December 26, 2017
I heard a bird sing in the dark of December.
A magical thing and sweet to remember.
- Oliver Herford
The ghosts of Christmas past kept me awake last night. They came to remind me of how very blessed I've been in my life and how life changes.
The ghost of Christmas present was absent and no wonder. We didn't have our traditional Christmas.
The ghosts of Christmas future are pouting because we're not buying into their little Ponzi scheme.
We had a remarkably quiet Christmas. My partner's parents are gone, as is my father. My mother has Alzheimer's and is in a care facility. My partner isn't all that close to his children due to geography. For the first time ever we had Christmas dinner for just the two of us.
We could have gone next door to my cousin's home. We had the invitation and I would have enjoyed sitting at their table, but we decided quiet would be a good thing for us at this juncture. Perhaps, I very much hope, the invitation will be extended again next year.
Our gift to each other is parked outside. Christmas came in September when we got the new-to-us Silverado. We each pulled a couple grand out of our individual slush funds for that and so neither of us felt the need for additional gifting this calendar year. As for Deuce, his toy basket is overflowing and since he got a few gift cards it will stay that way for months.
I used to wonder at my grandmother and mother's waning interest in all the trappings of the holiday season. I understand it now. The amount of Christmas decorating I want to do decreases every year. As decorations become tattered they are not replaced. Not even the ghosts of Christmas past can make me sad about that.
It's the way of things. The world changes. The need for extravagances is dwindling, at least among those in my circle. My cousins and his siblings all seem to be embracing a simpler lifestyle. I proclaim it to be a good thing as it is not a reflection of dwindling resources but a philosophical shift. It seems to me that as I mature the real heart of Christmas is more evident. It's the people around us, not the stuff.
The ghosts of Christmas past are fine visitors but it is the ghosts of the future that pique my interest. The signs are there. The shapes of those imaginings of new memories are changing.
It feels like a good thing.
KC Kendricks
www.kckendricks.com
December 6, 2014
There's something that strikes me as very wrong about putting up my Christmas tree.
I used to love, love, love to decorate for the Advent and Christmas seasons. The day after Thanksgiving was Decorating Day. Box after box after box of decorations were pulled from storage and chaos did ensue.
First on the list - Aunt Jane's bells. Always. Then it was time to hang the tinsel and balls around the great room. Even today the tiny tacks remain in the crown moulding. Hook the tinsel on the tack, hang the red ball, and move on to the next tack until tinsel adorned the room. Forty-four tacks holding forty-four balls. The (almost) first to go up and the last to come down.
After the tinsel, anything could happen. Maybe the reindeer herd migrated in or perhaps the elves and snowmen arrived before the deer. Candles and shiny baubles appeared. Snowflakes on almost invisible thread danced in the bow window. And then it was time to go get the tree.
Acquiring the perfect tree was a Big Deal in my family. My parents never bought a tree at the first place they stopped. It was more like the sixth or seventh place. A few of those places weren't about the trees, though. It was about the people selling the trees, namely farmers my dad went to school with. Anyway, we'd get a tree and take it home, and I carried on the tradition when I built my house thirty-odd years ago. Back to my story....
Setting the tree had to be done before sunset then the lights were put on after it got dark. Never forget to check the strings of lights BEFORE you put them on the tree. All the lights and lamps were turned off for this step so you could make sure the bulbs were spaced correctly. Stringing the light brought out the fragrance of the pine. Oh, how I love the smell of fresh pine!!!
After the lights were on and working, every light in the room was turned on and the balls were hung. I'm not much for ornaments. I like balls. (Oh, don't go THERE.) The star topper went on, following by many, many, many balls. Then the whole tree was smothered in sliver icicles. When the tree is finished, all the room lights were turned off and we sat oohing and ahhing at the lighted tree.
The room was finished and it was beautiful.
But then the world turned, time marched on, and the spousal unit prevailed.
Just the idea of wrestling a box with a pre-lit artificial tree through the attic hatch and plugging it in sucks all the joy out of Christmas decorating. Why bother?
And that's my take on decorating for Christmas 2014.
Unless he agrees to get me a real tree. TODAY.
KC
http://www.kckendricks.com
December 26, 2017
