Christmas was always the most exciting and wonderful time of the year. The sights, sounds, colorful displays, lights, ribbons, jolly good cheer and music filled our home and our lives as we scurried about the neighborhood and city getting ready for the big day. I grew up in Boise, Idaho and we always had winter weather and lots of snow which added greatly to our “Holiday” preparation and activities. Sleigh or sled rides, outdoor bonfires, building “Frosty” snowmen, throwing snowballs, and disobeying the instructions of parents by snagging slippery free rides behind automobiles “Hooky-Bobbing” through the neighborhood streets…were all part of the fun of Christmastime.
Life was simple for us. We weren’t rich financially, but our family of five always had plenty and never went without the things we really needed.
One of my most favorite memories about Christmas was going downtown with my parents and siblings to Boise’s biggest department store located at the corner of 10th and Idaho Streets. From the middle of December until the day after Christmas, large crowds of children could be seen standing in the cold and usually snowy weather,…staring wide-eyed through two huge plate glass show windows at street level on the southwest corner of the building. The entire display area behind the two big windows was literally packed with Christmas Cheer, Christmas decorations, and Christmas toys,…hundreds and hundreds of toys…and more toys. There was a huge fully decorated Christmas tree in the center of the display, toys and goodies all over the room, and a magnificent full sized electric Lionel model train on big metal tracks encircling the whole setting all of which was anchored by Santa Claus himself! The display included every kind of toy imaginable. Some were static or fixed in place, position, and/or utility. Others were moveable and performed mechanical tasks. Oh the joy,…the total joy and delight this Christmas display was to all of its viewers. It was the store owner’s annual gift to all of the families in Boise!
The owner of the store and its chain of operation was a man named C. C. Anderson. He was a good friend of my family. He was a large gentleman and sported a full head of snowy white hair. Everywhere he went in and around town he was always in a dark business suit, white shirt and necktie. During Christmas time he also wore a big black cashmere overcoat. His pockets were always fully loaded with individual pieces of wrapped candy and chewing gum. As he walked through the crowd he would reach his big hands into his pockets and grab handfuls of candy and throw them through the air to all of the kids crowding around his special display showcase. It truly was a magic moment in time that underscored the generosity and spreading of good cheer by one of the city’s most successful businessmen.
Going downtown to see once again the magical display windows was always an exciting experience for all children…Seeing the display would never get old or boring. All of the activities of this time of year just kept getting better and happier.
Carefully woven into the Christmas tapestry of sights, sounds, people, and things were the precious and most valuable life lessons that my parents always poured and trained into us. Generosity and gratefulness to God were two of the biggest life lessons always discussed and displayed through the example set by my parents to we three children.
Mom and Dad did not play favorites to any of us kids. We were loved and respected for who we were as individuals rather than as a group of three. Family ties, commitments, and responsibilities were always very important and each of us kids were expected to make as best a contribution to the love and togetherness of the family as was possible.
As time has moved forward since my childhood days and Christmas has become more and more commercialized, all too many of the old-fashioned things, ways, activities, and family closeness seems to be fading from the scene. That is not good in my personal opinion. The specialness and love of the Christmas season is far too valuable to carelessly let slip away from our society. Keeping the Spirit of Christmas alive and well is a personal responsibility for all of us. What and how we do things today will have a massive impact on ourselves and our families in the years ahead.
As we are now entering that most special time of year, my thoughts keep taking me back to my youth. My memories serve me well as I remember the things my family did to make this Holiday Season special for all of us. As a child, Christmas was never a high-stress, out-of-control affair. Quite the contrary. It as a fun time, an all inclusive time, a time of unbelievable excitement and positive anticipation. The family seemed to draw closer together at Christmas. Love of God, country, family, friends, and total strangers was the manner and way we all lived at Christmas. “Joy To The World” was always an appropriate way to describe our activities and efforts.
I would like to share with you a few of the life lessons that were poured into my soul growing up as I did so many years ago. I desire to share these tidbits of love and happiness not as a scolding, or reprimand but rather as a source of knowledge that you might be able to implement to make your Holidays a little happier and more full of love and kindness.
1. Personal responsibility goes with every gift you receive whether it came from God or from others.
2. Parents, both husband and wife, spare no labor to make your family’s Christmas celebration ever-so-special to your entire family.
3. Parents, both husband and wife, happily and gleefully help and assist your mate in all of the chores and efforts that must be done before, during, and after the big Christmas Day event. Help one another, love one another, and joyously participate with your entire family.
4. Be totally involved and energetic as the best example for your children.
5. Make Christmas a big deal because in your children’s mind,…it really is a Big Deal!
6. Never for any reason lay any type of a guilt trip or word of complaint onto or into your children’s ears or eyes by lamenting how much work your Christmas celebration was,… or belaboring your poverty or misfortune.
7. Be energetic, up-beat, happy, and full to the brim with joy. Remember the birth of Jesus Christ is what Christmas is really all about.
8. Enjoy what you are doing for and with your children and spouse. Give, give, and give some more…it is what you are to do at Christmas….as well as throughout the year.
9. Never measure or compare what you have by what others have or had.
Lastly before we all launch into the very heart of the Christmas season, please permit me to share with you three pieces of experienced and evaluated information that may just be as good of advice as I can give you as relates to the giving of gifts to your own family members. Giving gifts to the people within your own family should be a wonderful and blessed activity. It should be a seriously considered action on your part. Giving as always is to be an unconditional act of love…just as Christ gave to all of us.
1. Forget the commercial idea that you must spend the same amount of money for each child. Such is not a good way to teach children to deny self by giving one’s best to others. Their individual needs cannot possibly all be the same, so why draw attention to the dollars spent? Sadly, I have actually witnessed people try to add up the commercial value of their “loot.” A terrible thing to do, isn’t it?
2. Material gifts are poor collateral for love. Never try to redeem poor parenting, meanness, unfairness, inconsistency, or immorality with lavish gifts. When the children eventually get this all figured out, they will think less of you instead of more.
3. Let the gifts be an expression of forgiveness, of joy, of a giving of yourself because your children and spouse and extended family are loved. Never give to others with a “you-have-to-earn-this” attitude. Make Christmas be a “give-like-Jesus-gave” season.
Permit me to share a closing point.
Teach your children to treasure and take care of each and every gift they receive. Teach them to be grateful for the generosity of those who gave the gift. Make sure they take the time to write a hand written “thank you” note to the individual givers of the gifts…regardless of who they are.
If you truly desire to make your Christmas Holiday the very best that you can make it to be…Always spare no labor to make your Christmas ever-so-special to and for all of your family.
Peace And Love to All of You………………..Poppa Bear