Is Christmas day a big deal to you? In what way? Reading “UPS draws fire after Christmas delivery breakdown,” I couldn’t relate to those who slammed UPS for ruining Christmas for them.
Does it really matter if gifts arrive on December 25 or a week into the New Year? I might cut slack for kids’ disappointment, but I can’t fathom adults going ballistic about delayed gifts to other adults.
When I was a kid, it was thrilling to open a pile of presents on Christmas morning. I’m no stranger to the commercial pleasure of this holiday. But I still recall feeling a bit deflated by midmorning, after my sister and I had unwrapped every present, compared notes, posed for photos, and eaten Mom’s banana pancakes for breakfast. Now what do we do? I had binged, maybe overdosed, on presents! Even as a kid, I had mixed feelings about big holidays and their big expectations.
I recently reread The Catcher in the Rye, and I’m reminded of Holden Caulfield’s conversation with his 10-year-old kid sister, Phoebe, about what he likes.
In a scene toward the end, Holden goes home to talk with Phoebe before his planned departure from New York. She figures out that he’d gotten kicked out of Pencey Prep, and she’s distraught. “Daddy’ll kill you!” she agonizes. “Oh, why did you do it?”
After describing a bunch of phonies and bullies at Pencey, he says, “I just didn’t like anything that was happening at Pencey. I can’t explain.”
“You don’t like anything that’s happening,” she says. When he objects, she asks him to “[n]ame one thing” that he likes a lot.
He mentions liking their deceased brother Allie, and adds, “And I like doing what I’m doing right now. Sitting here with you, and talking, and thinking about stuff, and–”
Regarding the latter, Phoebe says, “That isn’t anything really!”
“It is so something really! Certainly it is! Why the hell isn’t it? People never think anything is anything really. I’m getting goddam sick of it.”
Holden is sick of phoniness, meanness, and social expectations. He values genuineness, in the way kids are candid and in direct human connection. It’s a great scene, the interplay between brother and sister, and the truth of Holden’s observation.
Isn’t it fantastic if your highlight is simply to hang out with a loved one? An ordinary conversation on an ordinary day? What could be better than that?
Images: A Charlie Brown Christmas, Wikipedia; scene from A Charlie Brown Christmas, United Features Syndicate, Los Angeles Times
Yoga Spy 
Thanks, Luci. You are such a thoughtful person. One of the highlights of my Christmas day was reading your post!
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I love this : )
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Christmas is about the people, the love, the family, the connections. That’s what I love most about it.
This year I had an item on order that i thought might not make it even though I had paid for priority shipping. My plan was to place a card with an “it’s on its way” message with a picture of the item; I felt that my child would deal with it. It arrived on the 24th. I guess it’s a clear reflection of the culture of blame that pervades our lives, it has to be someone’s fault, we get stuck crying about it instead of making a plan and moving forward.
We have had several Christmases away from home and the kids are fine with a few small gifts and a note from Santa that he left something at our home. They promptly forget about it until we arrive home.
Thanks Luci, Merry Christmas.
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