The Cracked Acorn: The Season

We knew it was coming and we had 365 warnings.

The season has begun and we are hearing JINGLE BELLS, FROSTY THE SNOWMAN, and THE CHIPMUNKS more times than we wish to remember. Maybe this is the reason that we do not sing these songs in the summer. THE GRINCH, CHARLIE BROWN, and A CHRISTMAS CAROL have been on TV. We older folks may know what “dashing through the snow in a one-horse open sleigh” means or know if “reindeer can really fly” and we tell no one! Before the season ends you may want to say BAH! HUMBUG to all the holiday tunes and shopping! “You’re a mean one, you really are a heel. You’re cuddly as a cactus, you’re charming as an eel. I wouldn’t touch you, with a thirty-nine-and-a- half foot pole MR. GRINCH!!

My neighbors used the warmer hours to put up outside decorations and to put Santa and the reindeer on the roof even if they do not have a chimney. While all this is happening, some are still on their mowers trying to chase down that elusive leaf and mulch it. Roofing is going on and painting and patching, could they know something that I don’t know?

Our snow plowman is retiring. No one has stepped forward to replace him. I am praying for no snow or a very light one. I hear that in China everyone turns out with a shovel and presto the snow is gone. Ha!, a billion chances that will ever happen here.

Where did I put my happy face? I am trying to get into the season’s spirit and remember what it was like when I was a child. We found our tree to decorate in the woods. All the shopping was done on Christmas Eve. Most of the time we did have snow and the very cold.

The relatives would all come to my grandmother’s large country house and we had a big meal. I always liked to hear stories about the “old days.” Getting through the winter was quite a challenge. Homes were not well heated as they are today. Wood and coal were the favorite fuels and required some tending and daily cleanup. You never heard anyone complain about high fuel bills it all depended on a trip to the woods or a trip to the coal dump.

We have come a long way! Back then the word “mall” had yet to enter our language. Every generation likes to tell the younger one what it was like way back then and they will in turn do the same. It would be nice to stick around and be here 100 years from now to see if people then will still enjoy a good season of holiday cheer and well-wishing.

Christmas is not really the reason for the season but it still catches the attention of people who do not have one thought of Christ at any other time of the year. I sigh with relief that at the end of the year I find little baby Jesus is still there in the manager and I, my fellow Christians and friends have lived another eventful and fruitful year in the world’s best nation blessed by God.

“May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and grant you peace. “ (Numbers 6:24-26)