Well Crap!

It is January 8. Here in Arkansas it is 6 degrees. It is Friday. I'm still in my bathrobe and pj's listening to Christmas music. Why? My speakers on my computer system some how got reduced from the five speakers to just two and the fidelity of the music was thin over the holidays. I just didn't enjoy the music. I found the problem, some how the wrong speaker configuration was selected and the rear speakers, sub woofer, and center speaker were turned off. So, I'm making up for the loss of full rich sounds I missed during Christmas. I've mothballed my big stereo system for a period and the computer's sound system filled in just fine, until the past holidays.

What does that have to do with adding a post to Rambling & Remembrances? I love Christmas music. The fact that it might be the TransSiberian Orchestra or Mannheim Steamroller is of no consequence. I've even got some old standards playing by Harry Connick. It is the feeling and memories that the music gives life to. I find myself getting a little emotional. I am wishing for days gone by knowing they will never be again, even if you recreated the events with the same people it will be different. This time of year I enjoy, fight and have to deal with a high level of nostalgia and sentimentality. That is part of my make up.

Now I find my self recalling the time when my first wife and I with two small children occupied a duplex on the north side of Racine, WI. We had bought some types of playthings that had to be put together. I do not exactly remember what they were, but I do recall that we had to put them together after the kids had gone to bed. I think at the time it was frustrating. With time however the edges of the picture soften and you wish you could do that again. There is no doubt that Christmas is for kids. I get tears in my eyes thinking about my little tykes rushing to the tree, eyes shining in excitement. The oohs and ahs made the experience so wonderful. Brewing coffee, eating coffee cake, playing with the gifts, watching the little ones shiver with excitement are still warm thoughts.

We always tried to have a big Christmas for our kids. There were times that I thought I would like to just go to a cabin in the north, hand make gifts, and try to connect with the spirit of the time instead of the materialism. It would not have worked, none of us really wanted that experience. Besides, I now live in a log cabin and there are just two of us on Christmas morning. It is fine, it is OK, there is no greater or lessor emphasis on the season. But I do miss the little ones, my little ones.

The fact of the matter is that I do not believe that our family practiced over consumption of material goods as the kids were growing up. There was a balance struck between need and practicality without going to excess. So I don't think Christmas spoiled the time. It enhanced the season. I talk with God just about everyday and God is not out of my thoughts for long. I have a strong sense of the presence of God. I say that because I think too often people end up critical or have a hard time dealing with the commercialization of the season. I don't. God is present in my life 365 days a year, I don't need a day in December to recommit or to be aware of God's majesty. So I don't have a problem with creating a day of excitement and pleasure for my children. They deserved it, after all they had to put up with me for all of the days of the year after that December 25th.