I was listening to the radio the other day, and the radio announcer proclaimed that there were fewer than forty shopping days until Christmas. "What?!?" I thought in disbelief, "I havent even put away my summer clothes yet!" I yanked the calendar off the wall, and counted the days myself, just to be sure. He was right, all right.
Dont get me wrong. I love Christmas. In fact, Christmas is my favorite time of the year. As one Christmas song says, "Its that time of year, when the world falls in love..." (Can anyone name that tune? Answer at the end of this column.) Im not sure if theres more love around at Christmastime, or if people just show it more. I do know that many of my favorite childhood memories are filled with the love of the holiday season. They are also filled with the LIGHTS of the holiday season, and thinking about them fills me with the magic of Christmas all over again.
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS: No, not the dainty, twinkling lights that you see on so many Christmas trees these days. Im talking about those old-fashioned Christmas bulbs. They were big, and usually came in only four colors: red, green, blue and orange. As a kid, my parents warned me that the bulbs got hot and for me not to touch them. Of course I did, and I discovered that the bulbs provided a great way to warm your hands, as long as you were wearing gloves and you didnt hold them too long (those scorch marks were rather hard to hide from Mom!)
My grandparents lived down the road from us, and during December my grandparents yard turned into a Winter Wonderland. You see, "Pop-Pop Pruitt" put up Christmas lights in his yard. Thousands of them! The house would be outlined with lights. In the side yard, Pop-Pop would take a tall pole, some stakes, a dozen strings of lights, and create a Christmas tree. The other yard boasted flood lights that illuminated wooden cut-out figures of Santa Claus, his sleigh, and some reindeer. The front yard had the best display of all: the words "MERRY CHRISTMAS" and "HAPPY NEW YEAR" spelled out in lights, in letters three feet tall. Talk about magic! Through my eyes as a kid, it was a sight that had to be seen to be believed. And I wasnt the only one to think so, either. The local newspapers would photograph Pop-Pops display of lights each year and run it in the newspaper. Pop-Pop also sold Christmas trees in front of the house, so in December it was a very popular place.
CAMERA LIGHTS: My parents had an old-fashioned 8mm camera that they got shortly after they got married. Each Christmas morning, Dad would get out the camera, to capture in home movies the look of wonder on our faces as we came downstairs to see what Santa had brought us. There was just one problem. The lighting attachment to this camera consists of two huge bulbs, which threw out thousands of watts of light. There was one bulb on either side of the camera. As we would stumble down the stairs, Dad would be encouraging us to "look into the camera, and smile!" Look into the camera? You gotta be kidding. It was blinding! So if you look at any of our home movies, you see us kids coming down the steps, the look in our eyes like that of a deer caught in the headlights of a fast-approaching tractor trailer. That is, if you can see our eyes at all. Usually we were squinting so much that its a wonder we didnt just fall down the entire staircase!
Fast forward to the mid-1980s: we kids are grown and have moved out of my parents home. In fact by this time my older sister has married and has a son of her own. With the first grandchild, Dad pulls out the camera again, and the Christmas morning ritual begins all over again... with one slight change. Check out "Home Movie: Christmas 1983." See year-and-a-half-old Jason coming down the steps, wearing Uncle Glens sunglasses and a big smile on his face!
CANDLELIGHT: For me and my family, Christmas Eve was just as special as Christmas Day... and certainly busier! During the afternoon we would go to my Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop Jones house for a big dinner, with all my aunts and uncles and cousins. Now, my mother has eight brothers and sisters. With them all married, and most of them with kids, you can imagine what a house full of people we had! We would take turns eating at the kitchen table, in groups of eight. As soon as one group finished eating, the table would be re-set, and the next group would eat. Even at that rate it would take all afternoon for us all to eat. When you werent eating, you were washing dishes, or sampling Mom-Moms homemade peanut butter fudge, or listening and laughing to old stories about Christmases past. By six oclock we would head home, begging to open just one Christmas present before we headed to church. By eight oclock we would be seated in our family pew at the local Presbyterian Church. The service was a "Lesson in Carols", so there was a lot of singing of all our favorite Christmas hymns. The last one sung was always "Silent Night", which we sang in a darkened church, illuminated only be candlelight. As I look at the faces of my family on Christmas Eve, their features softly lit by the flickering flame of a candle, my thoughts turn serious: how lucky I am to have such a loving family; how precious these moments are; and of course how incredibly good we all look in candlelight!
So, during this upcoming holiday season, dont get too caught up in the hustle and bustle, keeping your eye only on the ever-diminishing number of shopping days until Christmas. Take the time to sing some holiday songs with family and friends, like "The Christmas Waltz" ("Frosted windowpanes, candles gleaming inside..." and the answer to our trivia question). Share your light with those around you. Finally (with apologies to Bing Crosby): "May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be LIGHT!" Happy Holidays!
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11/21/97 Issue. Copyright 1997 by CAMP Rehoboth, Inc. All rights reserved.