"And I'll Never Outgrow The Thrill Of Christmas Day."

This is what it all comes down to. This is the grand explanation for this entire blog.

#8 of 31 Things I Love About Christmas: Christmas Lets Us Stay Kids Forever.

Or at least for 24 hours.

I think deep down, this is the huge draw to Christmas, the deep down emotional attachment to all this Christmas. Christmas is a huge piece of childhood for me. Not so much about the presents, as I never asked for the big headlining items of the day that all the kids asked for. While I can remember what I got most years or look at something and know when I got it, but the magic of it. When you are a child and you believe, the entire season revolves around magic. To have the innocence of youth to truly believe in the whole story is magic that can never be duplicated. Why some people seem bent on taking that away from children is something I will never understand. It's not just the mean older kids on the bus, it is grown adults who want their 6 year-old child to have a firm grip on reality and not believe in silly fairy tales. They got the next 80-90 years to deal with reality. Leave 'em alone.

Christmas awakens all these memories and emotions each and every years. Christmas specials, music, trees, decorations, treats, houses lit up with Christmas lights, egg nog...it all fits together. It brings this deep warm happy feeling not only for all the joy in past years, but for all the joy their is and all the joy there will be in years to follow. My family always made a huge deal out of Christmas and all it brings and I know that had a huge influence on me. I deeply look forward to passing that on to our own children one day. Tradition, creating memories and keeping strong links to the past have been hard-wired into to me, whether I like it or not.

My mom to this day, could go Christmas or birthday shopping for me and hit a home run with each gift. Or just a gift for no reason. I always said you could go Christmas shopping for me in a gas station. More or less, I haven't changed from since I was a kid in terms of personality and soul. It was never about the grandness of the gift, it was what it was and why I got it that mattered the most. I never owned a video game system as a kid (got a GameBoy when I was 8 as a 1st Communion Gift from my aunt and got 3 games Tetris, Bases Loaded and Madden '95...never spent a dime on it) and GASP! Never, in my life, have I had a TV to call my own and I don't feel cheated. I do however, have a Paul Stanley (KISS) Mr. Potato Head.

Christmas is happy. Christmas is the embodiment of happiness. It's kinda what I always say about the Grateful Dead (Dave Matthews Band also applies to this statement): If you could hear happiness, it would sound like the Grateful Dead. When people ask me to describe their sound, I can only respond with "happy." Christmas is happy.

Yea. I just managed to connect Christmas and the Grateful Dead.

“Maybe Christmas perhaps, Means A Little Bit More.”

Does it get any better than this one?

#21 of 31 Things I Love About Christmas: How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

“Then he got an idea. An awful idea. The Grinch got a wonderful awful idea”- Boris Karloff, narrator of HTGSC.

That face. That smile. You know the one I’m talking about. Terrifyingly evil. I was horrified of that clip for years and I even get chills now.

The Grinch is a masterpiece. A once in a lifetime oil strike. If you came to read about Jim Carey’s lame silver screen adaption, leave now.

**All background info is generally courtesy of Wikipedia. ** On December 18, 1966 CBS aired the special for the first time. Narrated by the horror icon, Boris Karloff, it became one of the most loved Christmas Specials of all time. Though I didn’t realize until much later, thanks to the previously mentioned source, the Grinch’s voice was supplied by Karloff.

I have been watching it for as long as I can remember. I know we taped the Special Edition of HTGSC on Sunday Dec 3, 1995 off of a TNT holiday marathon (we went to St. Cecilia’s Church that day for a Christmas/advent social, made advent wreaths and the 49ers beat the Bills that afternoon 27-17. Other specials on the marathon included Yogi Bear’s 1^st Christmas, A Flintstone Christmas, A Scooby Doo Christmas, HTGSC and the accompanying Making Of feature with the late Phil Hartman…they also aired two additional Dr. Seuss cartoons The Cat In The Hat and Daisy-Head Mayzie, which was a film adaption of the last book Dr. Seuss wrote before his death.)

