New Plan for December

Young children know how to get it right.  I realized on this holiday trip to New York why my boys love it so much.  Yes, they adore visiting their grandparents.  But I used to think the city was enchanting to them because we go to Chinatown on the subway, climb rocks in Central Park, and have big bowls of ice cream in beautiful places.

They reason they enjoy these visits is because we slow way down and suddenly we get to stay in our pajamas all morning and lounge about on the sofa with Grammy & Grampy.  First Born Prince has been playing lots of Lego and reading constantly.  Charming Baby brought an art kit and wrote a story.  Given the choice of how to spend an afternoon, they’ll choose playing cards at the kitchen table over a matinee on Broadway any day.

I would never have guessed that it would take a trip to Manhattan to remind me of the simple pleasures.  As I look at our December, I want to replicate the quiet, happy memories of the holidays from when I was a kid.  I remember getting very excited when "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "Charlie Brown's Christmas" were broadcast on ABC each year.  My brother and I would get to eat dinner on TV trays and suddenly the feeling in the air was magical.

I have no memories of my mom stressed out at the mall, cursing at people in parking lots, but I do remember her making at least a half-dozen different types of Christmas cookies and assembling beautiful tins full of delicious homemade goodies for family, friends and neighbors.  My favorites were the date nut pinwheel cookies.  The secret is freezing the rolls of dough before slicing.

We would spend hours decorating the house together with our Bing Crosby “White Christmas” album playing.  Everyone knew it was my job to put the angel on top of the tree and I didn’t even have to arm wrestle my brother for that.  He got to set up the nativity scene and spread the hay around v-e-r-y carefully.  My dad hung lights on the house while singing “Now, bring us some figgy pudding…”  There was no feeling of cramming a bunch of commercial activities into our schedule, but rather time to sleep in and enjoy the heavenly smells coming out of the kitchen.

There is an overwhelming assortment of activities back home waiting for us—holiday theatre, chamber music performances, Christmas parades, tree lighting ceremonies, parties, shopping events.  I have just decided that we’ll be opting out of most of it in favor of baking cookies and watching movies.  At home.  In our pajamas.  Just like it was 1978.