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Monday, December 12, 2005 |
Christmas Memories
When
I was a boy, some 40 years ago, it was possible to get a toy submarine
by sending in cereal boxtops. At the time it seemed way cool. Insert a
tablet, baking soda, it think, and the sub would dive, move forward and
then re-surface. I never did get that sub.
My dreams were bigger. I wanted a submarine base, someplace to park a
whole fleet of subs. With helicopters for air support, access to the
open sea and lots of buildings to house the troops. I drew up a
detailed plan, wrote a long letter and shipped it all to Santa. Then I
waited.
There were many sleepless nights, thinking about Christmas morning and
anticipating the submarine base under our tree. Christmas morning
finally arrived. I got to the tree, looked around and, as you've
already guessed, there was no base. Santa was not prepared for little
boys like me. At the time I thought Santa was all powerful and hadn't
figured out that if it wasn't commercially available I wasn't going to
get it, no matter how good the plans.
The Apostle Paul said, "when I was a child I spake as a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I
put away childish things." In many ways I can mark my life, my
transition from child to adult, through Christmas memories.
At fourteen my Aunt, two years older, and I were asked to take charge
of the annual family Christmas eve program. We were tired of the the
tearfilled programs of the past and wanted to have fun. So we
determined to have everyone tell a story about their best, most fun
Christmas seasons. There, that ought to do it. And ever since that
Christmas program is known as the most tearfilled, most heartfelt,
ever. My aunt and I found the formula for tugging and heart-strings.
In 1979 my oldest daughter Megan was born. She had a rough start in
life, entering the world with Spina-Bifida. She made that entrance on
November 27th and a week later received a shunt to her brain in the
second major surgery of her short life. She remained in intensive care
for the next few days and stayed in the hospital for three weeks after
the shunt placement. We were able to bring her home just before
Christmas, making that a pretty great, although somewhat tearful, time.
About a decade later I found myself out of work during the last half of
the year. My dad was also out of work and we had many anxious
conversations. It was strange, because instead of worrying about
myself, my thoughts were mostly on what would happen to mom and dad. We
still had our turkey, still exchanged gifts, still enjoyed the season,
even with the weight of unemployment hanging over us.
Within the next year both of us found good employeement. Dad even went
on the become the president of the company that employed him. We have
both been blessed from that time on but no year goes by without some
thought of that difficult year. That year is a poignant reminder of
what can happen and makes the good years that much sweeter.
In 1995 I took my family to Arizona for the Christmas season. We drove
and on the way down we stopped in Congress. My grandpa lived in
Congress for the thirty or so years prior to his death in 1984. I'd not
been back in those eleven years and wondered if the old house was still
standing. It was. In the back we found an old shed. We found some of my
Grandpa's things in the shed. There were letters, tools, a Texaco
service plaque with a 10 and 15 year service award attached, some of my
grandma's paintings and some other items.
I have that service award hanging in my office at home along with the
paintings and a few of the other things we took with us. I feel closer
to my grandparent's and value that memory of Christmas almost above
every other.
In 1996 my brother flew from California and spent the Christmas season
at my home. We had a lot of fun, shopped, shot each other at the local
paintball emporium and had a great time together. The highlight was on
Christmas eve when my brother and I spent the day at the Salvation Army
and served dinner to the homeless and less fortunate. It's a good
memory that we share, think about and discuss every year. I believe
that service to others is a key to life. It's good to do it at
Christmas. Better to serve at any time of the year.
In recent years I've been collecting Christmas music, loading it on my
iPod and making this my exclusive listening experience during the
holiday season. At first my listening season started on Thanksgiving
and ended on Christmas day. As my collection has grown and my enjoyment
increased I've expanded that listening window. Now I update my
Christmas playlist on Halloween day and start on November 1st. I hate
when the season ends so I've extended it right through to the first day
back to work after the new year. I listen to my Christmas music all
through that day for the last time, at least until the next November
1st. It's a fun tradition.
I no longer worry about what I will get for Christmas. It's not
important. I do think about what I will give. I give all that I can
without going into debt. It's fun and fulfilling. Giving of my time is
the best. It's great to draw family and friends around me and spend my
Christmas time with them.
I'm really looking forward to the next few weeks. Jesse, the Grand Boy,
will be spending a few weeks at my home and that will be the best part
of the whole season. He arrives on Saturday and we are all looking
forward to that moment and creating our next holiday memories..........
10:57:49 PM 
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© 2006 Jim Stewart
Last Update: 1/4/06; 3:10:11 PM
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