The making of special was captivating to me and I loved that as much as the cartoon. Leave it to me to be a documentary geek at the age of 8. Chuck Jones (an icon in his own right) said Seuss had to be convinced to make the leap from the book to a television special.

I also had no idea that the voice featured in the classic “You’re A Mean One Mr. Grinch” was not sung by Karloff, as incorrectly credited on the screen, but by the voice of Frosted Flakes mascot Tony the Tiger, Thurl Ravenscroft. He explains the error went without notice of the producers and it was too late to fix it and Seuss felt terrible about this, writing a letter to many columnists nationwide, explaining that Ravenscroft was indeed the voice behind this soon-to-be holiday classic. June Foray (voice master, known especially for her work on grossly underrated The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle) was the voice of Cindy-Lou Who.

This special, is at the heart of it all very funny. A lot of things go over your head as kid, but you find the humor in later (For example, the battle the Grinch endured to get his sled down Mt. Crumpit and Max ends up behind the sled only to shrug and wave). At the same time, it’s got sugary Christmas cheer at the heart of it all.

Once the Grinch sees…and perhaps my favorite line in the special…"He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming. It Came. Somehow or other, it came just the same.” He suddenly becomes overrun with the spirit and joy of Christmas. “And then, well in Whoville they say that the Grinch’s small heart grew three sizes that day.”

We all have a little Grinch, yes even me, but it doesn’t take long before we are reminded all the positive aspects of the holiday.

“Welcome Christmas, bring your cheer, cheer to all Whos far and near. Christmas day is in our grasp, so long as we have hands to clasp. Welcome Christmas while we stand. Heart to heart and hand in hand.”

“I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus.”

This one chronicles either a time of joy or time or horror. One or the other.

#22 of the 31 Things I Love About Christmas: Seeing Santa Claus.

“Of course, SANTA. The big man. The head honcho. The connection”- Ralphie Parker.

Just yesterday while driving about with my pretty wife I heard an advertisement that brought out my inner Grinch. Now it is probably very clear I love Christmas, but this…this news, it nearly ruined the peppermint Peeps we were nibbling on (a-maz-ing, by the way).

NEVER WAIT IN LINE TO SEE SANTA AGAIN. CALL AHEAD TO RESERVE YOUR TIME WITH SANTA!!!!!!

You heard that right!! No more waiting in line. No more juggling strollers, coats, stray children and heavenly Auntie Anne’s pretzels while waiting to see The Big Guy. YOU CALL AHEAD TO RESERVE A PLACE IN LINE.

This is sad. It is also the picture of where we exist as a nation. Everyone wants everything. No one wants to wait for it. Waiting patiently? Taking turns? Those are all non essential life skills that our children need not to be bothered with. This is almost as bad as the company who now allows you to buy a real Christmas tree ONLINE and have it sent to you.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH.”- Charlie Brown

Are we so busy that time for our children and family have to be scheduled in and prioritized? You wanna go see Santa Vito, Dino, Angelo and Tony? Well I gotta see when my schedule is free. Have your people call my people and we’ll set something up. It’s no wonder most kids are the brainless, soulless zombies with no emotional attachment to much of anything or have any sentimental value of family and tradition. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better.

Jesus. Hey buddy. Feel free to come by anytime and say hello. The world is just about over, anyways.

Some of my most prized memories of Christmas involve those where we went to see Santa Claus. Usually on a Friday or Saturday night (though I am fairly sure Christmas ’91 we went on Sunday. I remember leaving from Grandmas’ house, changing out of my boots into shoes on the staircase on the lower level of the mall and getting the board game Perfection from Kay Bee Toys.) We would usually get picked up from school and head straight to the mall, so to avoid “the crazies.” In later years we started venturing to Greece Ridge Mall and Marketplace Mall, but while it was still worth the trip we went to Irondequoit Mall. (From 1990-98 Irondequoit Mall could have given the other 3 malls a significant run for their money.)

