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Let's reschedule Christmas!

Let’s reschedule Christmas! By Helen Lerry Thanksgiving and Christmas come thundering down upon us and there is not much time between them. They both take so much planning and preparation, every year I wonder how we women do it. If women had been in charge of these gigantic social warmings they would have put them further apart. Perhaps November and February. One to herald the winter in and one to bid it farewell. I wonder how many of you have been tempted by the Grocery Store ready cooked and ready to serve Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinners? But let’s face it; the cooking is only the half of it. The preparation for Thanksgiving is horrendous. It is, in family terms, a little more important than Christmas. For a start you have to waltz around who is coming, sounding out the relatives. There is sadness and relief mixed up in all this. It is not always the ones you want who come. The buying of children’s Christmas gifts is quite the loveliest part of Christmas. In our house Dad gets to cut the tree and haul it home. I am usually up to my elbows in pies and puddings, not to mention wrapping gifts while there are no tiny eyes watching me. There is absolutely nothing as wonderful as the excitement of little children at Christmas. How they walk round the tree, looking and poking and wondering. It’s all worth it just for that, because soon it’s all over. Before you know it, you are the only person in the house who believes in Santa Claus. This year we are planning a ‘quiet’ Christmas, we do this every year and by the time it is upon us it is never quiet, not even remotely near ‘quiet’. ‘Phones ring, neighbors call, little children come skipping up the driveway, banging on the front door and singing carols. Those carols, rarely tuneful, always lovable, turn my heart over and before I know it I am issuing invitations to anyone I think might be alone. There are things from our own childhood that we loved about Thanksgiving and Christmas and most of us probably try to incorporate them into our modern festivities. For instance, my father always went out of the sliding back door around to the front door and walked in carrying a piece of coal. ‘Brings luck’ he used to say. I still have that piece of coal and we still do it. Then there is the ‘jumping over the Turkey’ ritual we still do at Thanksgiving. It’s good. It’s all good. Good for us all, to lighten up and relax and give thanks for the abundance we all share in this wonderful country. © siliconmom Helen Lerry is a retired teacher from England and married a widower friend who immigrated to the States. She has two children, and has written for newspapers in England and for children’s' classes. She writes for 'The Villager' newspaper, in The Villages, San Jose, a community of 4000 retirees. Helen can be contacted at helenpat@kepnet.com

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