A Christmas Visit with Grandma

 

 

 

                                                                           Illustration copyrighted by Carol Mayer 12/20/14

Christmas, a Time of Joy and Happiness

Christmas, a time of joy and happiness.

Christmas

an annual festival commemorating the birth

 of Jesus Christ, observed generally on December 25 .

                                                  --Google 
 

I like that definition of Christmas. A day set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. It says nothing about shopping til ya drop, getting trampled at the entrance to Walmart, exceeding credit card limits, and buying presents for everyone on your contact list (presents that show up six months later at their yard sales).

Time

a measure in which events can be ordered from the
past through the present into the future and the
measure of durations of events and the intervals
between them. Or it can be a magazine.
                                               --Google

From the past--a far, far away wonderful, magical place when young Jason and his sisters were innocent, naive, and enchanted Santa believers)--through to the present (when they are not), my measuring time stick indicates the extended celebration of Christmas takes up way, way too much time, and as I age the intervals between Christmases gets shorter, which means the durations are longer.

Joy

a feeling of great pleasure and happiness.

                                      --Google

Uh...no.

It's not that I don't want to feel joy from the first sign of Christmas trees showing up in Lowes garden center in late August or when I hear I'll be Home for Christmas on my shop's radio in September. It's not that I don't want to feel happiness when I see commercials on television that show functional families standing around a piano singing Christmas Carols or sharing a meal together. It's not that I don't want to feel great pleasure when I think about how much I love and miss my family--a family that is spread out across the country. It's not that I don't want to feel great joy when eating Christmas breakfast, lunch, and dinner at Denny's because that's Tom's 96-year-old mother's favorite restaurant. It's not that I don't want to marinate in the "life is wonderful" sentimental emotions that Christmas time is supposed to elicit.  I do. No, really I do. Well, maybe I would change one thing. This Christmas could we pulllleeezzee eat at Huddle House?