We need a little Christmas

Jeff Walker
Published: November 18, 2008

This has got to be a record. Whereas the big box stores sneak out seasonal items and decorations while fall is still crisp in the air, most families wait for that traditional window between Thanksgiving and Christmas to decorate for the Yuletide season.

This year, we have already hauled out the holly at my house. Last Saturday, my sons lead the decorating brigade and put up the tree, selected the nutcrackers and put up the 25 Days of Christmas calendar inside our house.

I guess you could say we needed a little Christmas.

I warned my wife, who was out of town all day, that when she returned she’d notice a few decorations up in the living room. When she got back from her trip, she came into a house already filled with twinkling lights and the manger scene under the trimmed tree.

I think her reaction was something like, “A bit early, aren’t we?”

I agreed, but there were the boys, grinning sheepishly on the stairs. They were really there because they had forgotten to string lights along the stair railing, one of their favorite touches.

The whole early decorating idea came from the boys. Never underestimate the power of my boys when they have made up their mind.

Joshua, nearly 13, and Jeremiah, 9, can be your typical, short-attention-spanned, let’s-do-anything-but-our-chores kind of guys. But when they make up their own minds about a special project or hatch one of their own plans, only extreme weather or civil tumult will deter them from the tasks at hand.

So when Operation Yuletide was engaged Saturday morning, they went to it with the conviction of Santa’s elves on Dec. 24.

Funny thing is, I never asked Josh and Jeremiah why they wanted the decorations up so early. I guess in my heart, I didn’t mind at all. I understood.

When I was Jeremiah’s age, I was crazy about Christmas, too. I’d write one Christmas list, then scrap it for a newer, more refined version. I’d pore over every detail of the Sears and Best (remember that store?) catalog and mark up the books. With every Saturday morning commercial, I’d scratch something out, so I could fit in the newest toy or game by Hasbro or Milton Bradley.

Now, as a parent, the feeling is different. I do not make elaborate lists for myself anymore. I worry about what I will get my wife and what we can help Santa with on the boys’ list.

But, deep down, I think I really am that same kid who dreamed of Hot Wheels racing sets or the replica of James Bond’s Aston Martin. The same little guy who would climb up into Santa’s lap in downtown Roanoke’s Leggett store while Bing Crosby crooned “White Christmas” over the loud-speaker.

I need a little Christmas myself.

The memories of the holidays take me back, but they also remind me that my sons are only young once. Before you know it, they will moving into high school, off to college and into their own lives.

Right now, however, Christmas lists, baking cookies, buying presents for each other and taking those special trips to see Christmas lights are still here and now.

So I must take the time to savor these days of twinkling lights and Christmas wreaths. Why not make last a little bit longer?

***

SHAMELESS PLUG DEPARTMENT: This weekend, be sure to catch “West Side Story” at Eastern View High School.

The classic musical will be performed by a talented group of EVHS Cyclones and CCHS Blue Devils.

The performances will be in Eastern View’s auditorium and the shows are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 and $5 at the door.

Jeff Walker is a community columnist who lives in Culpeper. He is the drama teacher at Eastern View High School. He appears Wednesdays in
the Star-Exponent. E-mail
.