Christmas is Green ...

Cold, damp, dreary. Why did she love these types of days so much? Everyone else hated these days, but she relished them. Maybe it’s because they reminded her of the holidays.

The holiday season was fast approaching. Just today a Christmas commercial came across the television screen. It’s amazing how those types of commercials could make her tear p. She wanted her girls to have the same kind of feeling for the holidays that she had. Sure things were different now. Kids were different, environments were different, and demands were different.

When she was younger, she simply lived for the holidays. She would start drawing pictures of Christmas trees way before Halloween. She loved to read any books that dealt with the holidays. She loved to pretend she was Snowbound with Betsy, or fantasize of a Christmas in the Big Woods. Reading only served as the fuel source for her imagination.

Christmas music; beautiful gospels, traditional tunes, and children’s classics. You could hear them everywhere during this season. Her favorite song used to be “March of the Wooden Soldiers.” Even though it was an instrumental song, she would always make up dances to match the movements of the music. Even today, at the age of 35, this song makes her well up with tears.

Christmas lights – oh, how she loved Christmas lights. Sparkling red, yellow, blue, and green … especially green. She would dig in the basement until she found the worn box of Christmas decorations. Then she would plug the lights in just to watch them glow.

At Christmas time, she used to lie under the tree just to look at the lights. Beautiful, dancing. She would always sneak out of the bed at night, turn on the tree lights and fall asleep on the couch, dreaming of sugarplums and the anticipation of the season.

Green was always her favorite color. Back when she was a child, Christmas tree lights were the large, screw-in types. She and her two siblings each had a particular side of the Christmas tree that they called their own. Mother was always complaining because the children would change the colors on the tree. One side would be all red, another blue and yellow, and of course, the green side.

It gave her great pleasure to have one side of the family Christmas tree to call her own. She would place her handmade ornaments upon the branches, as well as the traditional ones. Santa always left her presents beneath her side of the tree. Always …

Snowflakes, the Christ child, Granny Devine’s home cooking, the color green ...these always reminded her of the Christmas season. She now wants the same for her children. Christmas Eve Church services, a birthday cake for Baby Jesus, supper at Nana’s and MaMaw’s, and the color green … no, not green. Her three girls are all passionate about the color blue. Blue for Christmas? Oh well, times are changing.

© Bobbi Rightmyer, December 1997