The Best

Someone asked me the other day, “What was the best Christmas gift you ever got?”. That’s a hard question. That’s like asking you who was your best friend growing up, or who was the prettiest girl in grammar school. There’s really not one easy answer to those kinds of questions, but that one question does start you thinking about all the Christmases in the past. Way back then, in small-town America, the Christmas season really got started on the day the new Sears and Roebuck Christmas catalog came in the mail. If you had brothers or sisters, you had to fight to get a look at it. It was shiny and colorful and thick and even smelled like Christmas. If memory serves me, it usually arrived in early November. All the pages were filled with the happiest kids in the world playing with all the latest and greatest toys, and it was wonderful. If I had spent as much time studying multiplication tables and adverbs and adjectives as I did looking at the Sears and Roebuck Christmas catalog, I might have made it into the Senior Superlatives. Probably not, but anyhow the catalog got the Christmas spirit and the shopping season going. If you were lucky, you turned over your carefully considered list of selections from the catalog, including the catalog numbers, to your parents, and hoped that Santa would take care of the rest. You didn’t ask too many questions, but just to cover your bets, you also made the rounds of all the stores downtown where another land of Christmas delights was waiting. Today, it’s a different world altogether. The varied offerings of the many small stores that once circled the square downtown are no longer, and the thrill of the Sears catalogs arrival has become just a footnote in our memory. But as you might imagine, the workload for present-day Santa is busier than ever in this day of super-sonic cyber-Christmas. The top ten chart of requested items from the North Pole is slightly different these days. If you are wondering what’s going on in the minds and the gift-lists of the good little boys and girls this December, check out the “Letters to Santa” section of this week’s Forest Blade. This will bring you up to date on the latest computer games, the latest styles for the 7- to 10-year-old “fashionistas”, and the newest superheroes that are currently saving the world. Also, you will find out who the Superhero Teachers are that helped these enterprising students get their letters off to “Santa.” It’s quite entertaining and educational. Bless those teachers and parents and grandparents who all helped out.

Well, it’s all coming right down to the wire. By now, I hope you have the stockings hung by the chimney with care, the packages all wrapped, and the milk and cookies ready. As I close, I admit I can’t really identify that “best Christmas gift I ever got”, but just like Christmas itself, they were all the best in their own way and in their own time. This Christmas perhaps will be remembered because of the lessons we learned in grace, hope and resilience as we move ahead from Helene. The amount of local caring, help and donations to help recover continues to be inspiring and amazing. This Christmas will be different, but I hope you will surround yourself and your family and friends with your “best” during the holidays and beyond. I would also like to offer my thanks to you for spending a little time each week sharing my scattered thoughts and random ramblings. I appreciate it, and I wish you all a very sincere Merry Christmas!

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