A stroll down memory lane anyone? anyone? Beuller? Christmas can be a bit perplexing for me. In one sense it is like a drug addiction that can never quite be tamed. It's like that first hit that brings you back over and over again, hoping to hit that initial high... but, it never quite satisfies. For me, the year was 1979. We had tickets to the Nutcracker at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. Before the show I remember eating dinner with my aunt, uncle and two cousins at The Magic Crepe. I'm not sure I even knew what a crepe was, but when they told me it was a thin pancake with powdered sugar on it... I was in. After dinner and on our way to the play we strolled through the old Williams Center when they had an ice rink downstairs. Carolers dressed in Dickens costumes filled the hall with all of the classic Christmas songs; and, if my memory serves me well, I think there was snow outside. The pipe shop filled the first floor with an unmatched aroma that sang BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE. It was the stuff holiday dreams are made of. AND, if I recall correctly I got a pony that Christmas and my sister got her two front teeth.
After that the bar had been raised and it's been difficult to live up to such dreams.
This weekend our family loaded up and drove to Memphis (via Little Rock to see our new niece). My younger sister treated us to the Broadway production of White Christmas. Part of the Stockstill tradition has been to watch Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney in White Christmas as we decorate our Christmas Tree. There is something about hearing Bing Crosby croon that old familiar song that puts me in the Christmas spirit like nothing else. Needless to say, in the final act when the belted out THE song, they had somehow rigged the auditorium to snow inside. I looked over at my two boys who were completely mesmerized by the moment and realized there is something magical about Christmas that can only be seen through the eyes of a child. So, what do you say we approach the season with a 'kid-like' attitude. Let's lose the pessimism, skepticism, political division and political correctness. Let's be amazed at the fact that it really can snow inside buildings. Let's wish for the ponies and the teeth.
2 comments:
Great Pictures.
I seem to remember you and Danny running around the house quite a bit with no shirts. Apparently it's genetic. ;)
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.......and your writing takes me back too....I'm very happy you are my daughter's husband and my grandchildren's daddy. We love you...
Nenaw and Papaw Dale
Post a Comment