Christmas Beckons

It’s taken me a little longer to round into the usual all out sentimentality that latches an iron grip on me around this time each year.  Part of the delay was realizing it would be the first Christmas I’ve ever spent away from my daughter other than the time the Army thought it had more important things for me to do.  Seeing how happy she is in California for the past week has helped immensely because that’s all I’ve ever wanted for both of my kids – happiness. We had another video call with her and the Wingman last night where you could see how happy they were.  I was pretty happy myself which they immediately diagnosed as a well spent celebration of the First Friday of the Week (they know me so well).

With that distraction handled I find myself fully engaged with the holiday again which is bad news for Grinches everywhere.  We’re heading up to Keene shortly so my wife can express her favorite part of Christmas – shopping.  I’ve written before how much I love Christmas and repost these words every year so there’s a proper amount of explanation for the bruising amount of oversentimentality I will inflict upon you in the coming days – Deal With It!

We’re getting close to my favorite time of year. I am an unabashed and unrepentant lover of Christmas time, in all of its glorious corniness. I love Christmas carols, Christmas parties, but most of all Christmas Day. I still remember one special year in my early teens when I was overcome with Christmas spirit, feeling so good about the season and just general happiness that I wondered at my sanity. This feeling lasted until well after Christmas and no, to all you cynics out there, the feelings were not chemically assisted.

Every year since then has been an attempt to recapture fleeting glimpses of that feeling (which may have involved certain adult beverages). Most years I get it in bits and pieces, usually associated with time I spend with my family and friends. My wife and kids smile, good naturedly, when I start holding forth about Christmas because they know how important it is to me. I know there are those raging elements and hipsters out there that bemoan what modern Christmas has evolved to. Some say it’s overly commercialized or others not properly religious. 

There are always those elements in society – Grinches for lack of a better term. People so unhappy with their own lives that they target times or traditions that bring happiness to others for scorn. I could not care less about these self-important gas bags. There is nothing more enjoyable in life than being around people you love and actually taking some time out of the all too busy lives we all lead to just simply be together.