By: Lora Wimsatt
One of the best things about having grandchildren is that they provide the perfect excuse – er, I mean, opportunity – to watch all those great Christmas classics that made this “the most wonderful time of the year.”
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” premiered in 1964 and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” followed a year later. Along the way, we also watched “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Frosty the Snowman” and “The Little Drummer Boy.”
Now, remember, this was back in the days when you got one chance a year to watch these specials. One! If you missed it, well, next December was a loooooong way off.
There were no VCRs or DVDs. Certainly no YouTube or online streaming, Netflix or Hula Hoop or whatever those other “on demand” things are. I can’t keep up. Gosh, I still think plain old television is a marvel.
Before 1964, I’m not sure how kids knew the Christmas season was approaching. I guess for the previous generation, it may have been the arrival of the Sears “Wish Book” in the mail. Before that, oh, I don’t know; maybe kids were actually in tune with the changing seasons or something really bizarre like that.
Anyway, back to our story.
It was about this time last year when I was out with my daughter and my grandgirl, then age 3-almost-4. My daughter Beth is a wonderful Mommy, but there are a few things she is not really good at doing, and one of them is singing Christmas carols out loud, just for the fun of it. Actually, she doesn’t sing much at all. Where did I go wrong?
But now that I have grandchildren, I’ve been given another chance to go right. So I sing with Briley, all the time, loudly, even when we’re out in public, even when it involves hand motions.
On this particular day, we all were driving along with Briley strapped into her car seat behind me, and I suggested that it might be fun to have a sing-along.
“You go right ahead,” Beth said. “I’ll drive, you sing.”
We started with “Jingle Bells,” and Briley did pretty well with that, especially the big, enthusiastic “Hey!” that comes after “one-horse open sleigh.” She sometimes got stuck on the chorus and we would sing “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells …” on and on before I could finally steer her away into “Jingle all the way,” but all in all, this song was a success.
We also did well with “We Wish You A Merry Christmas,” again putting great energy into the swooshing sound on the word “wish,” but then I suggested a song I felt sure she would know and love.
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Silence from the back seat. My daughter glanced at me. “She doesn’t know that one,” Beth said. “I don’t think she’s ever even seen the movie.”
Well, I didn’t know what to think. “Why not?” I finally asked. “Okay. Drive right now to a place where I can buy this movie for her. We cannot let the sun set on another day until Briley knows who ‘Rudolph’ is.”
Beth always thinks I am overreacting, but she did take me to a store, and I did buy the DVD.
“Don’t wait until Christmas to watch it,” I said. “This is a movie you can watch all year, with all kinds of important lessons. First, be yourself. Second, accept others for who and what they are. Third, forgive. Fourth ….”
My daughter and my grandgirl waited expectantly.
I picked Briley up and whispered in her ear. “Fourth,” I said, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year.”