy. The eagerness to open the next present even though it’s your brother’s turn to open one.
I can’t get that feeling back. I can however, watch my children experience that feeling. And that’s okay with me.