Thinking About Christmas
Here comes Christmas once again! This is the season for comfort and joy? As the holiday approaches our world (personal lives) becomes more hectic. The capitalistic pigs have us pegged! They have commercialized Christmas, invaded our lives, and have us in a frantic fury. There is so much to do before the big day that perhaps for most of us the best part of the holiday is when it’s over. The kids want everything the media proclaims they must have, and that accounts for all most every item on the market. I once made the mistake of sitting down with my son a few weeks before Christmas with a Sears and Roebuck catalog asking him to show me what he wanted for Christmas. Just for fun I used a calculator and added the cost of all the items he wanted. The total $28,374 dollars, and at the time he was only four. That was back in 1987 and money was worth a lot more back then. Parents have to interrogate their children forcefully to elicit which toys or things it is they want most. This is not an easy parental task. Have you ever tried to interrogate a kid? They could drive a CIA interrogator to insanity. And, if that’s not enough, once you have figured out what a child wants the most, they have changed their mind. Parents should be blessed as saints for all they must put up with this time of year. Perhaps, I have spoken erroneously here, it might be we are receiving the just payback for the stress we inflicted on our parents. After all, history repeats itself and we are creatures of habit. Then there’s the school or church play. A joy to parents who get the chance to watch their child perform. But, the real melodrama occurs before the play when teaching the child to remember the lines. The child is most likely hyperactive in expectation of Christmas day, and can’t stay focused on their script. When the day of the performance arrives the child is eager and ready until that frightful moment of stepping onto the stage and seeing all those people staring in anticipation. The child stands as if frozen in time and cannot remember the lines. A little coaching is required by either a parent or teacher to get the child through the play. Oh well, most parents aren’t looking forward to having their children choose a career in acting anyway. Let’s not forget the shopping that must be done and the ritual hiding of the gifts. Where, oh where to hide the presents when the little miscreants are probing and searching all about the house. Well, this part also most likely applies to the spouse, and if the spouse is seen rummaging around by the kids, this lays down a good example for them to follow. This makes me question if we ever really grow up, at least when it comes to Christmas. Yes, I’ll admit I am guilty, and have given in to the temptation of hunting and seeking out the hiding places of my Christmas gifts. But, then I am a big kid so there’s the exception. Last is all the grocery shopping, baking, and little fingers snitching. Ah, but to remember the days when mom and grandma baked for days at a time in preparation for the holiday. Swiping cookies and all sorts of goodies seemed to be almost expected. Why if you didn’t mom and grandma would be disappointed and think that you weren’t fond of their cooking. Though, when caught, they did feel obligated to reprimand. I remember my mother chasing me out of the kitchen swinging the broom at me. The straw end of course not the handle. Grandma would make a game out of seeing if I was fast enough to lift off a cookie before she swatted my hand with the spatula. I lost. We don’t do much of this any more the bakery at the grocery store almost makes baking at home obsolete. For most of us our lives have become much too chaotic to bake, besides most moms now work a full time job and I doubt if these days many moms can make cookies from scratch. But I’ll lay bets that the little ones are still snitching cookies and goodies. Through all the changes in our lives from the past to the present I am amazed that people still seem to have the Christmas spirit. I guess it goes to show that there is hope for humanity yet. Merry Christmas, |