A calendar phenomenon that occurs every seven years or so is that The Star-News comes out on Christmas Day. This is one of those years. So if you are reading this space on the day you got your paper, Merry Christmas to you. Our wish is that you were among the young at heart who heard thumping on your roof last night followed by a merry ho-ho-ho. If you did, I am guaranteeing you a very good day.
A couple of weeks ago I touched on some Christmases past, some exceedingly pleasant and some not so good. Since that time, I have heard from a number of folks who have related personal experiences regarding Christmases of long ago.
I have also been asked about other Christmases that I have lived through, particularly some of those that left a pleasant indelible mark somewhere in my being.
Bonitan Barbara Currier wants to know specifically about one that I might recall from my growing up years. I do, indeed, have one in particular that I cherish but first I must digress a bit.
I receive a number of newsletters each month from various organizations.
Most have interesting items regarding individuals in their organization. One in particular takes an individual and asks him or her various questions about their likes or dislikes.
One question is, if they had a choice, what individual’s shoes would they like to walk in for one day. There are various answers, all with reasons for their choice, and most of them dealing with individuals who have left a mark on society.
Persons like Mahatma Ghandi, Mother Teresa, Benjamin Franklin, and even Elvis have been the choice of some, all good options. I have a ready answer of what my reply would be.
If I could walk in anyone’s shoes for a day, it would be my own when I was 12 years old. That was what Frank Sinatra would have described as “a very good year,” at least for me it was.
My birthday comes a few days before Christmas and it was during that birthday I received what was probably the first suit of clothing I ever had that was bought just for me. I had, no doubt, worn a few new diapers at an earlier age but they don’t count.
This suit was rather special. It consisted of slacks and a vest and it was of corduroy. I have mentioned this before but it bears repeating since I have such fond memories of it.
This was also the birthday that I received my first camera, a Kodak box camera, courtesy of the Eastman Kodak Company. I took a number of images with it, some that I still have in my photo collection.
Now to get back to that memorable Christmas, it would be the one that followed that birthday, that is, when I was twelve years old.
On that particular Christmas most of the extended family, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews gathered at the home of the family matriarch on Christmas Eve and prepared for a Christmas celebration. The ladies of the clan gathered in the kitchen and made preparations for the coming feast. The principle task was the making of tamales, dozens of them, that were prepared in a sort of assembly line method, kind of like Henry Ford making the Model T but in this case it was the best tasting morsels this side of nirvana.
At evening tide the children were put to bed and the adults took the short walk to church and attended midnight mass.
Since I was 12 I was in a class with the adults and was allowed to go, no doubt, strutting about in my corduroy suit. After that we returned to the house and feasted on a few tamales before bed.
And that, we believe, is enough Christmas reminisces for 2009. Next week we are going to make our yearly resolutions for other units and persons. Look for it. You might be making a resolution and not know it.
