A CHRISTMAS LIFESAVER

It never happens at the same time each year. The trigger for it is entirely unpredictable and I have never been successful at planning it or anticipating it. I know when it arrives however and it did just that this morning, Saturday, December 17^th. Let it be known that I am now officially in the Christmas Spirit!

The lights and decorations went up three weeks ago and the Christmas tree with all its traditional adornments came shortly thereafter. The Christmas season had arrived in a visual sense but it was still somewhere off in the distance to me from a personal perspective. I go through this every year and it’s as a much a game of curiosity about when the moment will actually occur as it is the actual moment. The ambush came in a grocery store.

I had waddled into a Winco this morning to fill a few holes in the frig. The leftovers from all the holiday potlucks were dwindling rapidly. I was hobbled somewhat by a back spasm that had greeted me earlier in the week after I decided to go golfing in 40 degree weather. There’s something about stabbing back pain and stiffness that can derail a person from their “gee isn’t life great” happy train.

I walked up the check out area and noticed that I had timed my approach perfectly so as to be directly behind mega carts in every aisle. I surrendered to the moment and settled behind a heavily loaded cart and a woman who had to be shopping for her entire neighborhood. She seemed pleasant enough however and looked to be around my age group. I felt comfortable that any small talk that may spontaneously erupt would be casual and pleasant. Yes……….I think about things like that!

I stood next to the end of the loading belt and began perusing the idiot magazines while I waited my turn. And that’s when it happened. I glanced down to take a peek at this lady’s grocery selections and sitting on the belt, right in front of me, was an item that caught me completely off guard. There were actually several of them in fact and I could not believe what I was looking at! I hadn’t seen them in thirty years! Instantly and uncontrollably a flood of Christmas memories from my childhood came rushing back into my consciousness. I was completely overtaken by a sudden giddiness and wonderment. I stared at them without blinking or moving for what seemed like five minutes. The Christmas spirit just ambushed me again and it came in the most unlikely form. The Christmas book of Lifesavers!!

Like so many other children, Christmas for me and my siblings was truly a magical time. The thrill of Christmas morning and the other worldly appearance of the Christmas tree surrounded by presents was beyond description. And although memories fade and childhood turns into adulthood, some things are never forgotten. Every Christmas, my brother, sister and I got a book of lifesavers from Santa Claus in our stocking! I would open the book and marvel at the amount of Lifesavers rolls I had in my possession! It seemed to me at the time that I had a something close to a lifetime supply. That sense of fulfillment and delight apparently imprinted itself into my memory forever because who would have thought that 40 plus years later I would see those very lifesaver books sitting on a grocery store check out belt a week before Christmasand react this way!

I casually commented to the lady that I didn’t know they still made those Lifesaver books. She produced a smile that could end wars and her answer floored me. This stranger effectively peeled away the last layer of my curmudgeon Grinch-like crust;

She told me she grew up in a modest home with two brothers and every Christmas they all got Lifesaver books in their stockings. It was one of her fondest memories as a child during Christmas and she continued the tradition with her kids because it was such a special treat and her children loved to get them in their stockings. And although her kids are now grown and starting families of their own, they still expect that Lifesaver book to be there for them each Christmas.  

The entire time she was talking to me I was still glancing down to look at the Lifesaver books. I was running a speed reel in my head of so many childhood Christmas memories. I was in a state of disbelief that something so simple could instantly pull me back through an entire lifetime and make me a little boy again if not for just a moment.

We talked for a few more minutes and I told her of my similar childhood connection with these Lifesavers and how just the sight of them alone affected me. She told me, “I know the feeling!” After a couple of additional pleasantries and smiles she packed her remaining items and left.

I did not continue the Lifesaver tradition with my family and I’m not sure why. After listening to the woman at the store I wish I had. I have a grandchild now and he will experience his first Christmas in a week. I had to relinquish my place in line at the store today to pick up something I should have picked up 26 years ago. And it seems my back pain isn’t all that bad after all.

I sincerely hope everyone has had their “moment” during this holiday season and we can all relish the magic that this time of year can produce. I’ll be back to my old self next year!

Merry Christmas!

CHRISTMAS

The scene was a familiar one and scarcely different then in so many years past. The aftermath of the Thanksgiving meal and the superfund site that had developed in the kitchen. It would take weeks to clean; or at least a couple of hours with some help. I was not as intimidated by the huge mess however as I was fearful of what it represented.

