BEST CHRISTMAS CHRISTMAS MARKETS
I Do Wish You Joy and I Wish You Happiness.
The shopping is behind you (I hope). Packages are under the tree. There’s something for the mate, (or cat), toys for the kids. You shipped a fruitcake (Amazon) to the sibling you’re still mad at for whatever the reason was.
But what did you get yourself for Christmas?
I’m not talking about THAT outfit you justified as a gift. Christmas is about memories. Which one(s) did you make for yourself?
Make the Yuletide Gay.
First of all, what is a yuletide? Once referring to a winter solstice holiday, later merging with Christmas. Loosely, the time leading up to Christmas day.
What was one of your favorite things to do the week before Christmas? Make a snowman? Make Christmas cookies? Go downtown and see the holiday windows? Who says you’re too old? The snowman doesn’t have to rival Michaelangelo’s David. Make a little one outside the kitchen window that only you can see.
When was the last time you were in the kitchen baking? Ohh the carbs, ohh the calories. Ohh the memories. I’m not saying eat cookies every day, but if you can’t have a treat at Christmas, when can you? Make half a recipe and then give them all away (a gift unto itself) but get off the couch and do it.
Drop a can of beans in a box, or a dollar in a red kettle. Make Christmas better for a stranger without expecting anything in return.
Is there one store in your town that still decorates for Christmas? If you don’t support them already, take a field trip. If you can’t purchase something, at least let them know you appreciate their decorations. Renew their Merry Christmas.
Smile. Say hello to strangers or the person from the other department at work you pass in the hall every day.
I don’t suggest sledding or skating as I hear too many unhappy stories about that. However, if you can wrap yourself from head to toe in bubble wrap, maybe that’s an option.
Let Your Heart be Light.
Stress. We have it more and more in our daily life and the holidays seem to intensify it.
Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Do it again. Now, take the next four days off. I mean, turn the stress off. No, really! You really can. Unless you did not get your mate (or mom) a gift, there is NOTHING that cannot wait until December 27. The world will not end. It will be waiting for you as soon as you open the door and let it back in.
Give your mind and body a gift. Take a nap. Take a plate of cookies across the street or hallway to a neighbor.
That foot massager you got last Christmas, get it out of the closet and use it. Treat yourself to a pedicure or leg massage. Merry Christmas!
AND put the phone on silence. You are not that important that the world can’t get by without you for a few hours. Limit your social media (including the I-phone) to only once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once before bed for the next few days.
Before reaching for the TV remote, read a poem by Clement Clarke Moore or a novella by Charles Dickens.
Dust off the VCR and watch a Christmas movie, preferably with someone. And if you need popcorn to get through it, do it.
Faithful Friends Who Are Dear to Us.
Let’s do lunch, coffee, a movie. How many times did you say that this year? How many times did you follow up on it? Set aside one hour and meet a friend for coffee or a root beer. Sit at your kitchen table and talk. Surprise yourself at how good it feels. Why did we wait so long to do this?
That person who lives in another town, pick the phone up. Don’t e.mail them, don’t text them but have a real old-fashion conversation. Hear the joy in their voice when they hear your Merry Christmas. An e.mail can’t give you that.
Happy Golden Days of Yore.
What are you doing Christmas Eve? What did you use to do?
Some people open presents, or at least one. Others go to church.
Some gather as a family and watch Jimmy Stewart movies.
Traditions can be some of the best heart medicine around.
If you do not have any happy memories/traditions of your own, start one. Why have you been waiting?
And Have Yourself a Merry Christmas.
Is there a special song, or album (I date myself) you woke up to Christmas morning? Get it out now. If you don’t have a copy, download one or go to one of the last few music shops left.
Christmas morning, let er rip. Wake every creature, including the mouse.
Coffee? Cocoa? Make the real stuff with real ingredients. Not every day, but at least on this day skip the microwave.
What other traditions or memories are you missing from your youth? Get them out.
Put a “Merry Christmas” out into the universe for all the faithful family and friends who are dear to us, who cannot be there in person. Save a spot for their memory.
And the neatest thing about everything I have suggested? You do not need to melt down a credit card to do any of them.
Wrapping Things Up With a Bow.
Wrapping up? You haven’t said one darn thing about traveling in this entire stinkin article.
Haven’t I?
Did your imagination not once travel to your mother’s kitchen, with flour on the rolling board?
Or did you not see the downtown street where every year you waited to see a specific decoration or display?
What about the memory of cinnamon and spice, or the Christmas dinner cooking?
Did you not hear, even slightly in the back of your mind, THAT song that indicated Santa had been there and you could come out of your room?
Did you not feel, even for a moment, the joy of Christmas past?
If you did not feel the “merry” Christmas season brings, then you’re right. I did not.
But, you do not have to go out the front door to travel, that’s why we have memories. And why it is important to keep making them.
I wish you a Merry Christmas and a sled full of experiences and memories in the new year.
Best Christmas Continued on Page T8. Christmas Markets Continued on T14