Get Happy With It!
By the People . . . For the People Serving Central Connecticut www.peoplespressnews.com Wallingford Flower
& Gift Shoppe
190 Center Street. 203.265.1514 December 2009 • Volume 10, Issue 122
Photo by Ernie Larsen
STRESSES OF CHRISTMAS SEASON ARE WELL WORTH IT ON BALANCE By Phyllis S. Donovan With Thanksgiving now behind us, still warmed by memories of that special family day of conviviality and thanks hosted this year by our daughter and son-in-law, we reluctantly turn our attention to the next fast approaching holiday season. Looking at it from this prospective, we wonder if we will ever get through the next few weeks of stressful activities. I'm telling you right up front I am definitely NOT a shopper, never was. I would be the last person you'd find camping out from the wee hours in front of a store where I'd have to risk being trampled by a madding crowd just to get in the door and race around searching for bargains. In the first place, technology has long since bypassed me. I see my grandchildren immersed in hand-held video games, texting their friends on their phones (what ever happened to just dialing a number and talking in person?) and dancing around with a wii wand in front of a television set. (At least in the latter instance, they are getting some exercise!) Frankly, that's all beyond my ken. I will leave the purchase of electronic gadgets to their parents and opt to keep them supplied with more old fashion pleasures….like BOOKS, for instance. Always a voracious reader myself, I am still delighted that, in the face of all those modern-day distractions, all of my grandchildren love books. They actually seem pleased to unwrap the books they know they'll be getting from me each Christmas. It's become a family tradition. My greatest pleasure is picking out the perfect book for every one of the 22 people in our immediate family…including "the middle generation" as my daughter suddenly realized at Thanksgiving and reminded her siblings. At the moment, I am having the seasonal argument with myself as to whether I really want to take on the chore of sending out 100 Christmas cards again this year. It's one of those tasks that has become an obligation from which I derive little pleasure on my "Bah, Humbug" days. And yet, we are always pleased to hear from distant friends we've met along the way in our seven decades plus lifetime. Our very first Christmas card this year came from a Welsh gentleman and his wife whom we met on our trip to the Galapagos several years ago. A Barry Fitzgerald lookalike with a personality to match, he has become a favorite email correspondent ever since, giving us a candid look into how the US is viewed by citizens of the UK. Not sending Christmas cards is a good way of ending
cherished friendships like his…and so we get out the list, check it twice and settle down to the chore at hand. On a mild day last week, my husband decided we should get the outdoor lights down from the attic and put them up while it was still warm enough that our fingers didn't freeze doing the job. Reluctantly, feeling that we were rushing the season, I agreed and we spent a whole day hanging icicle lights from the back deck and fastening web lights to our front shrubbery. That meant I had to put the candle lights in the front windows and the artificial wreath between the garage doors. I still have to get a live wreath for the front door and we must remember not to wait too long before picking out a live tree. Last year we were late and there weren't many great specimens to choose from. There is nothing messier than a live Christmas tree dropping needles all over the place and it is an enormous chore to put it up, decorate it and take it down again in two weeks. And yet, we absolutely MUST have a live tree. One year we were going on a trip shortly after the holiday so sprung for an artificial tree. It was a really handsome (and expensive) tree but lacked the presence and scent of a real tree. We never put it up again. Our daughter now uses it as a second tree in her home, placed where it can be seen in its glory from the street on which they live while their "real" tree is in their cozy back family room. And I have to admit, once we put the undecorated live tree out on the back deck with treats for the birds, it is the center of feathered activity all through the winter. And let's not forget the parties! So far we have four marked into our appointment calendars…all taking place in the course of two weeks. I don't care how good my intentions are for not overindulging in empty calories during the holidays, I can not resist new and unusually delicacies laid out in front of me at these festive gatherings. Why can't it be as easy to lose those excess pounds as it is to gain them? It usually takes me to late spring to shed what I gain in those two weeks. Oh well, the camaraderie of those parties is priceless. All in all, I guess I can psych myself up to enjoying the holiday season. It's not the same as when we were kids and everything about it was simpler and geared to the real reason for Christmas. In those Depression times, it wasn't all about parties and gifts. It was about the birth of Christ. Our public school Christmas pageants revolved around the coming of the Christ Child. Our songs were all the classic Christmas carols about silent nights, angels and Bethlehem…no Rudolph, no Frosty the Snowman. Our only party was put on by the church and when we were old enough, we stayed up to attend midnight Mass. Christmas was a quietly holy and happy time of family love and devotion. Times have changed, and reluctantly, so must we. But I still want to wish everyone… A MERRY CHRISTMAS!