Christmas Day Afterglow
In contrast to Maureen Dowd, the New York Times anti-Christmas nihilist whom we addressed earlier in December 2004, the following will consist of positive seasonal thoughts.
For my wife and myself, we could not get ready at home in time for Christmas again. The decorations and lights are still stored. In fact, we might not even be able to pass a public health inspection at home right now. And, here it is 26 December--Christmas Day has come and now gone for another year. Were we passed by our chance to enjoy the season? Are we unhappy? No, not at all, to both questions. Christmas did not pass us by (and we vow to be ready for it in 2005 by 1 December, which we did once in our 43 years of marriage).
Our kids are grown and have kids. One daughter lives in Florida while the other lives on the other side of the continent. Yet, we experienced the joy of family this year perhaps the best yet. Thanks to telephones and satellites, we renewed that very special adult-to-adult-but-adult-to-child bond with each.
My wife cooked one daughter's favorites, and we travelled to spend the day with her and her family. She, in turn, cooked all the things she loved that her mother made as she grew up. The grandchildren, of course, were into gifts, but they enjoyed all the adult company as much if not more than the exercise of childhood preoccupation with gifts. They just did it on their own, and it was refreshing.
While mother and daughter cooked and did mother-daughter interactions, my son-in-law showed me the movie Shrek 2. It turned out to be the perfect Christmas movie, just because it was such good, clean fun with highly intelligent wit. Its fun fit the day.
During the early afternoon, our Florida daughter called her sister to find out some details about she was making Yorkshire Pudding, a favorite of theirs growing up. Suddenly, I became palpably aware of how much of their mother and me they had internalized and treasured enough to extend to their own families. All of us had a long and rich discussion about this. As a result, I discovered that a number of things I had thought were of little significance to them when they were kids are in fact strong memory anchors now to childhood happiness with family. That was a WOW! I have come far enough along in life to start looking back and putting proper perspectives to life events, and this experience added a richness I had not known before.
We exchanged gifts and enjoyed its positive symbolism. This year, in particular, none of us had felt any need to court ulcers and migraine headaches in order to get these gifts. The gift were really tokens. The real gifts of the day and the season came from the day we were experiencing coast to coast.
Christmas is the purest celebration of values and valuing that we have each year. If the glow and good spirits do not persist through the year, at least we know that the next renewal is less than a year away.
For us, where we live, Christmas Day was marked by heavy, dark gray skies and steady, cold rain. We were warm, dry, well-lit, and happy, looking out on that day, celebrating what the human mind itself and ours in particular made possible. We celebrated life itself and the wonderful country which provided the milieu for capitalism to enable us to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. As for the wealth part, don't look for dollars. We don't have many, but we would not trade our circumstances with anyone else in any other country.
We are Americans, here and abroad, preserving and protecting our way of life by whatever our current life situations are. Fine young men and women find Christmas renewal even in the cesspool of Iraq. We were celebrating that also.
It's just great being an American!
For my wife and myself, we could not get ready at home in time for Christmas again. The decorations and lights are still stored. In fact, we might not even be able to pass a public health inspection at home right now. And, here it is 26 December--Christmas Day has come and now gone for another year. Were we passed by our chance to enjoy the season? Are we unhappy? No, not at all, to both questions. Christmas did not pass us by (and we vow to be ready for it in 2005 by 1 December, which we did once in our 43 years of marriage).
Our kids are grown and have kids. One daughter lives in Florida while the other lives on the other side of the continent. Yet, we experienced the joy of family this year perhaps the best yet. Thanks to telephones and satellites, we renewed that very special adult-to-adult-but-adult-to-child bond with each.
My wife cooked one daughter's favorites, and we travelled to spend the day with her and her family. She, in turn, cooked all the things she loved that her mother made as she grew up. The grandchildren, of course, were into gifts, but they enjoyed all the adult company as much if not more than the exercise of childhood preoccupation with gifts. They just did it on their own, and it was refreshing.
While mother and daughter cooked and did mother-daughter interactions, my son-in-law showed me the movie Shrek 2. It turned out to be the perfect Christmas movie, just because it was such good, clean fun with highly intelligent wit. Its fun fit the day.
During the early afternoon, our Florida daughter called her sister to find out some details about she was making Yorkshire Pudding, a favorite of theirs growing up. Suddenly, I became palpably aware of how much of their mother and me they had internalized and treasured enough to extend to their own families. All of us had a long and rich discussion about this. As a result, I discovered that a number of things I had thought were of little significance to them when they were kids are in fact strong memory anchors now to childhood happiness with family. That was a WOW! I have come far enough along in life to start looking back and putting proper perspectives to life events, and this experience added a richness I had not known before.
We exchanged gifts and enjoyed its positive symbolism. This year, in particular, none of us had felt any need to court ulcers and migraine headaches in order to get these gifts. The gift were really tokens. The real gifts of the day and the season came from the day we were experiencing coast to coast.
Christmas is the purest celebration of values and valuing that we have each year. If the glow and good spirits do not persist through the year, at least we know that the next renewal is less than a year away.
For us, where we live, Christmas Day was marked by heavy, dark gray skies and steady, cold rain. We were warm, dry, well-lit, and happy, looking out on that day, celebrating what the human mind itself and ours in particular made possible. We celebrated life itself and the wonderful country which provided the milieu for capitalism to enable us to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. As for the wealth part, don't look for dollars. We don't have many, but we would not trade our circumstances with anyone else in any other country.
We are Americans, here and abroad, preserving and protecting our way of life by whatever our current life situations are. Fine young men and women find Christmas renewal even in the cesspool of Iraq. We were celebrating that also.
It's just great being an American!
posted by George Mason @ 12/26/2004 02:57:00 PM
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