Happy Chanukah To All My Friends & Relatives Who Celebrate this Holiday! Have a Fun & Joyous Holiday!
Merry Christmas and wishes for a Very Happy New Year ! to those that celebrate the Christian Holidays.
This special time of the year brings so many fond memories of growing up into mind. It seems that as I sit here thinking of..... days gone by..... tears of joy seems to wet these old eyes.
I remember vagely, that some time in my life ....I really did believe............there was a Santa. Growing up Christmas day was celebrated. Many years later (after being married to a Swede Christmas Eve was the celebrated day, as done in Europe) Perhaps it was because they are nine hour ahead of us in time.???
Prior to that day and usually well after Thanksgiving, I would see some signs of the holiday with stores being decorated, people rushing around buying presents but in my mind this was just for those people that did not celebrate the way, we did. I did have an inclination, at that time, that there was a little connection with a religous holiday but...........wasn't quite sure.............and just didn't care. Just get me my wish list present..
Sure, I remember seeing fathers out and about before Christmas.........decorating their houses....getting Christmas trees decorated, putting presents under the tree before Christmas day.... but this was just because Santa had so much to do in one night................all over the whole world.............and especially at my house......that these guys were just helping him out. At our house, decorations outside the house, inside the house, tree decorating, presents under the tree all .... miraculously appeared on Christmas day........The little food left for Santa and his reindeer was left on a plate on the table after Christmas eve dinner and cookies and milk for the reindeer left by the front door..........on a TV table. WHA LA !! the dish was cleaned the next morning. Along with that, there were a few lights on the outside of the house, usually around the front door...since we had no fireplace. The tree appeared in the same spot every year decorated to the hilt, presents under the tree, the smell and sounds of the coffee peculator, bacon and eggs and hot rolls all seemed to appear from nowhere. (Mom would put spices and food incense in the oven, turn the oven on so the smell would seem fresh .......and real). I never realized that at that time of my life, my mom and dad probably worked their tail off after I was in bed trying to make this whole thing as SANTA reality. Little did I know.............and for that matter cared............that on the way home from work, my dad probably visited the Christmas tree lot........"that had closed for the day"...........to pick up a left over tree (but it was still the most beautiful tree I had seen) had the lights layed out and checked and just had to be put on those little hooks that seemed to be around the door......'all year round.'.........and I thought Santa did all this!!!! Mom had cleverly hidden the presents under the beds, in closets and where ever she could think of, ready to come out. If there was snow, my dad would go outside and use this stick with a knob at the bottom of it to make it look like reindeer track along side Santa's size 11 boot tracks. Did I really care if these tracks reflected that reindeer had six legs and walked .....along side Santa instead of in front of him............and where the hell was the sled marks???? and for some reason the tracks mysteriously stopped 5 or 6 foot from the front door as if they were helicoptered in........and who gave them the key to the door?????but I didn't think about this stuff back then, I just wanted to know what was in all those packages under the tree!!! If it didn't snow, of course there were no tracks.......but there was no sign that they had been inside the house.....except for all the cookies being gone.............without the sign of crumbs!!!!! That was just a job saver for dad. Guess, it was about the time that I turned 8 or 9 that I had heard from some.......know it all kid....that this was just a bunch of............you know what!!!! Santa did not come and do all this work and stuff............for me!! what a crushing blow!!!!. Then on the other hand...........what did I care.......just give me my presents. What a brat!!!!
I should have realized that something was up. On Christmas day.................just a few hours after the greatest morning of the year, we would pack up all those ..................left over packages.........that had been left at our house........ by mistake ..........for my cousins and head first to church and then to Grandma and Grandpa's house where everyone met for Christmas lunch and exchange gifts. How could Santa make so many mistakes with leaving presents all over ........by mistake???? but who cares!!!!!
It was such a fun time of life.......growing up and having the imagination of whatever you wanted to believe in. Something as this to bring families so close, even for this little time. Sometime down the road, reality would set in and now it was my time to portray this to my kids and now I have watched my kids pass.........some of this on...........in a bigger way. In those days gone by...... things seemed so simple, so real .............Times have changed !!!!!!
Now, it's your time to sit back and reminisce...............about days gone by.
PEACE ON EARTH.......GOODWILL TOWARDS MAN
TREAT OTHERS AS YOU WISH TO BE TREATED!!!!! Good wishes Goodnight!
