My favorite Christmas tree ornament made it onto the tree again this year. I took a new photo of it this year, and as you can see, the old glass Santa is holding its own. Though the colors have nearly completely faded and is pretty thoroughly worn out, there’s still a bit of color left in the old boy.
I can’t say it’s a pretty ornament, and it would be perfectly sensible to quit putting it on the tree, but it’s been on every one of my trees from childhood to present day. Even before that, it was on my grandparents’ tree. I’m guessing it’s well over 100 years old.
Every year, our memories of the past fade a bit, and every year, the colors of that ornament fade a bit too, but their never completely gone. One of these years, it’s going to break or disintegrate completely into dust, but that will be ok. It’s just a symbol. It isn’t necessary to have that symbol to keep the memories.
In the same way, it’s not necessary to have any of the usual trappings to have a truly happy Christmas. My Christmas memories revolve around
Its faded colors and worn appearance are not that of a “Jolly Old Elf.” Instead, it seems to embody the spirit of Christmases of the past. It has observed my Christmases over the years and all the changes that have taken place, too.
My most vivid memories are of my mom cooking way too much food and baking far too many cookies. I also remember watching “Dracula” with Bela Lugosi, which WGN played every Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve, we always went out to my grandparents’ house in Herscher. For years, my aunt gave me a silver dollar, wrapped in a small box.
Speaking of gifts, I barely remember most of them. I don’t remember wanting any advertising driven “must-have” gift, but I also have no memory of ever being disappointed with my gifts. I remember at least a couple years receiving a flashlight. One was kind of L-shaped and military green. I thought it was the best thing ever. Does anyone else remember loving flashlights as a child?
We always had a warm house, and we always had enough food. Two things that, as a child, I assumed everyone had. Two things that I later came to understand were luxuries to a lot of children -too many children -did not and do not have. Although it wasn’t always warm feelings between my parents -as the years passed they grew apart and ultimately split apart, they did their best to make Christmas as cheery as they could.
As time passes, people come into our lives and others go out of our lives. We started out as five. Mom, Dad, my sister Mary, my brother Jim and me. Mary was the first to pass out of our lives, at age 40. Then my dad in 2004, and my mom in 2019. My sister had three children though, and now they have children of their own. And my brother has two children and a couple of grand-kids too. As a consequence, everybody cannot be in one place at Christmas, but we get together the weekend prior.
Change is inevitable; we can’t control it or stop it. But, we can control how it affects us. My childhood Christmases were a bit hectic. Between orchestrated merriment and having to go to relatives’ houses, and church, too, there wasn’t a lot of time for quiet reflection.
Media is flooded with movies, images and messages that can make one feel that a proper Christmas is supposed to be a breathtaking combination of “A Christmas Story,” “White Christmas,” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It is easy to have the mindset that anything short of that is a failure.
In reality, those idyllic Christmases we think “everyone else” is having are usually far from idyllic. I like my quiet peaceful Christmas holiday. It’s taken me almost my entire life to get to this point, and I’m liking it very much.
Christmas, it seems, is like a glowing candle: Some years, it glows brighter and happier than others, but it is always glowing with the spirit of Christmas, nonetheless.
May you all keep the holiday spirit with a happy heart this season, and may you be blessed with a great New Year.
Michael J. Cleary
Publisher
Farmers Weekly Review
