We took one of our granddaughters to the Christmas Festival at a theme park when she was two. And she loved it! There were lights everywhere, exciting music performances and a great Christmas parade. But there was one thing that impressed her so much, and she talked about it all year long - the Living Nativity. We got to see a portrayal of the angels' appearance to the shepherds, the visit of the Wise Men, and best of all, Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus in the Manger. From that night on through the year, when we would mention that theme park, the first thing she associated with it was "Jesus" no matter what time of year it was.
Having had two teenage boys who loved football, there was one Christmas gift that was a sure hit - a new leather football. And seeing how it was a rare 60-degree Christmas morning, do you think we were going to just sit around the Christmas tree and admire that ball? No! They went right outside and did what you're supposed to do with a football.
Right after Thanksgiving, I make my annual pilgrimage to the Christmas corner of our garage. I did it last year, and I brought out Christmas. Now, we've been accumulating ornaments and decorations for a lot of years now, and it's always a big deal for the family when they make their annual re-entry; all those decorations come back into our life again. You know, the house is actually alive with Christmas right now. Well, I mean for a while. But before very long, I will reverse that exercise, re-pack everything in their aging boxes, and put them back in storage for another year.
It was the biggest event of the year in the little town of Cornwall - the annual Christmas pageant, starring many of the people of the town. When it came time for casting the various parts, every parent, of course, was pushing their son or daughter to be included. On audition day, it didn't take long to match every part with just the right person.
There's just no better time to have a baby boy than Christmastime. My parents did, we did. Not my wife and me! That would really be a Christmas miracle! No, it was our son and daughter-in-law.
And our family was able to say, with the ancient prophecy of Jesus' coming, "to us a child is born; to us a son is given" (Isaiah 9:6 ). And what a baby boy he was, charging into the world at ten pounds, ten ounces!
The little kid with the round head and the pitiful tree! He's become a regular part of America's Christmas. Our kids watched "The Charlie Brown Christmas" when they were little, and that thing's been around so long, now their kids love it and their parents never stopped loving it.
The occasion was a city-wide art contest. They were told to paint paintings on the subject of "Peace." Well, you can understand the judges were attracted to this beautiful "pastural" scene that a local painter had painted. You probably didn't know that was a word, "pastural." Well, it was a green pasture with puffy white clouds and this beautiful blue sky and a little boy going by with a fishing pole over his shoulder, little quiet brooks and birds flying around. That got second place.
The barber shop I used to go to was definitely a man's world, and you got more than a haircut when you went there; you got an ear full. See, something seems to happen when men sit down in that barber chair. It's as if they were administered truth serum, and they start to suddenly talk openly about their relationships, and their marriage, and their kids, and their frustrations, whether you want to hear it or not.
I have two adult friends who own Princeton University sweatshirts. Now, Al has one because he put in four very challenging years at that university and he graduated from there. And the other day I met a friend, Dave, at the grocery store, and he had his Princeton University sweatshirt on. I said, "I didn't know you went to Princeton?" Well, you know me; I get most of my exercise jumping to conclusions. No, he informed me that he had bought that shirt at a discount store for $12. He said, "Oh, I didn't go to Princeton, I just wear the shirt!"
Well, I watched it as a kid, and then my kids watched it, and now my grandkids are watching it. Yep! The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade has been around for a pretty long time! And those Rockettes, Well, the announcer said they've been around for over 50 years! That's just amazing they can still get their legs off the ground at that age isn't it?
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