Christmas Magic
by John Mooy
When it comes to Christmas my growing up in Marcellus was a page right out of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I’m reminded of that today as it’s cold, clear, and sunny. A typical December day prior to the snow which will cover the ground for Christmas. So, if I rate some of my Christmas memories, I would note the following:
Number 9: Receiving the Sears and Roebuck catalog through the mail and sitting in the evenings and “dog earring” the pages which contained something that I hoped would be under the tree on Christmas morning. It didn’t typically happen as we would carefully fold over nearly every page in the catalog.
Number 8: Dad returning home from his appointed rounds on his mail route with arm loads of homemade goodies that people had so generously bestowed upon him. There were cookies, fudge, rolls, homemade peanut brittle, and red and green popcorn balls. So good.
Number 7: Walking the streets of Marcellus in the evenings and seeing all the decorations people had put up in their yards and on their windows. (Remember those stencils you could put on the window and then spray fake snow from a can on the window, remove the stencil and there was an image of something Christmas related?)
The Marcellus News – December 5, 1957
Number 6: During the Christmas season in our house, we always got out the gigantic red candle which probably measured six inches in diameter and maybe nearly three feet tall. We put the candle in the living room on the table on aluminum foil and surrounded the candle with greens. Each evening we would light the candle.
Number 5: As I recall on Christmas Eve we would go to church and the choir would sing, “Let there be Peace on Earth.” And to this day that is probably my favorite Christmas song.
Number 4: Looking at presents under the tree and wondering what was inside. The process was look at the gift, pick it up, gently shake it and then just wonder what it might be.
Number 3: Getting up on Christmas morning and wondering if Santa had visited our house during the night. And he always had because we left Christmas snacks for Santa and sugar and carrots for the reindeer and when we got downstairs the food had been eaten and the plate was empty.
Number 2: Hoping that my unmarried Aunts would not come through with their typical gift of underwear. Just what I wanted.
Number 1: Knowing there was not a better place on the planet for a “kid” to have a Christmas than Marcellus. There was always such a good feeling for friendship, appreciation and joy during the Christmas season.
Have a great week Marcellus, you’re the best.
Enjoy the season.
Easy on the egg nog.
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