Merry Christmas

By Bud Focht

Hi, my name is Bud and I wanted to say Merry Christmas.

Not Happy Holidays. Certainly not Merry Xmas.  But Merry Christmas.

You don’t really hear that much anymore, in this politically correct world we live in.  Everyone says “Have a Happy Holiday.”

Like someone would really be offended if you said “Merry Christmas” and they don’t celebrate Christmas.  I wouldn’t be offended if someone said “Happy Hanukkah” to me.  I might give a puzzled look if someone said to me “Happy Kwanza,” but it certainly would not offend me.  “Happy Bodhi Day” would be appropriate if I was practicing Buddhism, which I could be mistaken for if my name was spelled Budd.  “Happy Festivus” is common among fans of the old television show Seinfeld.

In the Great White North (Canada) the McKenzie Brothers, Bob and Doug, might wish you a “Happy Boxing Day.”

I prefer “Merry Christmas.” Always have.

The Christmas season has many traditions. One is all of the television specials and movies.

I haven’t seen the Charlie Brown Christmas show in a few years, but that was always the go-to special when the kids were growing up.  My kids didn’t know who Burl Ives was but they did know his character, Sam the Snowman, the narrator in the Rudolph movie.

I have three movies I have to watch every Christmas. White Christmas with Bing Crosby, Scrooged with Bill Murray and Love Actually with a large ensemble, including Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson and Keira Knightley.

To many people, Christmas is all about the presents. Buying them, receiving them, wrapping them. Finding just the right one for someone special. Finding anything affordable for someone you work with.

When I was little my sister would always find an excuse to go downstairs before the sun came up Christmas morning to see what Santa had left under the tree. And of course, being a good little brother, I had to go with her.

I remember my father telling the story of one Christmas when he had to assemble a gift that took forever, and they had just gotten to bed about five minutes before we came running down the steps.

When our kids were little Terry and I would take them to a tree farm to cut down the Christmas tree every year. The kids would pick out the tree and take turns with the hatchet and saw until it was time for me to step in and finish the job.

The kids were always surprised how small the tree looked in the open field and how big it became once we brought it inside the house.

The big red stockings with the kids’ names on them hung from the mantel above the fire place and were usually filled with pens and pencils for school, tic tacs, gum, life savers, little packets of tissues. You know, things they sell at the checkout line at the grocery store. Even the dog and cat had stockings, filled with bones, squeaky toys and cat nip.

Christmas Eve would be one of the few times we actually had a fire going in that fire place. 

Where I lived growing up we could get both the New York City and Philadelphia television stations on our antenna (for you youngins an antenna is what you needed before there was cable TV), and WPIX, channel 11 in New York, would air the Yule Log Show, which was just a fire burning in a fireplace while playing Christmas music. Our house did not have a fireplace but my father would put on that show every Christmas Eve. He used the same old jokes every year, too, going up to the TV and rubbing his hands together like he was warming them from the fire, or yell at me “Don’t sit too close to the set, you’ll get burned.”

My kids would usually receive one big gift each and a few smaller ones. I remember one year they all received Starter jackets. Cabbage Patch dolls were hard to find when they first came out in the mid-80s but we managed to get one. Over the years sleds, Big Wheels and motorized (battery) cars evolved into bicycles. And there were always dolls, ice skates, roller blades, basketballs, soccer balls and baseball bats and gloves. And we would always get some type of board game or trivia game so we could all enjoy each other’s company playing the game.

Eventually the kids were old enough to hang out at the mall with their friends, so their big gift became a gift certificate, so they could do their own shopping.

The best part of Christmas, for me anyway, was the fact that we were all together. When I was a kid we would have something at our house then travel to my grandparent’s house. (We didn’t have to go over a mountain but we did go through the woods to get to grandmother’s house.)

That is a tradition I continued with my family. We would have something at our house then travel a short distance to my parent’s house, where my sister and her daughter would be, for more presents and Christmas dinner.

Now that the kids are grown and have their own lives, I am looking forward to Christmas for that reason. The opportunity for all of us to be together.

The day after Christmas I will take Terry up to New England so she can visit her mother and a few of her siblings. Last year, once we knew something was wrong with Terry but before we found out it was Alzheimer’s, I made a last minute decision to take Terry to New England for a surprise visit. It was a great decision.

These occasions are something I no longer take for granted. I am afraid there will not be as many of them in our future as we would like.

I no longer worry about buying the right present for everybody. I worry about seeing the people I want to see, spending time with people I want to spend time with.

That is what Christmas is all about to me these days.

That, and of course, what Linus first said to Charlie Brown almost 50 years ago, and every year since. I believe it is called the ‘annunciation to the shepherds.’ It is from the Gospel of Luke in the King James Version of the Bible.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.

That is what Christmas, not the Holiday, is all about, Charlie Brown.

Until next time, have a happy holiday and, more importantly, a Merry Christmas,

Bud