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Arcadia Weekly Dec 11, 2014
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Dorothy Denne
The player is playing a CD that I made from an old out-of-date 33 1/3 record. Perry Como is dreaming of a White Christmas.
I too am dreaming. I remember the White Christmases of the days when I was young and didn’t mind cleaning the ice from my windshield or skidding into a snow bank. That was just what you did. That was before I moved to California where you do your Christmas shopping in shirt sleeves. Where a modest rainstorm is considered winter weather.
Christmas has so many meanings, so many memories, so many traditions. I’m somewhat distressed that the Christmas season has become the Holiday season. I’m considered broad-minded for one of my generation. I’m loving and accepting. I don’t mind expanding horizons and celebrating the traditions of other cultures. But, please, excuse me as I want to hang on to my own. I like the picture of a baby Jesus lying in a manger. The wisemen and the lowly animals.
The fir tree. The holly and the mistletoe. The poinsettias and the fruit cakes. Merely symbols? Yes, but more than symbols, they are traditions.
Santa Claus came down my chimney even when I didn’t have one. I knew he was coming, no matter what. He would get in somehow. Sometimes he would bring but one present, at best only a few. That was all Mom and Dad could afford to pay him for. It didn’t matter.
Santa and the Baby Jesus kind of melted together. They symbolized love and joy and good feelings. I liked that when I was young. I like that now.
Happy Holidays is a wonderful greeting. It is very modern. Merry Christmas goes back to my roots. It brings a feeling that little else in the world of today can kindle.
I’d like to celebrate Christmas as Christmas. Other holidays can have their say separately. Let those of us who wish, have our memories of yore and share in the feelings they bring.
Whether it be Away In A Manger or Jingle Bells, or one of other cultural traditions, let’s remember love, peace and brotherhood. As we each remember our past and look to our future, let’s join hands in our present. Let’s ask our higher power, whomever he or she may be, to bring us the grace of love, acceptance and understanding. Let’s join hands and hearts and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season.
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