Merry Christmas! And so on...

I suppose this should be titled with "Happy Holidays!" there being so many that occur at this time of year and each being important to the religion involved. But I do not celebrate many, if any, holidays. It's against my nature. I like to think of Christmas as a "catch all" holiday encompassing the others at this time of year, I hope you will not mind?

I blame this on my siblings, of course. You see, being the youngest, I was denied the opportunity to believe in the "magic" of Christmas. That's right, I found out about Santa before my memories begin. And, being the child of a man who ran The bicycle shop, my parents were off distributing bicycles all over town on Christmas Eve, abandoning me to the clutches of my older siblings. Those two enjoyed making my young life just a tad more miserable than it might have been.

And, then, of course, there was the Great Christmas Tree Ornament Battle (and/or Massacre) one year. Left to our own devices one Christmas Eve, we grew bored (I didn't, they did, I was just caught in the middle of it all). My sister and brother began by throwing tinsel at each other while finishing the decorating of the tree. Somehow, this led to the ornaments being tossed which, in turn, led to my sister filling the littler ornamental balls with that wretched smelling cheap perfume that emerging teen girls have around. By the time the parents came home, most of the glass had been cleaned up but the house wreaked.

That was my most memorable Christmas.

We always went to Grandma's house on Christmas Day (and on Easter and Thanksgiving) and did that wonderful extended family bonding that we all cherish. I saw these visits as respites from my normal family life.

But I am sure your Christmases were merrier and filled with joy and hope that this one is also.