Yule Log
Well I guess we're technically halfway through 'the holidays'(as in both of 'em, plural). The days in between Christmas and New Year's Eve have always struck me as a meaningless little stretch of road, its spell of nothingness broken only by the occasional what-the-hell-happened-this-year articles along the side.
The best part of Christmas is probably the anticipation of it. As one who's helped raise a 4-yr-old and 6-yr-old for a couple years in there(as well as being a former 4-year-old myself)I remember it well. And after all that buildup, it seems Christmas blows its wad all too quickly. Within 10 minutes of opening presents on Christmas Day, the living room floor is a mass of wrapping paper and the kids have got Dad trying to figure out how to assemble all their stuff while Mom cleans up the mess. A lot more foreplay than action, as it were..
Okay, that was probably a weirdly irreverent analogy, Christmas as premature ejaculation, but then that's probably why you read this drivel of mine. For the weirdly irreverent analogies and the like.
Anyway. What gives Christmas its particular luminescence, even more than celebrating the birth of Christ, is the 'magic' connected with it, the popular legend of Santa Claus and his various helpers. Some very cool images there for somebody 4-8 years old or so, elves and flying reindeer and whatnot.. After you're about 9 or 10, you realize that Santa is usually just some homeless guy who goes back to the Breadline after the season's end, and that all the Christmas stuff is just stuff Mom and Dad bought at White Folks Mall or some other retail establishment--but the dream was nice while it lasted.
Like most dreams. I don't believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny anymore(though I have, as a significantly younger person, taken LSD, and therefore know that they can exist--or at least similar hallucinogenically-inspired apparitions), but I do still hold stock in the spirit of the season. I mean, you can(and really would do well to)do that stuff all year long, but at least Christmas gets you to behave a little better for a couple days in there. A little kinder, more generous with one's time and energy.
I love getting(and sending) Christmas cards, and often they're from somebody I hadn't heard from or thought about in awhile, a nice surprise. Got to see someone over this holiday season I'd grown up with here in town, played in bands together, but hadn't seen in 31 years. Boston in 1974 was the last time. We were both born in '54, which would make us 20 then and 51 now. By this reckoning, I figure we'll cross paths again in 2036, when we're both 82.
Two of the pictures on this blog site(Ben Drake & John Crain et al)were sent to me this Christmas by a lady I hadn't seen or heard from in years(though less than 31 of 'em), but which brought back a lot of memories, not just for me but others I shared the pictures with.
One card I really liked this year was from a friend, also my age, who now has 2 sons, age 6mos and 4 1/2 years. Both are sitting on Santa's lap, and the comment on the back of the card reads, "by the time these guys are in college, I'm gonna look like the guy in the middle!"
Those are the kinds of things that make Christmas for me. I'll take the presents too, though...
The best part of Christmas is probably the anticipation of it. As one who's helped raise a 4-yr-old and 6-yr-old for a couple years in there(as well as being a former 4-year-old myself)I remember it well. And after all that buildup, it seems Christmas blows its wad all too quickly. Within 10 minutes of opening presents on Christmas Day, the living room floor is a mass of wrapping paper and the kids have got Dad trying to figure out how to assemble all their stuff while Mom cleans up the mess. A lot more foreplay than action, as it were..
Okay, that was probably a weirdly irreverent analogy, Christmas as premature ejaculation, but then that's probably why you read this drivel of mine. For the weirdly irreverent analogies and the like.
Anyway. What gives Christmas its particular luminescence, even more than celebrating the birth of Christ, is the 'magic' connected with it, the popular legend of Santa Claus and his various helpers. Some very cool images there for somebody 4-8 years old or so, elves and flying reindeer and whatnot.. After you're about 9 or 10, you realize that Santa is usually just some homeless guy who goes back to the Breadline after the season's end, and that all the Christmas stuff is just stuff Mom and Dad bought at White Folks Mall or some other retail establishment--but the dream was nice while it lasted.
Like most dreams. I don't believe in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny anymore(though I have, as a significantly younger person, taken LSD, and therefore know that they can exist--or at least similar hallucinogenically-inspired apparitions), but I do still hold stock in the spirit of the season. I mean, you can(and really would do well to)do that stuff all year long, but at least Christmas gets you to behave a little better for a couple days in there. A little kinder, more generous with one's time and energy.
I love getting(and sending) Christmas cards, and often they're from somebody I hadn't heard from or thought about in awhile, a nice surprise. Got to see someone over this holiday season I'd grown up with here in town, played in bands together, but hadn't seen in 31 years. Boston in 1974 was the last time. We were both born in '54, which would make us 20 then and 51 now. By this reckoning, I figure we'll cross paths again in 2036, when we're both 82.
Two of the pictures on this blog site(Ben Drake & John Crain et al)were sent to me this Christmas by a lady I hadn't seen or heard from in years(though less than 31 of 'em), but which brought back a lot of memories, not just for me but others I shared the pictures with.
One card I really liked this year was from a friend, also my age, who now has 2 sons, age 6mos and 4 1/2 years. Both are sitting on Santa's lap, and the comment on the back of the card reads, "by the time these guys are in college, I'm gonna look like the guy in the middle!"
Those are the kinds of things that make Christmas for me. I'll take the presents too, though...
posted by Roger U Roundly at 11:20 PM
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