I’m writing this weekly column for the December 23rd issue. That means if you are reading this, the day it gets delivered to your mailbox, you have about two days left to get your Christmas shopping done. Most of you probably already have that done, especially the female readers (because you don’t tend to put things off as some guys do).
Since we don’t see snow anymore, December (and Christmas) have arrived much faster than I had planned for. It isn’t that I do a lot of shopping for gifts anymore, as we grow older, we become more difficult to buy for, and frankly, there isn’t much we need, so giving other people ideas of what we older folks want has become a not-so-simple task.
Sitting here thinking about Christmas has me remembering how Christmas was a day for family get-togethers. There was a time when my mom and dad hosted more than 20 of us on Christmas morning. My mom loved that time that started with the opening of gifts – and it had to be one at a time, and the to and from of each gift was announced. Gift opening could last over two hours. Then it was time to eat, and to this day, I don’t know how mom and dad knew how much food to prepare, but everybody commented about how they ate too much. Once mom and dad passed, we kids decided it was probably a good idea to do our own Christmas celebrations separately – group text messages are sent wishing each other a Merry Christmas, naturally.
Christmas Day will still be made special this year by spending the day with my brother and his wife. We’ll probably eat too much – just like what happened on Thanksgiving – but I know for a fact that gift opening won’t last more than a few minutes.
I wish Cold Spring Record readers a very Merry Christmas – enjoy your time with the people you love!
Have A Good Week!
