I can't remember the last time I truly felt the Christmas spirit. It was probably in the 70's while I lived in Europe. True, my daughter's first few Christmas' were special but the "Spirit" was long gone. Maybe it was the fact that Europeans have a different take on the holiday season. First the Christmas markets. It's a "legend" of sorts in that I was taking a train full of GI's to the Christmas Market in Nuremburg and I was filming a Christmas special for AFN-TV. I had met my wife to be a week earlier and I invited her along. So part of our fly by the seat of our pants had my camerman and I riding the cab from Frankfurt to Nuremburg. So I basically walked her to our compartment and said see you in Nuremburg. Not the greatest beginning of a relationship, but we did get some fabulous film footage, especially when an express train passed on the other track with my camerman hanging out of the window, getting a great shot of snow being kicked up by a combined speed of about 180 mph. At that time, there was only 1 McDonalds in Germany and it was in Nuremburg, right along the street that took me, and 700 GI's to the market. It was an invasion like no other and the fear in the faces of the 3 girls behind the counter is still a vision I will never forget. The market was lit with every color light imaginable and while standing in the middle of the street, my cameraman and I nearly got run over by a beer wagon pulled by 4 of the biggest horses I'd ever seen. We shot our footage and spent the next 4 hours in the hotel lounge near the train station as it was COLD.
The next two weeks until Christmas were unlike any in the States. Stores did a brisk but steady business, even staying open until 6PM on Friday and Saturday, Closed on Sunday. Didn't have to elbow my way through a crowd to get one of 3 chintzy doorbuster specials No mad dash to get a gift for that cousin 3 times removed, no stores opening at 3am on Black Friday..or better yet, the Pre Black Friday sales. Decorations being sold in August..Doesn't happen in Europe. The Christmas holiday is actually spread over two days..the 25th for family, and the 26th for visiting friends. I spent the first Christmas with my wife to be putting up the tree on Christmas eve, a real tree I might add..Then a big meal followed by singing carols and then opening gifts. I got her a Polaroid camera which I believe is now in the Smithsonian. The following day there was snow in the mountains so we drove into the Taunus to the Feldberg which is the highest peak and had a huge communications tower and an overlook of the hills and valleys all covered with snow. We did then what I did best.."Gee, I wonder where this road goes", and we stumble across a small resturant in the middle of nowhere and we were, no surprise, the only guests, The meal was simple but good and then we wound up at Limburg, on the Lahn river where the sun was hitting the sides of the yellow and brown cathedral which was a spectacular sight. Then we drove home so I could change into my "entertainer duds" and hit the stage from 8pm til whenever at the nightclub I headlined. The band and I had a pretty loose repitoire but this night we just had fun..I taught the audience American Christmas carols, they taught me German carols which was a real laugh. In all, it was a great Christmas season.
Now it's maxing out the credit card, the incessent bell ringing by the Salvation Army and the guilt you feel when you don't put anything in the bucket because you already have in the last dozen buckets, and the war being waged against Christmas by a vast minority that is offended by the mere mention of Christmas..Instead we have "The Holiday Tree", the "Winter Tree, and anything else that can be found to erase Christmas from our lexicon.
Maybe my sarcasm is directed to the years I spent playing "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" over and over, followed by the Singing Dogs. Or maybe it's going the the Christmas Eve service where all the women went, not to hear of the Birth, but to show off the baubles their abusive husbands bought them for Christmas. Or maybe it's seeing the rich and powerful suddenly noticing there are those less fortunate and giving of themselves, but only for a day.
I guess you could call it innocence lost. But Christmas ain't what it used to be..And never will be again.
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