Waxing Holidays Past
Bear with me … today is one of those days … one of those days filled with a bit more verbosity and a lot more sensitivity as I reflect on Holidays Past … holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Up this morning about 6 AM, armed with sturdy walking shoes, warm jacket, gloves and hat I vigorously attacked one of the neighborhood hills. The air was a crisp thirty something, the sun was just beginning to warm the tips of still colorful trees and for the most part the world was mine.
Returning home, I declared this day the day to open my iTunes Playlist … simply entitled Christmas, set it to shuffle, grab a cup of rich coffee and begin the annual immersion into Holiday anticipation. Little did I expect my mind to wander the path of Holidays Past.
When I was growing up and when our kids were growing up, the Christmas tree was always a big … err … big event. With a 22 foot ceiling height in the entry, a huge pine tree cut from family property was an adventure to harvest, tie on the car top, raise and decorate hopefully with no loss of limb … human or evergreen. In addition to the tree, we always had Santa stop by for a visit … on one occasion Santa even sat in the lap of our own Family Santa, Dalton Dailey.
This is a post in which I could expend hours and pages but WordPress and your generous patience dictate otherwise. Guess you’ll need to read the book someday. However to wrap up I’ll list a few other memories of Holidays Past:
Midnight Mass at the Cathedral with my parents, Open House on Sunday at Dailey’s Gift Center kicking off the shopping season (this was during the era of Blue Laws and my dad just let people shop and buy later), putting up a Christmas tree at home then taking it down and strapping it to the van top as we headed for Colorado (the kids made decorations during the trip), Thanksgiving meals at Mom’s, Christmas meals at Mom’s, New Year meals at Mom’s, as a child coming down on Christmas morning and seeing the tree and presents, finding a place to celebrate New Years Eve while traveling, Ski trips with our family and the Goodin family during the holidays (ten of us in a van that JC called the “Van Trapped Family“), making Gingerbread houses, snow in Arkansas on Christmas, New Years Day Swearing In Ceremonies, disguising gifts to Patti, last minute shopping Christmas Eve at Dailey’s and doing art work on brown wrapping paper … I think you’ve got the idea. This is a very special time of year… a time to be thankful, to remember family and friends, to be grateful for this nation and those who fight to protect our freedom … Thank God I am an American and if you’ve read this far, thank you too.
Jim Dailey 