Waking up on Christmas morning in expectation of the day. If only we could wake every morning with that same feeling. It doesn’t make any difference if you are a small child or a grandparent, the expectation is the same. Oh I know more properly I should say it has been that way for me and I realize I am blessed. Not everyone enjoys this day, this celebration, for various reasons. But I can not assume to know or understand the feelings of others, I write in the first person. As a child I anticipated Santa Claus and all that entitled. When I had children of my own it was the anticipation of seeing their faces and sharing their happiness. With grandchildren it is a passing of tradition, a remembrance of years gone by.
 I do remember those Christmas’s of my youth, the preparation and the anticipation. I can honestly say, I was never disappointed. It isn’t because I got everything I wanted, although I admit to receiving a lot, it was and continues to be, because of others. Even when I was small I was excited for what others received, not in a way that I wanted that item, but that they were excited to get it. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. My Dad always had a can of Schaefer beer in the toe of his stocking and a carton of Pall Mall cigarettes. He was always ” surprised. ” It was a tradition at our house, the stockings were emptied first, before any gifts were unwrapped. I always got the usual, Pez candies, hard candy, pens, pencils, and an assortment of 5&10 cent goodies. It was fun to see what the others got. That was followed by the unwrapping, a short burst of excitement! The stockings remained for a while with my own children but have faded away a bit in the following years, Will that be a tradition lost? Perhaps, but all things change and evolve over time according to current sensibilities. Live trees are becoming the exception instead of the norm. This year there was a shortage. C-6 lights are rare and bubble lights a novelty once again. I have both. I also have the LED style, far more reliable, far more durable, a modern improvement. I still remember when one light went out, the whole string went out and you had to search for that. Tinsel on the tree and the admonishment to make sure not to get that tinsel in the lights!
 Today Christmas morning, 2019, I find myself anticipating once again. I’m waiting for the grandchildren, now young adults, to stop by. I find Christmas to be more a day of memories, than of moments. I suppose that is because it takes years to gather that many moments, moments enough to make memories. That is what Christmas has become, a collection of moments. Isn’t that the magic of Christmas? Moments that change our lives. Christmas is, after all, about a moment that changed the lives of everyone in the world. I haven’t forgotten about that. I have found that Christmas is about joy. Yes, gifts are exchanged and it would seem that brings the joy, but it isn’t so. The joy resides in our hearts. For on Christmas especially, we are giving of ourselves, anxious to share, grateful for the love of our family and friends. Halleluiah indeed.

With my grandmother Bennett, Brother Dan, Brother Harold and Sister Millie. Brother Dan is in Georgia, Harold, Millie and Grandma in heaven. We were all together in ’57 a moment, a moment I remember. A Christmas memory.