Its that time of year again. Funny how it comes and goes in the blink of an eye. Everyone running around like there is not going to be a tomorrow, only to get all that they want done by that fateful day.
For some reason the real meaning of this time of year has disappeared. The want for material things has taken over and made everyone greedy. Children now expect things like I Pods, TVs, Game consoles and Computers all which cost as much as most working people make working a full work week if not more.
The children of today have no idea of the meaning of a dollar. It use to buy so much. Today, you can barely buy a cup of coffee for that 100 pennies.
My idea of what Christmas means has changed over the years. It used to be so much fun being around my family and friends for the holiday week. We would go out and have fun in the snow, skiing, sledding, and just having snow ball fights. It was so much fun. Everyone would end up in the house at the end of the day wet, cold and tired, but smiling and laughing about all the things we had done.
The first part of December we would all pile in the car or truck and head for the bush to find a tree. We would trudge through the snow for what was the perfect tree. Funny, no matter what the tree looked like when we got it home, it was beautiful.... the tree would sit in the corner of the living room for a day to warm up and let the branches relax. Then the fun started.
Dad's job was to put the lights on the tree. Each had to be placed just so. He had three little girls(at least till my brother came along 16 years later) telling him where the open holes were that needed to be filled. Then when the lights were all placed and the garland was wrapped around the tree, it was our turn.
We got to put all the decorations on the tree. Mom would drag out the boxes of glass balls that she would put the wire hooks through and hand to us for careful(ya right) placement on the tree. Hand made decorations were added at the end, and other things that we had put together, like strung popcorn and candy canes....then it was Mom's turn.
Mom would carefully place each and every strand of tinsel on the tree, one or two at a time. She took great care in placing them just so to make the most of its beauty. Mom would move some of the tinsel around to make sure there was no holes. Then the Angel or Star was placed on the top. We would stand back and admire our accomplishment.
Over the next two weeks presents would appear under the tree. We were not allowed to dig under there, but always managed to find the ones that had our names on them. Our own special stockings with our names on them would be put out, either on the mantle, or on the back of the couch. Then night would arrive and we would be in bed early and up just as early the next morning. I was always the first out of bed and still am. Out to the living room to find the stockings and be awed by what we would find. We were allowed to take our stockings back to our beds and dig through our wonderful stuff. We always had candy, candy canes, Japanese oranges (or clementines as they are known here). The oranges were special as we could only get them during the month of December. Special little things were always in the bottom. The giggling and play would start and mom and dad would get up.
We were lucky. Mom and Dad allowed us to open our gifts before we had breakfast. Most of my friends were not that lucky. We would pass all the gifts around and then when they were all out from under the tree, we would start tearing. Mom and Dad would sit there and smile till we were done. They opened theirs when were done. I can remember the old camera that mom used to take pictures while we were buried in paper and boxes. Home made gifts, scarves, mitts, socks, clothes were wonderful to receive. We always got a new outfit, new shoes and toys. We were not rich by any means, but no matter what was there, we thought we were lucky. We had a ball. We did everything together.
After all the Christmas day hubbub came Boxing Day. That was the day everyone you knew either got a visit from us or they came to our house. Everyone showing what they had been lucky enough to get. The special doll, outfit or other item. Back then no one got tons of stuff. There were items that made you happy. It was a time of happiness, love and hope that the new year would bring health and joy to everyone.
Like I said earlier, we were not rich, but we were rich in what we had in each other. Our family has always been fantastic, fun and people have always wanted to be around us when were together. We have a great time and to us there is nothing more important than family. Things are just that. Lets get back to the simple times.
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