By Rick Houser
As we end the fall and dive into the winter there comes a feeling that since we are going to be indoors more our lives are also going to slow down a good bit. As the kids go trick or treating and jack-o- lanterns and black cats seem to get center attention, the holiday seems to arrive out of almost nowhere. Before we hardly have time to get the old pumpkins thrown away, we are buying up a big old turkey to roast and we all come together to honor the harvest end and our families get together to celebrate Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving arrives and we all gather as much as we can and at its end, we feel like all of autumn’s hustle and bustle is finally over. If that thought comes into mind, you had best get it deleted quick. You see the longest preparation a holiday takes is just showing up. Yes, it is time to begin preparing for Christmas. No other holiday on our calendar needs as much time to get ready for and no other holiday is looked forward to as much as Christmas.
It seems that the day after Thanksgiving is exactly when Christmas shopping begins. As a matter of fact awhile back that first day became known as “Black Friday”. Yes there is a day where shoving and pushing and being forceful all in the name of Christmas occurs. That day is followed by “Cyber Monday”. To me the Monday way sounds calmer and better (even if it is new tech). In no way and by no means do these two days take care of all the shopping that this one holiday calls for? (At least not in this day and age.)
Please don’t get me wrong about the need to shop so much. The major difference is we shopped at a slower pace and there was much less that had been created that now falls into th “we must have it” category. One example would be the Christmas tree. In my youth and into my adulthood a Christmas tree was a real tree that was cut off at the ground and carried into the house. Today most any store will gladly sell you an artificial tree. Not until “A Charlie Brown Christmas” had I ever seen an artificial tree and the one in that cartoon was aluminum.
While at home on the farm it was up to my brother Ben and myself to wrap up, go out, and cut down a cedar tree. Two reasons we picked this tree were because it was an evergreen and their fragrance could fill a house. Somewhere in the 1980’s we got into artificial trees and would for some years revert back to a real tree then remember just how much work goes into a real tree.
The need for garland was covered by stringing popcorn on a string and wrapping it on the tree or making a paper chain out of construction paper. Sometimes snowflakes could be created from paper and hung on the tree. Yes, lights had to be purchased but here also the variety was limited. Ours looked like the ones you might use outdoors as they were much bigger than the twinkle lights like the ones in the stores today and maybe have 24 to 36 light bulbs on a strand. The Christmas lights were made so that if one bulb would burn out the entire strand went out. So then, we would spend a lot of time moving a new bulb from socket to socket until you found the one that had caused the problem and then enjoy the colorful lights.
By today’s standards a new string of twinkle lights comes at least 100 bulbs per strand. (Imagine how long finding a burnt out bulb would take now?) In addition, when we bought a strand of bubble lights I felt like we had hit the highest level of modern technology.
One more area that took time and I doubt is hardly used any more was ordering presents through the “wish book catalogs.” I know my Mom along witt many Moms did order a lot this way, as like I said there was just too much to do in so little time. These days it feels like we do more getting together at work with your coworkers and exchanging gifts there and the same thing at any organization you belong to. These times are enjoyable but are also time consuming.
In addition, the exchanges add up to more gifts to shop for. (Or these days a person can opt for a gift card as an easy out. I recall that the biggest thing I had to do was to get an exchange gift for the Christmas party at school each year. (I have always felt I never got in return what I had given.) Probably because I really wanted what I gave in the first place.) By the way, since Mom was a room mother, the Christmas party along with baking cookies for it took some of her time also.
I mentioned cookies and my Mom loved to bake cookies. She did so because we as a family encouraged her to do so and she made too many to give to folks for the holidays and of course those extra events such as school Christmas parties and gatherings at church and Eastern Star, etc. Now as Mom was in the kitchen my sister Peg was the person who was in charge and creative at making items to decorate with. Peg seemed to stay up on decorating and what was new (never did she use the term “en vogue”.) Since we lived on a farm with an abundance of evergreen trees Peg would gather up many of the pine cones along with cutting broken branches into twigs and then place them in the windows and tie a red ribbon around the greenery. To this, she would place a centered candle that only she would light and extinguish in the evenings.
Therefore, if you take all of the items I have talked about it should be easy to see why it just might be that a month was needed to get ready. In addition, as all this was being put into place item by item seemed to pull us more and more into the spirit of the season. Between the greenery and the cedar, our home smelled right for the season. This time of year does come with a little more to do and these days are done quite differently than in days gone by but they will continue to be some of the best of your year. So keep on getting ready.
Rick Houser grew up on a farm near Moscow in Clermont County and loves to share stories from his youth and other topics. If you would like to read, more of his writing Rick has two books on the market for sale. You can reach Rick at houser734@yahoo.com. Or just write to him at P.O. Box 213 Bethel,
