Friday, December 24, 2021
(December’s fullest “Cold Moon” is Waning Gibbous; January’s fullest “Wolf Moon” will rise on the 17th.)
In America, this time of year trumps Thanksgiving as a period for reflecting, remembering, and cherishing. Because, Thanksgiving is a symbolic holiday and Christmas is very personal. We all were little on first learning to anticipate, hope, expect. We anxiously awaited “the Day”. Unless we were lucky and allowed the night before to open one or more gifts.
Last night through dreaming and awakened periods, my brain replayed early Christmases. I relived the excitement of something special soon happening. I remembered, presents wrapped, tearing off wrappings, and the flat pleasure of finding socks and practical items. There was a thrill of one special gift, sometimes too large to wrap and brought from hiding in the garage.
My family’s history was Jewish, we never had a Christmas Tree. My mom had grown up in an Orthodox household, but she didn’t deprive her modern kid in our small town of what my school chums would experience. Mom wrapped and stacked gifts which I stared at and mentally drooled. In the after-Christmas periods, we school friends shared excitedly.
This year, more Christmases rush through my head. I work part-time in a store that carries varied merchandise. A busy venue with folks seeking gifts. Routinely crossing my check-out counter are clothing, jewelry, plants and decorative items, food delicacies, hardware and construction tools, animal foods and gear, and hot/cold mugs. To name a few.
So, I can’t get my mind off childhood Christmases. Vivid are my school-yard friends, and my most-favorite gift: a Rainbow Girls’ shawl, all complete, with seven colors of fabric stitched around its bottom.
Nearing closure to this holiday, store customers seem somewhere between happy and on-edge. While checking people out, I try to connect with the happy, avoid triggering the on-edge. Today, I’ll be working, it’ll be busy, and thankfully, nearly over.
Except for memories and gifts. And except for next week’s busy-crazy returns and exchanges.
Dear Friends: Wishing for all of you, enjoy a Wonderful Christmas Eve. Diana
Diana's Morning Blog 