Less we forget...

I remember Christmas

I am not a religious person. Christmas has always been a non religious event. It’s a day to give gifts and enjoy a good meal. It was a time to be with family and close friends. There was always a place at the table for an unexpected guest.

When I was growing up the holidays were always very special. My parents went to great extent to make our home as festive and welcoming as possible.

It all started the day after Thanksgiving. That’s when the lights went up on the house on my insistence. I would crawl into the attic space and pull down the wooden crate that contained the lights for the house and then assist my dad in stringing them around the exterior of the place.

When I was all of 10 or so, my Uncle Tom, who worked for an aircraft manufacturing company in San Diego, had rescued several reindeer from the company that they had used for some display. Being in disrepair, he thought that we might be able to use them in some manner.

Cleaver man as my father was, he repaired the reindeer and constructed and painted a sled and stuffed a Santa Claus. Wiring the reindeer to the chimney so they looked in flight, the Santa and sled behind, being lighted on the roof, was so unusual for the time, that it made the front page of the local newspaper, the Downey Live Wire.

These were the things that made Christmas special.

And Christmas was always wonderful, until my mother passed away in 1988. My father tried to make the effort, my sisters and I did our best to give joy and happiness until my father passed away in September of 2004.

But it actually fell apart after my mother passed away. And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.

I remember Christmas.