You know how words trigger associations? Today my mom told me she took my niece and nephew by the Balian Mansion, and the mere mention of those two words took me far back to a sweet, sugar-cookied memory buried not so deeply in my holiday closet.
When we were kids, my parents would load us in to their neon green VW bus and drive us down to this huge, pink mansion - adorned with Christmas lights and stuffed elves and reindeer and snowmen. Tour buses would pull up, unloading families and tourists and children in front of this ornate, over-tinseled, garish building. In other words? Heaven to a little girl.
I love those moments like today, when a mere mention of a word or two can trigger such a strong and positive association. In a moment's time, I was transported to a different era in my life, when I was young, believing and hopeful; a time when I dreamt about Santa and left plates of cookies for him (and ecstatically made my sisters reread the note --written by my mom -- he sent me thanking me and telling me what a good girl I was).
As you grow older and there's bills to pay, mouth's to feed, stockings to stuff, it's easy to lose sight of that youthful wonderment. Particularly with the rampant commercialism of the holiday. Believe you me, the running story of this holiday season is how everyone's being boxed down by the consumer next to them fighting for the same "'Builder Bob" play set.
But that moment I had today, succinctly remembering the childlike zeal I had as a 7 year old picking out Christmas gifts from Pick 'n Save for my siblings, laying out the stocking my mom made for me the year I was born, putting my own Fizzle box of ornaments on the Christmas tree and waking up at 6 in the morning and being corraled in our bedroom until our parents could wake all the kids up so we could run to our toys together...it's wonderfully priceless.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
How easily we can lose sight of those all important things. I remember getting up while it was still dark and quietly--with my two younger brothers--watching Captain Kangaroo until my parents would get up. One of my fondest memories is going to the Christmas Eve mass where a children's pagent was put on. It was a highlight. Thank you for the reminder that it isn't always about what is under the tree--not that I am complaining about the things under the tree. Happy Holidays.
I love this. What a great post and reminder of those simple yet unbelievable things that absolutely make this time of year. May we all feel the fantastic glee we felt when we got to put our own little box of ornaments on the tree, when we painstakingly put that plate of cookies together for Santa, when we said our prayers and tried to sleep but couldn't because we were just too darn excited. I wish that magic for all of us. Thanks for reminding me. And I hope that you and yours celebrate those memories and make some new ones this year! Happy Christmas, Fiz!
Amen sister, Christmas nostalgia is so wonderful to recapture.
the other day I caught a whiff of my grandfather's feed store He's been dead 6 months and the store has been gone for 10 years.
There is nothing better than the unexpected tesseract. Absolutly nothing.
What a beautiful post... how are you Miss Fizz? It has been awhile. I know with the new job and the dogs to care for and all the burglaries (!) you have your hands full.
Hope you are doing well and that 2007 is a year full of positive momentum and an Iron Man finish for you!
Post a Comment