Making Christmas Memories

OH, THOSE HALCYON DAYS OF CHILDHOOD, during the yuletide season! It was particulalry pleasant during the post war nineteen fifties and nineteen sixites, when America was as its height of prosperity, before the Viet Nam war and the welfare state began sapping the vitality out of its roaring post war economy. My parents always put up the tree about a week before Christmas, and none of this artificial tree stuff either; we got the real thing, a fine pine smelling seven footer, usually. IN those days, trees made out of metal were popular; I never did get the hang of silver colored Christmas trees, and thankfully neither did our parents. We thought our neighbors, who put theirs up on Thanksgiving, were a bit strange. Now, we do it that way too... During the week before the big day, the brightly wrapped presents would appear beneath the tree, one by one, a few every day, my eyes growing larger as the stockpile grew at an accelerating pace. Oh, the excitement! how clever of my parents, to build the excitement slowly and steadily, culminating in a Christmas Day crescendo. And here's the thing: our family was not wealthy. Not the least bit. Far from it. We were lower middle class blue collar, all the way. But, in the nineteen sixties, even the working class had some prosperity in America. My, how times have changed. Christmas morning, starting about sun up, was an explosion of colored paper, cardboard boxes, and toys. We unwrapped 'em one a time, everybody taking turns. Each unwrapping was its own moment in the spotlight. Our parents paid for their own gifts. Every year mom started a Christmas savings account at her local bank, in our (the kid's) name. By the time Christmas rolled around, my sister and I each had twelve dollars and fifty cents to spend onour parents, straight out of their paychecks. Quite an arrangement for us the kids. At one point, the amount grew to twenty five dollars a year. Inflation. In those days, this was no insignificant amount of jack. A recent survey indicated that the American people think that its a good idea to limit gift giving to about three gifts per person, and that drawing names out of a hat is a good idea, as a way to limit materialism, and financial damage. Today's kids are making their own memories, and may they all be beautiful.