Man, do I love Christmas. Not as much as a friend of mine, who e-mails every so often throughout the year with messages that say "only 187 days until Christmas," but definitely as much or more than most.
I love Christmas music. I love Christmas decorations. I love Christmas movies. I love Christmas spirit. I love Christmas presents (giving, of course). I love Christmas tastes. I love Christmas smells.
Eggnog is great stuff. I've taken a liking to the
light kind. But even then I still throw in a little nonfat milk. Mmm mmm good! Eggnog shakes are something of a delicacy. Who has the best - McDonald's or Jack In The Box? Are there others? Please let me know!
What about the smells? The holiday blends brand of candles, cookies, coffees, teas, etc.... it all warms the heart and the soul.
And don't forget a Christmas tree. Real, of course. Let me regale you with a tale as old as 3 weeks ago:
The week before Thanksgiving my wife and two daughters and I went out to Home Depot for something trivial. As we step out of the car into the parking lot, something catches my nose. It's the faint hint of a Christmas tree (what are they...pine?). I got all excited.. "Smells like Christmas" I told my wife. She could smell it too. So I look and low and behold they are setting up Christmas trees in the parking lot.
I never knew you could buy them at Home Depot. They're really trying to become some kind of superstore here...I saw turkey fryers and Disney Princess tv's inside. But that's another story.
Anyway, as we're getting the girls out of the backseat (they are 4 and 5) I'm anxious to have them experience the first 'taste' of Christmas this year. So I ask, "Can you smell that girls?" - blank stares - "Smells like Christmas trees! Exciting!" - veiled apathy - "Can't you smell it?"
It was then that my world came crashing down and I realized how I have failed as a father thus far (hyperbole, of course) - My kids don't know what Christmas smells like!!
The first Christmas with my wife was spent in a tiny one bedroom apartment. We hung a (fake)wreath on the counter behind our stove, covered it in a strand of lights, and put gifts underneath it. We took a picture of it and it's a sad thing to behold, but always puts a smile on my face. At least it was something!
The next few years were spent in a townhome, now up two-bedrooms, and the girls came along in those years. However, we never did much more decorating than that. Then a 3-bedroom townhome for 3 years. We bought a tiny fake tree (18-in. high) that we set on a counter, hung some garland, lit some candles, had some lights inside, put presents in the living room somewhere, that was it.
Now we're in a larger townhome, but still a townhome, and I was thinking about getting a tree. I don't know why I hadn't done it the past 6 years...yeah I do. Just no space. Now we have some space. But since it hasn't been around, my kids have no idea what is involved with a real tree. My parents bought a fake one from Costco some years back with attached lights and everything. It looks GORGEOUS...but can you smell it? Heck, no. But when I was growing up, we got a real tree every year. A fun experience, really, and something that always signified Christmas for me. So when I thought of all the other Christmas memories growing up, I realized that we had many traditions. They were little, and I didn't quite know it back then, but when I stepped out of the car at Home Depot and took a whiff of the air it all came rushing back to me. So much so that I had to smile and what I smelled!
And there I was, having denied it to my girls for all the years they've been alive! For shame!!! They don't even know what it smells like...boo-hoo!
So this Saturday we are getting a tree....Something I've never done on my own (i.e. - without parents). Something I've never done with my family (i.e. - wife and kids). Something I haven't done in many many years. And I can't wait!
To buy a tree holder/stand/thing...to stick that stump on there and watch it sway this way and that and maybe get it straight.....to drop needles all over the living room while carrying it around....to hang lights and ornaments and,( dare i say?), icicles...to see my daughters' faces as we put presents underneath a tree, OUR tree, and watch the space fill up...
To wake up in the morning and come home after work, open the door, and take in the aroma. It's almost Christmas!
Can you smell it?
