A Few of My Favorite Things

This is an update on a previous entry. This time of year always sets me to thinking about what I like best ... and least ... about the Christmas season. Some old thoughts--and some new ones.

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What I like best: (In addition to the obvious: time with family and friends)

The music of the season. The good music that is, not the dumb stuff. 

Christmas books--especially short story collections and novels. Some are on the cheesy side, I'll grant you, but there are also some good ones available from the past and the present. And that just might prompt another post on "favorites."

The colors. I love the lights and decorations here at home and all around. Have you noticed how drab everything looks for a time after the house ... and the town ... are "undecorated?"

The "peace and good will" that warms the season. Yes, I know peace is a deceptive thing, even an illusion, in today's world--but in small towns and cities, with strangers at the mall as well as among our neighbors, there's a different "feeling," a mist of friendliness, a little less guardedness, and a certain lightheartedness ... for a time. We may not be able to define it, but it's different. A welcome change. And we need it. 

Snow. Don't roll your eyes at me. I love snow, always have. Illness kept me shut in too many winters as a child. I was always looking out, watching others enjoy the white stuff. So when winter comes, I still look forward to that first snowfall and each one that follows. Sometimes, of course, Ohio winters disappoint us, and we don't see more than a trace until January or February, when it's not as welcome (to some) as it might have been in December. But I'll take its quiet beauty whenever it comes. But so far this year? I'm still waiting.

Children. What's not to love about a child at Christmas? No matter how much sugar he's had or how little sleep we might have had, there's a wonder, a sweet innocence and shining excitement that heightens our own joy and gives us a fresh breath of hope.

Surprises. Somehow there always seems to be the possibility of a wish fulfilled, an uexpected message or even a visit from an old friend stepping back into your life, a kindness from a stranger, a whispered secret, a new story, a miracle.

What I like least:

The retail holiday commercialism that begins in September. Would it be asking too much to wait until at least Black Friday? It wasn't the Grinch who stole Christmas, folks--it was the media and the malls.

Retail advertising and sales folks wishing me "Happy Holidays." I return their bland, generic greeting with an enthusiastic "Merry Christmas!" This is our holiday season--a Christian season--and I'll gladly share it with anyone willing to observe it for what it is. But let's call it by its rightful name.

Dancing Santa dolls in the shopping malls with their fake "ho-ho-ho's" and off-key "Jingle Bell Rock" ... in early autumn.

The song, "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" ... for obvious reasons.

Packing up the decorations for another year. I delay it as long as decently possible. I am so not one who can't wait to get the season over with so "things will get back to normal." Who wants normal? We're the house on the street the neighbors point to and touch their heads as they walk by. 

The movie, "A Christmas Story." Sigh. How long as it been since any kid asked for a BB gun anyway? And why would any parent give him one? And ten thousand screenings of this chestnut are more than enough by now, don't you think?

And if I hear that awful song, "Please, Daddy, Don't Get Drunk for Christmas" one more time already this year, I am going to hurt someone. Really. 

The terms "reaching across the aisle" and the "fiscal cliff" that, never mind the hype, seem to be as much a part of the season as they threaten to be a permanent part of our future. Yet they're not related, by any stretch of the imagination, to the Christmas spirit. What? You think I'm making big out of little? Well, if so, I'm willing to make amends. Just find me Three Wise Men anywhere in Washington D.C. and I'll invite you to Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. 

Meanwhile, enjoy all YOUR favorite things and never mind the rest. 

BJ