Click here to see a walk through video of the mall in 2008. Kinda heartbreaking if you remember how it was.

Santa’s Mansion would be set up in the middle of the mall. They would turn off the fountains, drain the water, and set up the gaudiest, most bombastic holiday display one had ever seen. And we would wait (I can hear it now, “Wait Grandpa, you WAITED? FOR HOW LONG? Well at least you could have Starbucks while you waited….WAIT? NO STARBUCKS IN 1993? Call in Grandma, I don’t believe you.”) And wait. And people watch. It was always a treat. Seeing the bratty kids being dragged through the line by the wrist or the adorable newborn in a reindeer onesie who had absolutely no idea what was going on. It was all a dose of Christmas cheer to me.

We would finally get up to Santa and have our picture taken. While seeing the differences and odd expressions on the Santa is priceless now, I didn’t pick up on the comical value of these pictures until much later. These pictures are mini time capsules. I would love to see them all now. Put ‘em in a massive frame of some sort. I was never afraid of Santa. Not once. How can you argue with a man who is gonna bring you presents. My brother and sister, on the other hand, were both terrified once each. I usually had a small list or a few pictures for him. In later years, I told him “Bring whatever ya want. I trust ya). Then we would get a small treat and these would vary from a mini cereal box sample, candy cane and coloring book.

Then it was onto the food court for a sensible dinner. Burger King, McDonalds, Arby’s, Tom Wahl’s or Sbarro (where I once found $40 underneath the counter, likely to be Christmas ’97 or ’98, Mom said to keep it and it was meant for me to find). Then it was time for the journey back home.

Then there was Christmas '00. It was a Friday night, that I know for sure. We were headed out to Greece Ridge Mall to see Santa and our Dodge Caravan stopped dead in the road in front of the Marriott. After waiting for what seemed like ages, we went into the Marriott lobby, where we were now asked the infamous question "Are you here for the Christmas party?" We had AAA come take care of the car...might have been a dead battery, but I seem to recall a fluid leaking...anyway, Grandma and grandpa came by to get us and we all had a lovely late night dinner of pizza (probably Amico's or Pontillo's) once we all got home.

I would kill to be 6 years old again. Going to see Santa, truly believing he came in our front door, polished off the cookies and egg nog, dispersed the celery and carrots to his reindeer and built the mountains of boxes I would find in the living room on Christmas.

Furthermore, I would even….WAIT! IN! LINE!

“Not only is Christmas getting too commercial, it’s getting too dangerous.”- Linus Van Pelt.

“And Mom And Dad Can Hardly Wait For School To Start Again.”

“WELL WE CAN’T SALUTE YA! CAN’T FIND A FLAG! IF THAT DON’T SUIT YA, THAT’S A DRAG” –Alice Cooper.

#23 of the 31 Things I Love About Christmas: The Last Day of School.

I don’t know if there is a more wonderful day in the school year, aside from the last day of school, than the last day of school before Christmas break. Apologies to my wife, who by chance, happens to be a teacher.

Not like kids go on Christmas vacation anymore. Now they embark on a "winter recess." Weeeeeee.

No I will not entertain the argument about why Christmas is a bad word according to some. I won’t do it. The G-rating for this blog would go out the window fast.

Now then, we wasted so much time in school when we were kids. I still think we were better off. School was fun in those early years. I can still see the old, delightfully tacky illuminated Santa Claus hanging out on the left side of the front foyer of Ivan Green School (1992-95). The tree in the front hall, ribbons and decorations abound. There was so much Christmas spirit around, people were pissing pure egg nog until Valentine’s Day.

There goes that G-rating.

