Today is Friday, December 18th, so Christmas Day is seven days away: one week, less about 3 and a half hours. I don't celebrate Christmas, though I don't care if other people celebrate it. When I was a kid, Christmas Day was exciting. There was Christmas music on the radio, and Christmas shows on the television, and Christmas parades through the main street in town with pretty girls in cheerleader attire. And for the nighttime parade there were carbon-arc searchlights, which haven't been built since 1944, having been replaced by the invention of radar. If you're a kid and you get to look into a carbon-arc searchlight, it makes a lifetime impression. And the high school bands in the parade would march by, with the drummers beating those big base drums that vibrate all your internal organs, especially your heart. And convertible cars drove by with beauty contest winners in evening gowns sitting high and waving. And Santa came by last, throwing candy here and there.
The Christmas TV shows always included Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life—though for the latter I preferred the remake with Marlo Thomas, It Happened One Night. Do stations still air Christmas movies? I haven't seen one for several years. They probably come on channels I don't receive, like Disney or Hallmark. It's okay, I've seen enough of them to last a lifetime.
Just seven more days and Christmas morning will be here. In this time of Covid-19 with so many layoffs and store closures, I hope there will still be some Christmas cheer to be had. But I know some families will be worried about paying the rent and buying food and not so much about buying Christmas presents. I hope those families with money to spend on presents for their kids understand how blessed they are. I hope they understand that many families are not going to be blessed as much this Christmas season. It's easy to take blessings for granted, but they should never be taken for granted, lest they be taken away when you least expect it. Give to the food bank. Give to the Salvation Army bell-ringers. If you have, then consider sharing, even if just a little bit. And may your Christmas season bring you unexpected blessings.
2 comments:
Greetings
I loved the parades as well and especially those drums that vibrate your environment. Recently I saw a show teaching kids (and adults) that every morning you should wake and share your blessings from the day before. I also learned one should replace a bad or sad thought with a blessing --- and keep it going by making a list if you were really down. For some reason this resonated with me --- but those who are down find it hard to pull themselves up long enough to recant the blessings they do have -----it's much easier if most of your needs are met. Then you have those who wouldn't see a blessing if it hit them in the face (unless it was like the lottery).
There seem to be more homeless people now than ever before -- I'm not sure why.
This was a great post so I do hope others remember those in need and share what they have. Thanks for the reminder.
LL
I have shared Christmas with many poor people, families that don't have a real home, where the roofs and walls are made with carboards, no electricity, families that have physical conditions and they can not work or elders that barely can move, families where the kids never have been able to taste a hamburger, families where the kids want a toy and their parents can no afford them. That makes me feel sad and others have everything but they don't share it because they think they will get poor, poor are their spirits.
We are blessed with everything we have, specially our lives, but many don't appreciate it either.
Lovely thoughts for this time of the year. I hope that many Americans will think about it.
Thank you
TA
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