Evening star., 1959-12-25
The
Rambler
...Wishes You All
A Very Merry One
BY GEORGE KENNEDY

the front door on the after
noon Of Christmas Day and
the faithful readers are
perusing this column, the
Rambler will be very COM
fortably ensconsed at home
and enjoying the odors COM
ing from the kitchen where
a 20-pound turkey will be
frequently baSted.
So right here and now he
wants to wish that you all
are also having a merry
Christmas.
He will probably be nod
ding by the FIRE and remi-
niScing about past Christ
masses. This is going to be a
happy Christmas. But it
won't be up to those when
there were children in the
house (who have grown or
to those Christmases early in
this century when he was a
child.
It's children in the house
that make a Christmas
merry.
But younger couples in this
court have children Just the
right age and the Rambler
will try to get a vicarious
kick out of their thrills.
On Wednesday he was let
in on a little secret. Two
wonderful small sons Of q
friend who lives across the
valley are going to find a
black Scotty pup in the
Christmas stocking. What q
happy household that is 60
ing to be this day!
AS the eldest of six chill
6ren, the writer had younger
brothers and sisters to make
his Christmases the more
enjoyable until he had ar
rived at young manhood.
His parents went to- lot
OF trouble to make it a happy
Christmas for the children.
And they always managed to
achieve surprise. We were
aware of large packages on
high closet shelves-but we
never guessed what was in
them.
They would be under the
tree Christmas morning-all
wrapped in white tissue
paper and bound with red
ribbons. We didn't have the
Christmas paper with the
marvellous colors in the in
tricate patterns and designs
that are available today.
We children would descend
on them as early as 5 o'clock
in the morning-certainly
before dawn. And our poor
parents who had been up
quite late making these ar
rangements would come down
to enjoy the children's de-
light in their presents.
We had it very good. We
had almost as many aunts
and uncles as cousins, whom
we counted by the dozens,
and most of them, even those
with large families sent US
presents.
In less than an hour we
would have torn all that
white tissue paper into
shreds and I am afraid we
usually had broken some of
our toys before breakfast.
And there were the stock
ings hanging in a row from
the white mantle of the big
log-burning fireplace. Ira
dition still held that every
stocking should have an
orange and a brazil nut in
the toe, and a banana fur
ther up. These items we're
rarities on the table in our
parents childhood. The fruit
was served every morning by
the time we came along.
The writer will never for
get his disappointment when
he returned to that big house
with his bride on Christmas
morning after an overnight
train ride to find that his
younger brothers and sisters
were so grown that they were
still in bed. On Christmas
morning!
For several, years the
writer has written a column
for this day that amounted
to a reminder that it is a
Christian holiday.
That's what this one
started out to be-but it has
certainly emphasized the
secular Christmas so far.
Perhaps the reminder is
not as needed as it was a
few years ago. 1t is encour-
aging to see the manger of
Bethlehem, the infant in
swaddling clothes, the Virgin,
Joseph, the shepherds and
the Magi (the last on the
scene a little prematurely)
represented by life-Sized
nnlvchrnme figures not nrnlv