We had classroom parties that lasted from lunch until the end of the day. Teachers tried to maintain some picture of law and order, but the most exciting lesson plans in the world can’t compete with the fact that Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town. Usually they didn’t fight it. We got through the bare necessities and that was about it. Onto lunch and then party time. Che bella festa! Christmas cookies, candy and treats all over the joint. In Mrs. Northrup’s 1^st grade class I got a checkers set (the most useful gift I ever got at one of these shindigs). In Mrs. McEllerhan’s 2^nd grade class, I think we did a book exchange, can’t say for sure though. In Mrs. Meyer’s 3^rd grade class I got a monster truck (what am I supposed to do with that)? I remember the mortifying shame of having gotten a girl’s name out of the hat. Most embarrassing thing in the world. ONTO THE DOLLAR STORE!!! That might make me a terrible person, you decide (I got her a frilly little box to put…..girls things in and some sort of hair accessory I think, had to enlist Mom’s help for this one, I would have gotten her a puck and a Slim Jim and said "Buon Natale" if I had my way).

Once we got to Durand we would fool around and waste time until it was time for the school wide assembly, featuring the 6^th grade chorus. Mrs. Albano always went all out on these productions. The teachers would usually get up and sing, perform ridiculous skits and it was back to the classroom to pack it up and head home. Where some sort of goodness would be had for dinner. usually pizza. Ma che bella pizz' from either Amico’s, Pontillo’s, Schaller’s (a burger joint on Eastridge Rd. Unless you are from Rochester, you can't possibly understand)or any other local delicacy we enjoyed. The smell of fresh hot pizza on cold winter’s night, teasing us from the trunk of the car, takes me right back to being in my kitchen as a kid, especially around Christmastime. Weird. I know.

I would try my best to get any homework done ASAP, so I had the rest of the break to enjoy. It seems like it lasts forever. There were 4 distinct stages of Christmas vacation for me:

Stage 1: Last day of school. YAY CHRISTMAS VACATION IS HERE!!!

Stage 2: Santa Claus has come. CHRISTMAS IS HERE!!!

Stage 3: My sister, Rosalia's birthday on 12/27...ah boy, it's almost all over, but not quite.

Stage 4: New Year's Day/back to the grind. Wahhhhhh.

Though I gotta say one thing that does brutally suck about kids, school and Christmas is the unavoidable “Is Santa real?” conversation. I think I would rather have The Birds and The Bees talk with a bunch of 12 year olds than tell a 9 year old. Nope, it’s all a lie. And their pals The Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy….

I think that has to be, one of the most heartbreaking moments as a parent. After they find out Santa isn’t real, life pretty much rolls downhill in a hurry. It is the last little slice of innocence and wonder kids have left, growing up much, much too fast than ever before. From birth to about 3 or 4, the kids have no real idea of what is going on. They see boxes and toys. You can really screw with the little guy if you buy a 10-pack of socks or underwear and wrap up each pair individually. So if you’re lucky you get from ages 5-8 as Christmases they actually remember, are excited for and know what is going on. I’m sure there is some poor kindergartener who just found out from some brainless schmuck on the bus that Santa isn’t real. I would see and hear kids doing that to each other and my heart would break even then.

I kinda was suspicious around 2^nd grade and probably knew by Christmas ’95. 8 years old. Though I knew it was coming, it was still kinda weird. But it is because my parents made such big doings about Christmas, that my love for it is what it is today. They explained that Christmas was really a spirit all along. Santa and the entire season were based around a spirit that people take upon themselves to continue and carry on. That is why, my dear readers, my child-like wonder and love for Christmas didn’t die when my belief in Babbo Natale did.

In them days we watched movies, listened to Christmas music, exchanged small presents, got sugar high and went home. We were kids. We were allowed to have fun. No reasons. No educational value. We simply had fun. I feel sorry for the modern student who can’t even celebrate Christmas openly in school but if they did, everything would have to be approved by Congress. Coloring pictures? Crafts? Christmas cartoons? No way. Not anymore. So glad we grew up when we did. In every aspect of the word, these kids are living in a different world.

“Well Way Up North Where The Air Gets Cold, There’s A Tale About Christmas That You’ve All Been Told.”

Yea. I even get nostalgic about trips to the grocery store.

