Christmas Past; Christmas Present!!  Probably the first Christmas, that I can remember was about around my sixth or seventh.  It was one of those Christmas' that I received a doll baby and it is the only one that I can ever remember getting.  She was about 14 to 16 inches tall and was made of some kind of hard stuff that when you touched her with your tongue, she tasted kind of salty. She had long hair that over the years became matted and her eyes opened and closed. She was very special to me and she was around for along time.  I have no idea what ultimately happened to her.

 

One of the next Christmas' I received a metal doll house.  It was two story, kind of like the house I am living in now, and I got furniture for every room.  I did not have any dolls that went with it, but I cut out figures from the catalogs and used them as people in my doll house. As I got older I am sure  that I received some other toys but soon they were replaced by such things as a radio or a watch or even a set of luggage.  I always got one or two pieces of new clothing  and maybe a pair of boots.  Christmas's then were nothing like they are now.  At school we had Christmas plays and learned to sing all of the Christmas carols. Usually we presented a Christmas concert with a live nativity scene and all of us playing the part of the Sheppard or wise men or even Mary or Joseph.  Our teachers always helped us make a card and maybe a gift for our parents.  I remember making a pot holder and one year I made a log that had a hole in it that I could put a candle in and decorated it with pine and holly.  We always  made decorations for the house and tree and the one I remember most were the paper chains and the snow flakes.  The school was an important part of our holiday celebration.  At  home we helped our mother decorate the house  and helped her bake cookies.  Food was a big part of our celebration and we were expected to help prepare it as we got older. Every time I see a chocolate drop filled with cream, I think of Christmas and the uncle that always brought, what seemed to me at least a ten  pound box of these drops. 

 

Early on, Christmas  Eve was spent at my grandmother's in North View and as we got older the celebration moved to our home.  We were taken to midnight mass.  Then after opening our presents, always on Christmas morning, we had Christmas dinner at our home. I remember vividly hanging stockings and although we did not have a chimney, Mom always found some place to hang them..  They were mostly filled with fruit and candy. I have such wonderful memories of Christmas' spent in our house in East View. Some of my memories are eating lupines with my father and enjoying a sip of anisette as a toast to the birth of baby Jesus.  Pomegranates were also a special part of our traditions. These itmes were available only at Christmas time.

 

Christmas "present" is now a holiday where a lot of traditions have fallen to the wayside.  We seem to be a society that shares more with those less fortunate than we are.  I am sure there are very few home made gifts or cards.  We probably will not find any paper chains or snow flakes on our fashionable trees and I venture to say that there will not be any child that will receive just a doll or a doll house. Most of us will be handing out cards with money or gift cards in them and there might be a gift or two to open.  Even most of the wrapped gift boxes have gone by the wayside.  Now we stuff the gifts into a pretty gift bag. A lot of us will still go to midnight mass and a lot of us will have the traditional Christmas Eve fish dinner. We still will follow the tradition of baking as a family and gathering for the traditional Christmas dinner.  There are some of us who will opt to go out for dinner thinking that this will be even better than gathering at Mom's house and we will say "just as long as we are together."  Is this right or wrong?  I do  not have the answer for I think I have come from the best of both worlds. I remember with fondness the celebrations of my childhood and I can appreciate the melding of them with new traditions.

 

I guess the important part is to remember the "reason" for the season and to  keep the celebration of Christ's birthday in our hearts. Some one will have to take the responsibility of teaching our young children how to celebrate, for at some point in their lives these customs will come back to them. Surely we do not want to rob them of all the celebrations we learned as young children.

We must all remember to share at this time of year and to train ourselves to be gracious receivers.

 

Let the spirit fill your  heart and pass it on to your family and friends.  As one songwriter said "this is the most wonderful time of they year" and another said "why can't every day be like Christmas day?"

 

A very Merry Christmas to you and your family from Dave and me.

 

Keep in touch and until next week "Now You Have Heard It Through The Grapevine."