On holiday 'bells and whistles' and the real Christmas magic

Holiday greetings from friends old and new, nearby and faraway are part of the magic of Christmas – and so is sharing good thoughts with others, like this email message from a friend. It helps put the whole ‘Christmas business’ into perspective by demonstrating once again how ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same.'

A visit to the wonderful world of Toys R Us forms the basis for the proof of that saying. My friend – we’ll call her Jean – detailed the trip that was highlighted by "maneuvering through the flashing lights and electronic noise… finally we emerged with the things we wanted.

"When we got to the car it occurred to me that from among all of the electronic marvels, we had come away with the same toys that our parents could have purchased in 1948 - a wooden table and chairs for Breanna and Chloe and a wooden tyke bike for Tess."

Here’s betting that set of gifts will get a lot more use – and last many more years – than any of the "flashing light" gadgets.

Jean’s message made me stop and think about several purchases I had made which were similar in nature. Although my parents did not enlist Santa to deliver a set of brightly-colored wooden building blocks and a ‘starter’ basketball hoop to the Kloeckner house in 1952, those items were among the presents Saint Nick brought in 1972 for a son, Aaron, on his first Christmas – and which his firstborn child, Ella, will find under the tree this year.

The email message from Jean reinforced the belief that part of the magic of Christmas is our desire to recreate happy memories from our childhood or that of our children via the gifts we select. While the 2002 edition of Fisher-Price's "Baby Playzone Basketball" that Ella will receive has a few more bells and whistles than the one her daddy got 30 years ago, I know the smile on her face will be the same when she ‘shoots hoops.’

Joy and happiness – that’s what Christmas is supposed to be about.

Once in a while, we still get it right.

"O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by;
Yet in thy darkness shineth the everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray;
Cast out sin and enter in, be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell:
Oh, come to us, abide with us, our Lord Immanuel!"