#25 of the 31 Things I Love About Christmas: The Trip To Wegmans

Yea. I get warm and fuzzy about grocery store excursions. Usually, December 23 we would set out on our massive Christmas shopping trip. Depending on whether or not we had off from school would decide when we went. If we had off the 23^rd we would go in the morning…on the other hand sometimes we would wait til after dinner so to avoid the crazies. If the 23^rd was a Friday, then we would most certainly go at night.

And where would this trip start you ask? Anyone from the Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse area knows all holiday trips called for a visit with Uncle Danny.

That’s right. Wegmans (Ridge-Culver location).

*Warning: This entry is gonna be a bit of a train wreck, grammatically and in terms of sentence structure, which is generally how I talk anyways. Imagine if you asked me what we got on these trips. These would be my answer

The Toys R Us of grocery stores. I can still see the soft pink/orange glow of "Wegmans: Food Pharmacy" on the brown awning, the parking lot lights shining bright, the glow of Ridge Culver Plaza across the street on our left, carts all over the parking lot and the gray/black slush of the parking lot. The snow falling softly in the night. Sometimes my sister would accompany us on these excursions (often a magazine of some sort would serve as reward for our efforts).

Didn’t really pick up much in the bread department, if anything we would grab rolls for the sausage. Yea, you read that right, sausage for Christmas (much more on that later). Onto the fruits and vegetables for tangerines, oranges and maybe apples, all essential items for salad. Gotta make sure to pick up the anise. Plus lemons for the baccala and limes to be cut in wedges for the drinks that no one ever made, despite our little bar of sorts that was trotted out for each holiday and gathering, always set up on the counter to the right of the kitchen sink.

And potatoes. Can’t have Christmas without potatoes. Usually these would be little salt potatoes, or they would be chopped and mixed with a French onion mix (Lipton) or Hidden Valley Ranch powder. Then it was onto the Diamond Mixed Nuts. Sometimes we would buy it by the pound, other times we would get the pre-packaged bags. Grab the chestnuts as well, usually roasted them in the oven…never actually tried them. Usually could bypass the meat section. Lap around the outside for milk and egg nog. Really can’t have Christmas without egg nog.

Then it was onto a brief looksee at the Christmas cookies. Always Archway, especially the Cashew nougats and gingerbread men. As well as the generic holiday shapes cookies with sprinkles on them, and any other cookies that seemed like a good idea. Swing by the chips and pretzels to grab some snack type stuff if needed. Then onto the pop section (we don’t sell soda in NY, we do have plenty of pop though) Coke or Pepsi…whatever is on sale, I’m not picky, root beer of some kind, Ginger ale (Schweppes or Seagram's) regular, grape and raspberry…trow ‘em all in the cart..they don’t like it they don’t gotta drink). It should be noted that pre-2000 we hardly ever bought 2-liters. We bought all our pop by the glass bottle at Aman’s Farm Market in Irondequoit, right next to Eastridge HS. It was bottled by Fizz, a local company. Once they stopped carrying them, we joined the century and bought it plastic.

Anyone remember the Pepsi Holiday Spice? Holy Cow. Heaven in a can. I still got a empty bottle I use as holiday décor, right next to two different empty boxes of Christmas Cap N’ Crunch. I hope each year they bring it back. Nothing yet, but for the closest thing possible, throw back some Pepsi (I don’t know if Coca Cola would have the same effect) and have a bite of gingerbread cookie and you’ll have a good idea of the goodness this stuff was.

Then it was on through the various aisles for any additional items like salad dressing, croutons, ketchup/mustard/relish (dill only…sweet relish is horrid) for the sausage, pickle spears (because who doesn’t like pickles?) and other very random items that may be needed.

By this point we generally had everything we need and god knows we had a lot of things we didn’t need. And a shopping cart stuffed to the gills, kinda embarrassing by the time we got done. Then occasionally it was onto the Dollar Store and/or Tops (Friendly Markets) for paper plates, cups, silverware and anything we couldn’t get at Wegmans or were cheaper elsewhere, to be completely honest.

