Christmases past and Christmases future

I might be getting old, but I'm really starting to enjoy Christmas. No, I don't enjoy it the way I did as a kid. Then I wanted nothing more than to open the presents and play with the toys or go sailing down a snowy hill on a new sled. Before Christmas, I would spend hours looking at the Sears "Wish Book" as the Christmas catalog was called. After Christmas, I would spend hours looking at my ViewMaster or playing with my Spirograph, Etch-a-Sketch or some other toy from a different generation.

My brother Randy and I spent many a snowy day inside playing "football" on an electric vibrator board. If my kids saw how clunky that game was, they wouldn't believe it. They are used to playing "Madden" football on the TV with realistic plays, sound effects and players being tossed in the air from some very hard tackles. Electric football on a vibrator board was nothing like that. If there were noises, you were responsible for making them.

Now, Christmas seems to touch my heart because of other things besides toys and football. One is the spiritual nature of Christmas. I like hearing the stories told of Jesus birth, both in Scripture and from the pulpit. I especially like hearing Christmas music. I'm amazed at how many great Christmas songs have been written in my lifetime. It seems that the birth of our Savior is something that continues to inspire artists to this day. We are all blessed by the inspiration of Christ's birth in a manger more than 2000 years ago.

I'm also blessed by family. I had a great family when I was a child. I loved my older brothers and sisters when we all lived under the same roof. When they moved away, I remember talking to them on the telephone when they called on Christmas Eve and we thanked each other for the presents and found out about their holiday activities.

Now as a 50-something adult, I have adult children. I also have a father who lives with us. I see Christmas differently...sort of through their eyes. This year we spent Christmas at Derek and Camila's in Minot. This was a new experience for us. Their home in Minot was beautiful and decked out in holiday finery. There were also what seemed like hundreds of presents under the tree. And a feast of ham to eat after opening the gifts. It was wonderful, and the drive to and from Minot was beautiful with snowy landscapes. The roads were in good condition and the car was warm and snug with five adults. Sometimes we listened to Christmas music on the radio and at other times we just visited in the car.

The games we played in Minot involved standing in front of a TV set and slicing fruit that appeared on the TV screen with our bare hands, or surfing down some river in a jungle setting while jumping up and down in front of the TV to keep from hitting rocks, boulders and other obstacles. Believe me, spirograph doesn't hold a candle to these new video games.

Fifteen years ago, our Christmas tradition included spending Christmas Eve in Glendive with Belinda's side of the family and then driving to Roundup for Christmas day with my parents in Roundup. Often my brothers and their families were also in Roundup. Then for the past seven years, we've spent our Christmas holidays in Mandan with our sons. We opened presents, watched movies and ate Belinda's delicious meals, such as prime rib and twice baked potatoes.

Interestingly, even Belinda's parents were not in Glendive this year. They traveled to Casper, Wyoming, to spend Christmas with their youngest daughter and her family, which includes three grandchildren under the age of six. How special was that Christmas? I would have loved to have been with them to see the Christmas lights sparkle in a two-year-old nephew's eyes. But if Grandma and Grandpa Doll can drive to Wyoming, it just goes to show that we are never too old to start new traditions.

With Christmas out of the way, we have another big event coming up, a two-week trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil. We will have a chance to meet and visit with Camila's parents and her sister and brother. In Brazil, Santa Claus is known as "Papa Noel" and Christmas is "Felix Natal." Maybe some time in the future, we will be celebrating Christmas in Brazil. It will be a far cry from spending Christmas in either Roundup or Glendive, but the world seems to be shrinking or perhaps our family is expanding. Anyway, stay tuned for future Christmas adventures.

Random observations about Christmas

The world today only slightly resembles the world I remember as a small child. Take the Christmas tree, for instance.

When I was growing up in Roundup, our Christmas tree was real. My last live Christmas tree was when I was a bachelor in Glendive. For all my married life, our trees have been artificial. And there have been several. I know there is less fire danger with a fake tree, and in the long run they are a lot cheaper than a live tree...yet I miss a real tree. For one thing, I liked the smell of the evergreen tree when it arrived in your home. Sure, you had to water it, and you probably didn't want it up for a month to dry out, but I still miss it.

I miss the tinsel that we use to hang on the real trees. You don't dare hang tinsel on a fake tree because you would never get it all off, but on the live trees, the tinsel -- which was the last thing you put on -- transformed the tree into a shimmering piece of holiday art.

I also miss the big lights we used to put on the tree. Now we have hundreds and hundreds of little lights, but I don't think they are as pretty as the big colored lights we used to put on our real trees.

The live trees might not have been as full or perfectly formed as an artificial tree, but I don't think you get the same "Christmasy" feeling with an artificial one.

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If someone was trying to figure you out by looking only at your Christmas ornaments, what would he or she find out about you? Ours clearly tell a story. First, we have two sons. The oldest was born in August 1988 and the second in July 1990. There are ornaments that welcomed and announced the arrival of both of them. 

The spy would also discover that we have traveled throughout the United States and we have souvenir ornaments from many of the places we've visited. 

We also like Grandmas. Actually most of these were purchased by Belinda for her Grandma Frohlich. However, they have been returned to us and now they honor all our Grandmas. I loved my Grandmas and I'm sure Belinda did too. Someday, our grandchildren may see them and think they are in honor of their grandparents. 

There are other tell-tale signs of our life that hang on the tree. For instance, a spy would surely thing we are Minnesota Twins fans. And, actually, we are not. The Twins simply are the closest major league team to us and we've purchased several ornaments when we visited the Metrodome to watch them play. For the record, I like the Yankees, Scott likes the Red Sox and Derek likes the Cubs. But we don't have any of those ornaments...just the Twins. 

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One of the traditions I like at Christmas is going caroling with a group from our church. This year we had 18 carolers, which is enough to nearly fill every square inch of the Mandan Living Center with music. Well, not quite, but it was fun to go down a long hall of rooms and hear the voices of the carolers pass by. First, you might hear a bass voice, then a soprano, then a tenor, next a couple of alto voices. It was pretty cool. 

This year we caroled during the afternoon. And it was a nice afternoon. Not quite shirt-sleeve weather, but certainly not winter-coat weather. 

Over the years, caroling has included different instruments. Some years we've used chimes, other years guitars. Almost every year we have Christmas bells, especially for "Jingle Bells," but this year, all we had was our voices. 

The thing that makes caroling so wonderful is the expressions we see on the faces of the people we sing to. No matter their age or condition, I believe that people are transformed into small children when they start hearing familiar Christmas carols. 

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My favorite part of the Christmas season is probably the candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve. This tradition goes back to my childhood. Once the service was over, we would go home and open presents. That's why I liked it as a child, but I like it as it adult because it stirs emotions inside of me...especially at the end of the service when we are singing "Silent Night" by the light of the candles.