Christmas Memories
by Ed Young
Frugal MacDoogal's Monthly Guest Wine Letter December, 2005
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We trimmed our Christmas tree the other night. That was always a major family production when the children were growing up, and it isn’t the same without them. Now it is just two aging birds in an empty nest trying to infuse a little Christmas spirit into the place. My wife always insists on buying a real tree, and I do like the fresh smell of the needles.
We like taking the boxes down and rediscovering the ornaments every year. There is a large ball with “Christmas 1979” on it. I don’t remember 1979. There are several hand-crocheted stars that an old friend gave us, and funny little creations with our son’s and daughter’s names on them that they made in school a long time ago. There are strings of lights that are inevitably twisted together. I don’t recall putting them away like that. I wonder what they do up there in the attic in the off-season to get so tangled.
Over the years we’ve bought Christmas tree ornaments as mementos of places we’ve been, and it is nice to be reminded of those family trips. To tell the truth, we’ve accumulated so many trinkets at this point that we can’t get them all on the tree. There is a wreath with rocking horses and candy canes on it, a chain made of colored construction paper, and a crčche set that is missing one of the wise men (just what is going on up in the attic?). Down underneath all this stuff is a real treasure. It is a hand-scrawled note that our daughter wrote to Santa in 1976 in the innocence and wonder of childhood. We can’t put that on the tree, but it will always adorn our hearts.
So many wonderful memories. It is beginning again now; the magic feeling of Christmas is returning ever so gently. We put on some music to help the mood along: Bing Crosby dreaming of a White Christmas; Judy Garland singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas; and Nat “King” Cole with chestnuts roasting on an open fire. These are like old friends, long dead and gone, but whose unforgettable voices grace the season forever with those immortal songs. And then “Jingle Bells” and “Silver Bells” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”, written in 1942 for those who couldn’t be home for Christmas and maybe wouldn’t be ever again. And the old familiar carols: “O Little Town of Bethlehem”, “Good King Wenceslas”, and “Silent Night”. What memories they invoke, and how they bind us to all the Christmases down through the centuries.
The simple ritual of decorating the Christmas tree always takes me back to my own childhood: the wonderful scent of pine, the special little angel at the top of the tree that was a family heirloom, the excitement of my first bicycle, and the closeness of having the people you love most seated around the big table in the dining room…
When at last the decorations are in place and the lights are spaced as well as we can get them, we walk out on the lawn and look back at our handiwork, sparkling and beautiful in the picture window. The air is fresh and cold and the stars are out-the same ones that dotted the sky two thousand years ago.
We stand there with our arms around each other, and a profound sense of peace descends. One of the children, at least, will be home for Christmas, and we have our tree up. Its lights signify that Christmas is remembered and honored in this tiny spot of the universe, and that love, and hope, and good cheer abide herein. May the spirit of Christmas abide in your house this year.
Whether yours is a Christmas tree or a Hanukah bush, and whether you wish others a Merry Christmas, Feliz Navidad, or Joyeux Noel, the folks at Frugal MacDoogal hope you and yours rekindle your own happy memories and make new ones at this special season.
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