Then to (this sometimes we waited til the day of Christmas eve to go) Rubino’s or Palermo’s. Uffa! Che bella negoz’!

It was here we would pick up our Italian treats. And what treats. Maria Sant’!

Well, they weren’t all treats in the traditional sense, more like necessities as far as we were concerned. Soppressata, salami, pepperoni, provolone, olives and any other Italian cookies that jumped into our basket, we would also pick up the rolls needed for the Christmas sausage. Don’t judge. The headliner at our Christmas and New Year’s Eve dinner was homemade Italian sausage and grandpa’s baccala. Again, more on that later.

These shopping trips were a bonding experience of sorts and usually a lot of fun. Wegmans would be decorated in full bombastic glory and it was generally a happy feeling. Christmas time again and here we are shopping for the holidays. Then to haul all the stuff into the house, which no one ever felt like doing. Upon completion we would realize we may have forgotten an item or two and it would be back to the store tomorrow.

"To The Top Of The Porch! To The Top Of The Wall!"

I aren’t no poet.

But this is a poem for the ages.

#26 of the 31 Things I Love About Christmas: Twas the Night before Christmas.

I have a book. Okay, I have several books…way too many books.

But there is one book. I have had it since Christmas ’91. I got this when I was 4 years old at the Christmas Book Fair/Sale/ Extravaganza at St. Cecilia’s Church where I attended preschool. While I do remember getting Frosty the Snowman and sadly, that book didn’t survive (but I can remember and could find the exact copy I had…don’t tempt me) I also got a 2nd book. My name inscribed by my mom in black Sharpie on the inside cover is still there. Stored in a plastic protective sleeve is a children’s picture book version of Clement C. Moore’s “Twas the Night before Christmas.” (TTNBC)

This book has survived nearly 20 years…then again so have I. Plus 4. Also a surviving artifact from my younger days (from the same year) is a green, gold and black wreath ornament made from pipe cleaners. It has hung on our tree ever since and will one day hang on the tree in our home.

TTNBC is so simple in its’ form and presentation and cinema graphic in quality. When reading it or hearing it, one can almost see it as a small movie, the descriptions are immaculate and stunning, but simple enough for a small child to grasp. Plenty of words I had no idea what their meaning was until many years later…as in last year, but I still managed to understand the story.

I don’t know why this poem has stuck with me. I still don’t know all 12 Days of Christmas. Maybe it’s because that children’s book has survived this long. Does anyone have anything from preschool? Leave it to me, I guess. Not to mention the greatly underrated 1974 Rankin-Bass Christmas special of the same name was on a prized tape of Christmas specials taped in the late 80’s which we have watched into the ground, I could tell you nearly everything on it in running order. (Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Smurfs Christmas Special, A Chipmunk Christmas Special, Rudolph, Grinch, Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty, Frosty’s Winter Wonderland, Yes Virginia There Is A Santa Claus, Twas The Night Before Christmas…complete with timelessly terrible 80s commericals)

I even have a teddy bear, which is holding its’ cub, which reads the entire story out loud when you press a button. Pretty cute, I know. My copy of it has been worn well. I have read it to my brother and sister; sometimes I’m even tempted to read it to Sara. It has been nearby for nearly every Christmas I can remember.

I guess this poem and especially this treasured copy is another link to those days, before college loans and car payments, when I could close my eyes and actually picture Santa Claus standing in my living room, nibbling on cookies, thrownin back the egg nog, writing a thank you note that looked strangely like my dad’s handwriting and going on his merry way. The magic of childhood. Every now and then I would hear “Don’t grow up so fast.” Now I understand. But it is memories like this one, whether that’s an old book or a handmade ornament that allows those memories, no matter how silly or bizarre they may seem to others, to survive. I intend on getting it laminated and preserved page by page, so that I am able to read the very same copy to our children one day and I sure hope, to our grandchildren and the book will be passed on when it is time.

Yea. It matters that much.