When it comes to Christmas and the holidays, scrooges and grumps don’t get any scroogier or grumpier than me. I hate this time of year: the crowds, the cold and all that nail-to-the-brain candy cane in-store holiday muzak that makes you want to chuck bathbombs at shoppers and punch the dancing santa at the cash desk.
But it hasn’t always been that way. When I was a kid I loved this whole Christmas thing, solely for the presents that were waiting for me under the tree, of course.
So, no one was more surprised than me when last night my fog of holiday jeer lifted for a few moments and I was suddenly . . . excited for the 25th. I know. Weird. But somewhere in the back of that dog’s breakfast I call a brain, a synapse fired when I saw all those presents under the tree (okay, it’s not a tree but a really big-leafed plant we call the Monstrum, which captures the holiday spirit perfectly for me.) Suddenly, I was returned to my childhood with snow falling outside and Kenny and Dolly on the turn table singing “I’ll be Home for Christmas” for the gazillionth time.
What I loved about that time was the anticipation that led up to Christmas. It’s the secrets that lie within those wrapped presents. There was always a bitter taste on the 25th when all the presents were unwrapped and you realized that was all – it was all over for another year. That is why I’m a firm believer in not unwrapping any presents before Christmas day. Got to save it all up for one big present-opening feista on the big day (Jesus would have wanted it that way.)
I may despise this time of year now that I’m older, but there is one thing that religion and consumer madness cannot spoil for me: the secret thrill of not knowing what is in those presents (which is in a way very consumeristic, but I’m still shaking off my suburban, catholic upbringing.) Last night, for a fleeting moment I was filled with a bit of the holiday spirit and it felt kind of good.
Don’t worry, it’s gone now. I’m not going to start buying turkeys for everyone on my block. So, if I don’t post again here until the big day: merry-whatever-you’re-choosing-to-celebrate and remember to eat far too much chocolate.
