The season is upon us now  

A time for gifts and giving

And as the year draws to a close

I think about my living

The Christmas time when I was young

The magic and the wonder………

 

Finals are over, my Christmas gigs have ended,  and  it’s time to kick back with my family and enjoy the holiday.

 

Our holidays are steeped  with tradition, and Christmas has  always been a magical time filled with wonder,  for as far back as I can remember.

 

In our house, Christmas begins the day after Thanksgiving.  This  is the day we head out in search of finding a perfect  giant blue spruce. The day is cleared of all other obligations because  it usually takes us all day to walk through acres and acres  of trees at the farm,   and  to  finally agree on one that we all like.

 

 My youngest brother Devin,  chopped it down this year since  he has  developed this insane fondness for chopping wood.    It takes all of us  to hoist it up  in this  extra large  stand (custom built by my dad).    It’s bolted to a 3ft square of plywood to give it extra stability , and  then wired to the wall.   Some   branches are  trimmed and then others are wired into empty spaces, and it becomes transformed into  the perfect tree.     Everyone who catches a glimpse of it , remarks “Wow- where did you get such  a nice shaped tree”  LOL.  If they only knew.

 

 Santa Claus has been making his annual appearance in our family for the past 75 years or so,   bringing bundles of gifts wrapped in sheets each Christmas Eve.    We are true believers and  learning the family  secret of Santa is  almost like a right of passage that   comes in time as we get older.  If clothes could talk, we’d be in real in trouble  That familiar red suit  has a lot of history tucked inside and a lot of stories to tell.

 

  When my mom was small, my great grandpa who passed away when I was 3 months old, was Santa.   On Christmas Eve, he would put on the suit and make his way to every house in the  family.   No-one ever caught on that it was   the parents who read the letters to Santa, and put those special gifts in the white sheet bundles, tied with red satin ribbons for Santa to bring.

 

  As  my great grandpa got older, he   retired his position to my grandpa, who in turn retired the position to my second cousin,  who then  retired the position to my uncle.  It was my uncle Glenn  who made the rounds to our house when my brothers and I were small.   Only one year when I was 10 ,  my uncle Ricky stood in   because  I was getting too nosey and remarked that Santa laughed just like Uncle Glenn.    He was so afraid we would recognize him that he wore the wig backwards and it completely covered his face. My mom and my grandpa laughed so hard there were tears streaming down their faces. 

 

 

 Three years ago, the beautiful suit made it’s way to my oldest brother Ian .  So at the moment,   I live with Santa Claus, and some day the suit will be passed to me  when Ian has a family.

 

   December 1^st was letter writing day in our house, and the letters were mailed off to the North Pole as soon as we finished.

 

One year my mom cried when my older brother was 7 , and wrote all he wanted for Christmas was Peace on Earth. She secretly tucked that letter away and we found it a few years ago and had a good laugh. He was always the rule follower and I was the one who worked  hard to have some self-control. 

  One year, I ripped the entire front off my advent calendar and stuffed  all the chocolates in  my mouth at one time,    and then  I had to watch while  my brothers  ate a chocolate every day for the rest of Christmas .

 

  No matter what great things we did during the month, it was  always the  day before Christmas Eve that was my favorite. My mom would start baking which lasted right until Christmas Day. She would  fill our house with great smelling food  and  make all our favorites, and she always let us help no matter what a nuisance we were.  

 

 When Christmas Eve arrived,  we could hardly contain our excitement .  The table was filled with great food, and my grandparents would arrive bringing gifts .  We were dressed in matching outfits (my moms crazy idea), and we were kept busy while one of them snuck out with the hidden bundles  for Santa. 

 

The familiar knock on the door and the sound of  ringing jingle bells still makes me hold my breath after all these years.  My brothers would quietly grin and thank him, but I was always the one who kept him talking and wouldn’t let him go.  I wanted to know where his sleigh was parked, if the reindeer were hungry, what they ate, if I could feel his beard, how the weather was , what the landing was like, etc. Lol.  He’d be trying to make this quick get away and I was folllowing him out the front door firing questions at him.      

 

One year he forgot his bells on the front step (I must have asked too many questions) and we held it for him until the following Christmas.    True believers, that’s what we were.   When the other kids at school laughed at us for believing, it didn’t matter. Too us,  he was as real as he could possibly be , and he walked through our door every Christmas Eve bringing 3 big bundles of toys from our lists. 

 

After all these years, I finally realize how selfless it was for our parents to allow the man in the red suit to take credit for most  of our greatest gifts, and I suppose that’s the real secret.

 

Once again , it’s Christmas Eve…and I’m feeling the old familiar excitement…even though it’s been 3 years since my youngest brother learned the secret.   My mom has been cooking since yesterday afternoon  and  our house is filled with the familiar smells of  pumpkin and spices ,  sweet potato cake, caramel gingerbread, and  home made candy .    The suit has been ironed and pressed, and    I’m hoping he has an easy landing.  

 

   Enjoy the magic and wonder of the Season.  Merry Christmas!