My 50th Christmas

Fifty Christmasses. I swear I can remember all of them. When I was a very young man, my mother had a tradition of making anise candy. Of course both the red anise candy and green anise candy would be represented. Anise candy drives the rest of my family nuts but I cannot smell that scent without being magically transported back in time...like my 13th Christmas, when we made 127 pounds of anise candy and it snowed about 13 inches the day before Christmas eve. School was letting out early anyway and we got a very special treat. It snowed and snowed and snowed. Being in a rural area, this was always a treat for me because we would get very innovative in our wintertime amusement. Like taking cardboard that we had saved up over the summer and using it (wax side down)as a handy dandy sled. You could end up across the road when conditions were right. It would be so quiet when it showed in the country. The silence would be deafening. My brother was in Vietnam and he was supposed to be coming home with his new son. This was in Ava, when we lived 4.34 miles from nowhere. The snow was piling up and I was sure the news was bad. He had to fly into Springfield and then by the Grace of God get 60 miles away in a driving snowstorm. My grandfather (God rest his profane soul) went to get him in a Chevy truck of dubious reliability. I could only imagine...my 21 year old brother (just home from Vietnam and then this happens), his wife and son in the front seat of a basically one seat truck with my tobacco chewing grandfather cussin and spittin and bitchin all the time.
The night grew late and no sign. Finally right before it became Christmas day, the back door flew open and in walked my brother carrying his fresh, shiny new boy. Followed closely behind by my grandfather and by brothers wife. For some reason I gathered by the looks on the faces of the people who had just walked in the door, that it had been one long trip. My mother cried, I don't think my Dad did. He waited two weeks later when my brother had to fly back to Southeast Asia. That was the first time of only two times that I saw my Dad shed a tear.

...or like my 12th Christmas. We made 56 pounds of anise candy. The Apollo Ten crew was flying around the moon and sending back pictures that were unbelievable. The only problem was that we were 60 miles from the nearest TV tower. Thank goodness we were on a hill, but the reception was tolerable at best. I was a huge follower of the space program back then, from Mercury to Gemini to Apollo. I even did my science project in fifth grade by making a very cool, realistic model of the solar system. It was an award winner. We got to open one present on Christmas Eve and I happened to open my 4" reel to reel taperecorder. I can remember to this very day how stoked I was to be able to tape stuff off of the television (little did a know I was violating numerous FCC and Federal laws). Especially an event like this. I had a whole collection of junk I taped like Hendrix on Mike Douglas and other crap. Anyway, I digress.. They were reading from the book of Genesis and B.J. Thomas' "Hooked On A Feeling" was all over the AM radio. I got a hockey game for Christamas and my brother joined us from Germany. I would play hockey with my sister as different teams and then I would make standings and stats and post them in my bedroom. What an idiot! That year was the year the I went to a barbershop in Ava and got a haircut. Nothing out of the ordinary there but..the next thing I new, I was bald. Apparently, I had made my way into this establishment right after a Christmas party. Lucky me. My brother was in the Army, and my hair was shorter than his. Both of my parents, my brother and my grandmother and grandfather were alive and that makes it very bittersweet. It was a tough time growing up like that; it was a pretty lonely existence and I remember feeling very isolated and removed. And for a guy that just developed a horrible case of acne after having been blessed with glasses the summer before, I retreated into the comfort of "my room with the radio."

This is a good Christmas. My family is healthy and happy, most of my friends seem to be in good spirit, although I wish employment of some rewarding kind for the radio people out of work. There are some incredibly talented individuals not working and it sucks. I am blessed to be working and being able to be creative.

I am VERY thankful!

Merry Christmas.