. . . being blinded as I walk down the hall towards the tree Christmas morning. My father documented our childhoods with home movies. His inside rig had four flood lights on it, bolted to the top of the camera. We were supposed to look straight into those lights and smile as we came into the room. We’d start emptying stocktings while the dark spots were still floating in front of our eyes.
I haven’t continued the tradition and Christmas seems just a bit less important when it isn’t being filmed for posterity. What do you miss or almost miss from Christmas past?
More presents. I get fewer as I age. That’s all, though. Being a non-Christian atheist and a holiday abstainer (aka Scrooge, depending on who you ask), I don’t care for the traditions of youth and am glad to be rid of them. But I could sure use more stuff.
…not having lots of Christmas bling up. My parents are still young enough to do with the festivities, but I know a time is coming shortly when they won’t be able to. I don’t know how I’ll feel about celebrating the holidays then.
Me being sick. Seriously. I can’t remember a single Christmas in my life where I didn’t have a sinus infection, strep throat, an ear infection, or a really bad chest cold. Oh wait, I’m wrong. There was the Christmas where I had chicken pox followed immediately by the New Years where I fractured my skull. Oh yeah, I also had a Christmas or two with sprained ankles. The nicest Christmas ever (health wise) was the one where I only had laryngitis.
I have 1 week to get over this current cold in order to have my first ever non-sick Christmas. Anyone wanna place bets?
The first line of Little Women is “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without any presents,” and there was one of those contests (in the Washington Post, I think) where readers had to replace one word of a famous first line with an anagram, and the winner was “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without any serpents.”
Ever since reading that, we’ve called them Christmas Serpents in our house. Look at all those serpents under the tree!
We’re both atheists, but I decorate a tree, and we exchange presents, not as any religious significance, but to celebrate the winter solstice . . . actually to celebrate the days beginning to get longer. My partner travels a lot on business, but this year he’ll be off. We had toyed with the idea of going somewhere, but instead we’ll have company from out of town, so we’re staying home with the guests and kitties and pups.
I grew up in Michigan where we often had a nice white Christmas. Sitting around the fireplace with family and a nice blanket of snow outside was cosy and wonderful.
I now live in a warm climate and turning on the AC on Christmas just isn’t the same.
Yup, snow. I’ve been in the Los Angeles basin my whole life and I can see snow on the mountains or go up to the high desert and get into it as well, but it does not snow here.
Right now, it’s flooded. Rain, rain, rain, rain, and more rain. I’m dreaming of a wet Christmas.
I won’t eat them now, but I can still taste them. It wasn’t unusual to get one in the goodies bag the Elks club gave out every Christmas Eve. There was a bag for every kid after the school Christmas Program. There was about half a pound of peanuts in the shell, an apple and an orange too.
We used to make popcorn balls for Christmas when I was a kid too. They are however not good for the adult trying to keep their fillings or crown.
Lots of decorations. I’m newly divorced and dealing with a lot of emotional problems; my housemate is pretty much of a Scrooge. He did actually put up a little fiber optic tree, but that’s it. This is very unlike me and it doesn’t feel like Christmas at all. I can’t wait until the holidays are over.
He really used to shine this time of year. I mean, you couldn’t stop the man at Christmas- it was fun, it was fast and he’d gladly join you on every sugar high and eggnog binge.
He was a member of his church choir and once found a nativity set for my Stepmother 15 minutes before the mall closed on Chistmas Eve in the back of a shop selling Star Wars weapons and wizards and dragon chess sets.
He did this thing where none of the gifts were actually from him, but rather from some famous person who had some relation to the gift (ie: a computer from Al Gore, because he invented the internet). I was 24, and loved every minute.
It’ll be four years in July and I really miss him.