For several days prior to the creation of this kitchen mess, the Orwellian media machine had been hard at work programming dull, listless, beaten down minds into believing with fervent obedience that they were to go out at midnight, stand in long lines with other I Robots and spend a lot of money. Black Friday had now been backed up to Black Thursday. It seems Thanksgiving doesn’t move enough products off the shelves anymore and is losing it’s “A” holiday rating. The meaning of this family feast has been historically revisited to the point where it’s anyone’s guess as to why we even celebrate it. Revisionist historians have taken over the internet and the professional America haters have taken full advantage.

Well at least there’s Christmas! Thank God!............. What was that? What do you mean I am not allowed to say God? I thought Christmas was a celebration of the bir……….what? I can’t say Jesus either because I risk offending other religions? Well isn’t the origin of the holiday for the very re………huh? Holiday? From this point on I’m to refer to Christmas as the Holidays? When did this happen?  

It happens every day in this country. Just this week a second grade teacher announced to the whole class that there was no such thing as Santa Claus and that their parents had been lying to them all this time.

It happens in Texas. A Texas School board has ordered that no displays representing Christmas or celebrations relating to Christmas will be allowed on school grounds. Their rational was that it may offend other religions……….

It happens at the top. The emperor was quoted during his 2008 emperor campaign that the hard working middle class citizens of Pennsylvania cling to their religion and guns and show antipathy for those who do not share their beliefs. He said it with complete disdain. He has a difficult time hiding his real feelings.

It happens in the courthouse, where our founding principles are being eroded day by day. A federal judge last month ruled that the rights of high school Mexican nationals celebrating Cinco de Mayo on American soil trump the rights of American high school students who wish to show their pride in their country by wearing T shirts bearing the American Flag. The judge ruled that it might offend the Mexican national students who were walking around the school campus waving the Mexican Flag. Freedom doesn’t ring in Morgan Hill California at Live Oak High School. 

It happens in the media……..radio talk show host Don Imus recently had a guest on his program who advocated socialism and the emperor’s plan to implement it as the greatest thing for America. When Imus noticed that his guest was purposefully avoiding using the word Christmas during their conversation, he asked this person why. The response was immediate and forceful. “Christians aren’t the only ones living in this country so we need to get away from this whole Christian thing. The holidays are for everyone.” Imus then asked him if Muslims celebrate this time of year. Radio silence……………….

Christmas as a religious celebration is near death, and survives only in the hearts and homes of those who refuse to abandon it. So many people live in this country now that have no connection to either its founding Judeo Christian underpinnings or its basic founding principles at all. They are simply here to take full advantage of the benefits that those founding religious and moral principles made available. The melting pot philosophy is no more then a vestigial phrase anymore. We are becoming increasingly tribal and significantly separate. Look around.

Atheist progressives have worked feverishly for years to turn Christmas into a completely secular experience. You will spend a lot of money like you are told to do by the television or computer. You will go get a tree and throw lights up on your house. You will run around like a headless chicken grabbing whatever you can in order to complete you shopping list. You will have a bunch of “Holiday” gatherings and listen to Karen Carpenter sing. You will start the new year either broke or in debt.

This year I will still say Merry Christmas to everyone I speak to. I am a broken machine that cannot be re-programmed by the new progressive mind benders. And when the day comes that the emperor sends the Attorney General’s swat team to come get me for using a forbidden religious term, I will say it to them. If someone says happy Hanukah to me or any other religious expression of celebration that our country used to protect, I will delight in saying it back. Religious freedom is just that. Socialists know that religious warfare can have the same result as class warfare. Well not up in here!!

People all over the world have come to this great country to escape religious persecution and oppressive tyranny. Find them and talk with them. What they will tell you about their observations here in America will make your blood run cold.

This Christmas season let’s return our souls to the starting line. Smile at others and look at them. Do something genuine and positive for somebody. Don’t buy into the divisiveness and ugly human behavior that is so prevalent in the advocacy media. A storm is coming and the core elements of our beliefs will be put to the ultimate test in the not so distant future. I still believe we have what it will take to maintain our religious and personal freedoms. Its time to huddle up America. Bring it on………

This country may someday celebrate another birth. The re-birth of America.

Merry Christmas to all of you and God Bless America!