Christmas Past

I am sure that I am just seeing the Christmas of my childhood through rose (or red and green) colored glasses, but I honestly believe that America's view of Christmas has changed so much since I was a child. I just remember it being more about a feeling and not the stuff. Sure, as kids we tore through the Sears Wish Book when it arrived, shrieking with delight at Barbie's Dream home or the gigantic stuffed animals, and commercials during Saturday morning cartoons were certainly meant to make us dream of the latest toy being placed under the tree. But it seems like there was not as much "stuff" as there is now, with the power of internet shopping at our fingertips and stores luring us to buy starting in October. That is just it. As kids, my sister and I waited in anticipation for the department stores in Downtown St. Louis to put up their Christmas window displays. For weeks it seemed, the windows were covered in dull brown paper. Then suddenly, after Thanksgiving a whole winter wonderland was on display. We loved the excitement building up to the unveiling, trying to guess what new dioramas the store would create. Now, by December the displays have been up in the stores for months and they just seem like background noise.
Even with our favorite holiday shows there was not the instant gratification. It was something you had to wait for. They were not on DVD. They did not play weekly on several different cable channels. No. You scoured the week's TV listings to find out when "Year without a Santa Claus" was coming on and you sat, glued to the TV, singing along with Heat Miser, because this was going to be the one time all year that this, your most favorite holiday show, would be on. It was something that was special, just at Christmas time.

We would go Christmas Caroling through the neighborhood, with friends joining us as we made our rounds. I am sure we were totally off key (can anyone sing "Away in the Manger" well?) and at each house ended with a rousing rendition of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." We felt like a merry band of minstrels as we made our way to the houses.

Then there was the tree. In our house, the tree was the crowning glory of Christmas.

                           Wait...why is there a fence around the tree????
 I know it was not for our safety. Yes, mom. I found THIS! Seriously, a 6 month old, in a box, on a sled. Oh sure. I see you added pillows to cushion my fall with the runner sled of death went flying down the hill. How did I make it to adulthood?

Now I understand. Nice try, Mom. I know Liz. Pretty sure she scaled that sucker in 2.3 seconds.

Back to the tree. We always had a "fresh" tree and somehow mom always managed to pick on that was way too tall for the house. We always had to cut a chunk off the bottom and some years we had to string guy wires from the ceiling to keep the sucker from toppling over onto us. The lights were those big bulbs that you had to clip to the tree and would get so hot they would burn you if you brushed up against them. Can you say "Fire Hazard?" Mom loved interesting glass ornaments and would buy a few new ones every year. The crowning glory of the tree was the tinsel. This stuff was the nemesis of my childhood. Liz and I were not allowed to toss it on. We had to "drape" it, one strand at a time. I think she used about 18 lbs of it each Christmas. That stuff is still sparkling up some landfill in Missouri as we speak. When we finally draped on the last strand of tinsel and we turned on the lights and looked at the tree...well, that was some Christmas magic right there and it was all worth it.

Christmas Eve always was a time for family and we listened to Lionel Barrymore read "A Christmas Carol" and read "The Night Before Christmas" before heading up to bed where Liz and I tried to stay up to watch for Santa.

We can never go back to the "good old days", but at times I do miss the simpler Christmas of my childhood. It was more about family and friends, not people fighting over toys or electronics on Black Friday. I am sure that for kids today, Christmas still is "the most magical time of the year", which is how it should be.

On a side note: As I was decorating our tree this year, I found an ornament my mom had bought on our trip to Disney World in 2007. She died three months after that trip and the ornament never hung from her tree. When I pulled the ornament from the tissue paper, a strand of tinsel was wrapped around it. I can only believe it was a little bit of Christmas magic or that my mom is still cursing me with tinsel even after her death. Either way, I love you. Mom and Merry Christmas.