Christmas '07

Christmas is almost here.....well, tomorrow being Christmas Eve which is a pretty special day all by itself...
I’ve been trying to recall Christmas’ past but my seventy year old memory kind’a runs them all together.....they’re all special but, there’s a je ne sais quoi quality about them that makes it difficult to pull them apart and remember them separately.
Oh, there are moments that I recall clearly...like the first time I ever went to Midnite Mass.....Vic and Marvin and I walked the bridge and went to the service at the cathedral in Portsmouth. It was in Latin, of course, and we didn’t understand a word they said.....or all the standing and kneeling, the rituals of the Catholic church. It was all foreign to three Kentucky boys. Afterward, we walked home thru the cold night, across the bridge toward the dark hills of home.
There was the time in ‘49 when Pop was in Lexington. He was laid off from the N&W and had taken a temp job with the C&O. He wasn’t going to be able to make it home for Christmas. He’d work Christmas Eve and had to be at work the day after Christmas and it was a long way back then. Little two lane roads that twisted and turned thru the hills. It was freezing cold and blowing snow and not an easy drive in good weather.
I was twelve years old and knew about the Santa myth and I stayed up after my brothers were in bed to help my Mother put the presents under the tree. I remember it well as the last Christmas I got a ‘kid’ present. We were just finishing, about 11:30, and I remarked to Mom that it sure wasn’t gonna feel like Christmas without Dad when we heard a thumping on the front porch and the door opened and Dad walked in brushing the snow off and wearing an enormous grin. I think that’s when my belief in Santa was reborn and I’ve managed to keep it all these years.
Christmas is much bigger and flashier these days. ‘Way more commercial. Some stores had Christmas stuff for sale before Thanksgiving. And the TV commercials...
O my! Avoid the rush! Buy now! More presents under the trees. Heck, the tree alone prob’ly costs more than most people spent on Christmas back then.
Yeah, Christmas is bigger and fancier and costs a lot more money today but it ain’t any more fun. The simple truth of Christmas is that no matter how hard we try, no matter how we secularize it, it’s basically a birthday celebration and for children of any age, it’s still the most special time of year.
Merry Christmas everyone.......