The Three Stages of Christmas.....

I think Christmastime is the most special time of the year. When else do people decorate their houses, inside and out. We have plenty of parties and buy gifts for each other. Radio stations play songs of the season for weeks before. Our Christmas memories come flooding out when we get together.

The other day I was thinking about those memories and I came to realize there are 3 distinct types of Christmases. Each are special, but each are different.

The first type is when you are a kid. Christmas for kids are spectacular! Imagine a time when the whole world would turn into a fantasyland. The decorations! The presents all wrapped up! The toys! Kids can't wait for Christmas because it's such a huge chunk of their life. One year to a 10 year old is 10%  of their entire life.

My special Christmas memories when I was a kid will always be about visiting my Grandma's house on Christmas Eve. My entire extended family would be there. All my uncles, aunts, and cousins. It was jam packed. The sights, the sounds, the laughter, the aromas. The food was never ending. The pasta, the pizza, the cookies, the candy! I was introduced to something called calamari. Even more than the gifts I would get, I would remember those times far longer.

Occasionally, I run across old black and white photographs of those parties. My memories turn bittersweet because most of the people in those photos are now gone.

The second type of Christmas is when you are an adult. When you are an adult, Christmas is full of your pride and joy. Your little kids. It's not so much about the gifts you receive, it's about finding a special gift to make someone else happy. Especially your kids.

Not the 3 Kings.

Before my wife and I would go to bed on Christmas Eve, we would pile the presents under the tree. It was a mountain of gifts. We would start to hear some stirring downstairs just after sunrise. There was giggling and scurrying around. Eventually, the wife and I would come downstairs and the official gift opening ceremony would begin. To watch your own kids get excited on Christmas is a special joy. Days like those make you realize what an honor and privilege it is to be a parent.

Christmas evening we would go to my brother-in-laws house for a party with the extended family. It's a good thing he has a big house because it was controlled chaos with kids running around. It would go on till the wee hours of the morning.

The third type of Christmas is when you are an older adult. Call it a senior Christmas. I am kicking and screaming entering this stage. Your little kids are now adults. Maybe you have grandkids, maybe
not. It's definitely harder to buy gifts for adult children. They don't need much. My daughter lives out of town and it's great to get the whole family together to celebrate.

The Golden Years.

In recent Christmases, I've been spending time on the computer making fake celebrity greetings as gifts. Each one might have a special meaning or laugh for the recipient. I suppose if you have grandkids the scene might change somewhat. There would definitely be more scurrying around and toys. But in the end, you are not the ultimate responsibility for those kids. That honor would fall on another generation.

Everybody celebrates Christmas in their own way. I still enjoy it. But it's stories of the past and traditions that make it special.