December 19th, 1971. On that date you could buy a gallon of gas for 40 cents, a
new car for less than $2,000, stamps were eight cents and a movie was just a
buck and a half. America was a simpler place, no iPods or laptops, no E true
Hollywood stories about supermodels on drugs, heck even Watergate hadn’t
happened yet.
And on that night in America families gathered around the TV and fell in love
with a family from the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia; The Waltons. It was
suppose to be a one time thing, a movie about a rural family and how they coped
and worked and loved. A Christmas special that ended up making names like
Johnboy and Maryellen household names and spawned a popular TV series that
lasted 10 years. It was a wholesome show that sustained us at a terrible time in
this country with Bobby and Jack Kennedy gone and so many young men dead
or dieing in Vietnam We hungered for something simple and decent and the
Waltons fit the bill.
With Christmas five days away my mind turns to the Walton’s and that final
scene at the end of the movie when their father finally comes home. Do you
remember it? He tells the kids he ran into old St. Nick and wrestled away a bag
full of presents. One by one he pulls wrapped items from a satchel and hands
them out to his kids. The presents they receive are inexpensive and each child
got only one but you would think he was passing out gold. Johnboy, the aspiring
author, was given nothing more than loose leaf paper to write down his stories
and yet the gift brought him to tears.
Imagine that, children happy to get just one special thing. No Playstation 3 or
Elmo dolls. Nothing so expensive it puts mom, dad or Santa in deep debt with the
Visa card. Christmas the way it used to me, the way it still could be today if we
had the nerve to tell our kids “no”. I’m not saying kids should only get one toy but
a few less than 20 might be a good idea. Have you ever watched a child open 20
gifts? I have. They rip through them like they are eating potato chips barely
taking a moment to acknowledge what they’ve been given or thank the person
who gave it. Give the same child three presents and I’ll bet you they take their
sweet time.
I try to keep a positive attitude around this time of year but sometimes I do feel
like Charlie Brown and wonder if this holiday has become all too commercial. I
know a mom who nearly lost her mind last year because her son had to have the
new Xbox video game system. It was sold out of course (I swear the companies
deliberately make too few of them just to cause a feeding frenzy) and she told
me she had no choice but to buy it off of eBay. Eight hundred dollars later she
gave her son the gift he wanted. It was a financial hardship for her and her
husband but they were afraid to disappoint him. Here’s my question- is not
getting everything you want in life such a bad thing? A little hardship breeds
appreciation. That’s a lesson our parents and grandparents knew all too well.
When I look back on my best Christmas memories none of them center on an
expensive gift and I’ll bet you it’s the same for you. I can’t tell you the number of
times the more costly toys were pushed aside by my brothers and I in favor of a
game of Monopoly or touch football in the backyard. And who among us hasn’t
given a child a large expensive gift only to see the child have more fun playing
with the very box it came in. Point is you don’t have to go broke or insane trying
to be Disneyland to your kids.
When I was a child my parents had an old manger with ceramic pieces of Mary,
Joseph and the three wise men. On Christmas morning the first person awake
was expected to take the baby Jesus and place him in the crib. At the risk of
sounding “religious” my parents were trying to make a point. Presents and
stockings filled with candy are great but this special day is really about something
else. It’s about a child who would grow up and speak of peace on earth and good
will towards men. I’d take a little of that over a Playstation 3 any day. Wouldn’t
you?
