Holidays - They Ain't What They Used to Be

In A Christmas Story, Jean Shepherd tells us that Christmas is the "one day of the year around which the all of kiddom revolved." That it was. I liked it better than my birthday. I got better presents. And more.

Back in those days any present worth more than three bucks was a doosey. Most were under a dollar. My parents had seven children. They could buy for the lot of us and not spend $100. And yet we all had many wonderful presents under the tree. I recently heard on the news that this year most people expect to spend less than $600. You're damn right we do! We've gone back to the old way of doing things. We might get as many as fifteen or twenty presents under the tree - and still not spend $100.

As years went by and we all got older, presents became more expensive. We had fewer and fewer, but they were better and better. Mostly. I don't know what it was that really made Christmas special. I don't think it was just presents. I would hate to think that's all it was for me. But it might have been. I was just a kid, remember.

***

Spouse and I were cautious about buying presents for each other before we were married. We only had one Christmas before we got married. We got each other bowling balls. Isn't that romantic? But we weren't sure about each other then. Within the year we were. (smiles)

Like many young newlywed couples we bought each other a variety of interesting presents, designed to encourage cooperative play. (grin) Christmas was still something to look forward to. Sigh.

Somewhere along the way things changed. Silk and lace panties were replaced by oversized cotton briefs. Body gel gave way to shaving cream - scented. Sweet smelling packages no longer contained purfume and cologne. Instead, the prize was mint creams and cashew nuts. Promises of, "we'll discuss this later - in bed", were given the proviso, "if we're still awake and if we still feel like it".

Of course, I let Spouse listen to a post on FairyHedgeHog's blog (http://fairyhedgehog.blogspot.com/2008/12/bedtime-story.html) today. That got a smile out of Spouse. I'm not sure what to make of that, but I just may unpack the silk and lace panties, the body gel and the purfume and cologne. Oh, and the Viagra. (smiles)

If Spouse reads this I am dead - dead - dead. What I wrote about when I was young was true. But, regarding Spouse and me, I kind of - exaggerated our history. (everything past ***) Just a little. I like to tease Spouse. Just to get a rise. You know? (grin)