Most would expect that I would write something about Christmas… since we are very close to the matter at hand. Yet. I probably won’t. I have never been a big fan of Christmas. I don’t care for those sappy Holiday songs. And that Elf on the Shelf Dude. That little fella’ just creeps me out.

I like the other, more notable Holidays. Like “All Architects Day” of the “Celebration of the Independence of Boat-Bottom Painters”…. to name just a couple.

But Christmas. Well.

I guess at some point I probably liked Christmas. Actually, now that I think back to when I was a kid…. I sure did look forward to the date. The anticipation of Santa Claus… riding his sleigh through the winter night sky. I swear…. when I was about 7 years old… I thought I heard the bells of the reindeer jingling in the frozen silence of my bedroom.

Oh. The cookies. I loved the Christmas Cookies… and candies. We would get a box of Esther Price Candy every year. I never was privy to the coding of the chocolate swirls on top. So I would always get stuck with the gross solid fudge nothing-squishy chocolate. My favorite were the light chocolate butter creams.

Mom and Dad always made a big deal of hanging our stockings by the chimney with care. We each had our own…. they were made of felt and had our names on them in sparklies. We would get it filled twice. One on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (or also St. Nick’s Day)…. and then again on Christmas morning. I loved this.

And having Hot Chocolate first thing in the morning. Actually… the whole day seemed to be a feasting melee. My favorite meal of the year.. .. because we always had ham, cheesy potatoes and green bean casserole. This was manna from heaven for me.

But the opening of the presents. Now that was party time. It was just a free for all. Find the presents with your name on them and have at it. The wrapping paper would fly through the air like feathers from a busted pillow. There was no looking back once things got rolling.

I don’t remember many of my presents. But there were a few standouts. My first magic trick. I loved that. Then a few years later… I got a whole magic set. Presto. Chang-o. I was a magician.

Of course I always loved my Dr. Seuss books. And my Curious George books too. They were magical. I would read them and go far, far away.

The year I got the Time Machine was awesome too. But that doesn’t happen for another 8 years or so.

But probably the thing that intrigued me the most was the whole notion of Santa Claus, his family… and all his little minions… up there at the North Pole….. tinkering away in the workshop. The Flying Reindeer. The Abominable Snowman and Dennis the Dentist. It all seemed so magical to me.   And I am pretty sure that I have always loved magic.

At any rate… I am not going to write about Christmas. Everyone is blogging about it right now. And since I was never very big on the actual holiday…. and I can’t stand blogs….

Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store. – Dr. Seuss