As the season progresses and we enter the coming Christmas season I tend to reflect back onto my life and those times past. This season more than any finds me wandering into those times. Perhaps that is a reflection of happy times and a different age, at least in my life, an age of innocence.
When it was announced a few weeks ago that the singer Andy Williams had died, it somehow severed a link for me to a time long ago. Now, I'm not really an Andy Williams fan. He was a good singer and I grew up in a time of rising hopes as the world war was over and people were looking to the future. Christmas was transitioning to a time of prosperity for many and with the advent (no pun intended) for wide-spread television, the season was having an impact like nothing before. It was monumental, and he was a big part of that with his television show and Christmas specials.
This Christmas coming isn't really mine any longer. I will still have the memories and the good times but it seems more to me that it is now the purview of my children and grand-children. It is their memories and how they perceive this holiday that becomes the focal point. My Christmas memories still harken back to the days of my four siblings diving beneath a pile of spent Christmas wrapping paper for a picture by 32EM with my Sainted Parents looking on.
May the coming season be joyous to all.
Ramblings of a 60 Year Old Man - My thoughts on just about anything, in no particular order; Robert Thomas - author.
I bow to all of you when it comes to the grandchildren, but I agree that the season has definitely shifted to the kids memories. I sneaks up on you, and I don't think I would have thought of it without reading this blog - so, good call!
ReplyDeleteI miss the wrapping paper picture, and it has never successfully transitioned to my house. We do,however, do things that the kids talk about: the church's angel tree, the gumdrop tree, cookies, cocoa and carrots with greens for Santa and the reindeer, as well as cinnamon rolls for breakfast followed by a ham dinner. Somethings translate and some don't, but the memories are ever precious!
We continue the gumdrop tree tradition, just without Aunt Lil. Any gifts left under the tree that are not from us must, of course, be from Santa, and he uses only Santa wrapping paper, and puts just a person's first initial or two (in case of duplicate letters in the family) somewhere on the wrapping paper. It can be a trick to find which person gets which gift.
ReplyDeleteI find that when I am asked what I want for Christmas, I tend to go with dining-out gift cards; a free meal for me and no more junk collecting dust and taking up room. It greatly simplifies things.
I keep asking for a front sidewalk - it'll happen!
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