ALMOST

 

I'm whispering. Christmas is almost here. In my miserable, dire, gloomy situation here in the purgatory of physical therapy, I'm not in a celebratory mood. But let's expunge that for now. I won't trash Christmas as I did in my previous post.

What should I write about?

I don't have very many interesting holiday stories to tell. My parents celebrated Christmas when I was a small child. But......truth to tell......

....my parents were absolute direct opposites, but they agreed on certain things. Both of them disliked parties, social gatherings, and holidays. 

They eventually stopped indulging in Christmas when I was still a fairly young age. I suppose I was very similar to them. I didn't really care. They gave me things when I wanted them. They always remembered my birthday.

So there.

Tonight I'm remembering  Christmases so long ago that they seem to be in another realm.

When I was a young child in New Jersey, old holiday traditions still prevailed. People had real genuine pine trees.

(yes, I'm aware of the negative aspects of destroying trees just for a holiday.....artificial ones are much more convenient....but.....I hate artificiality, that's my preference).

The old tradition back then was to decorate the tree on Christmas Eve (usually during the day)....and take it down after New Year's Day.

Nowadays the tree is put up in early September....and reluctantly taken down after Easter....

Very slight exaggeration. Very.

Do we still treasure hand-written Christmas Cards?

Not when cards are $10+ and postage stamps are...what....$5.....??

I lost track when stamps were 50 cents.

Anyway, Xmas cards were a big deal when I was a child. And my parents strung them up in lovely rows across the walls.

What about Santa? I was an extremely gullible child. If I wasn't told that there's no Mr. Claus, I'd still believe in him.

I remember one snowy day, my Uncle Steve (Aunt Irene's husband) called up and pretended he was Santa Claus. I was about four yrs. old and fell for the ploy. I regurgitated the list of toys I wanted. Good ol' Steve did a plausible Imitation of the hohoho Claus fellow.

Those were blissfully golden years when I was adorably innocent.

You should see me now.

Jon 🌲⛄️❤️⛄️🌲

as far from innocence as anyone can get

Heck, I still luv my sweet AI creations.

Tidings of good cheer. More blogging ahead.....