Saturday, December 27, 2008

You know you're getting old when...

you do things for nostalgia, not because you necessarily want to. I pondered this thought as I sat through another Christmas Carols event at our local common. When I say another, it was about our tenth, with last year being such a disaster that we nearly didn't front this year. Yet, traditions are hard to break. The children running amok were no longer my own — they had kindly attended but spent most the evening chillaxing with their friends. Santa did make an appearance and recorder man was back again, after missing in action last year. Our brave group sang along with the booklet, even when the words were misspelled or totally different (ie several lines missing). But numbers were down, and old faces missing and the stage and jazz group from Christmas past was nowhere to be seen. There was no checking out the neighbour's Christmas light displays this year. The egg nogg was great, thanks Trev, but two glasses were enough and I was hankering for bed. Bah and humbug. And then the miracle. All that time spent getting the 'right' presents paid off. It really is better to give than receive. In fact, it's quite a selfish act. I just won't tell anyone...
I think we should have Christmas once a month. Take the time to say Merry Christmas to complete strangers. When really, what we are saying is, hey, I see you. You're worth saying hi to. Aren't we lucky to be alive...