Christmassy!

I am feeling rather Christmassy!. Is that a real word, or did I just make it up to describe the feeling? Probably the latter I think, but no, it turns out it is a real word. According to Dictionary.com and The Oxford Dictionary of Current English, Christmassy is a proper adjective. Well good. Who knew? Over the past few days, I have found myself thinking or using this word more than once.


This feeling is something of a surprise. In recent years, I have gotten around to Christmas late, carrying a busy schedule through to the week of Christmas itself. Somehow that does not accommodate well to sensing the Christmas spirit, does it? So this year, I took advantage of a half day off to put up the Christmas tree early. Out came the glass balls, the icicles, and those special ornaments that have accumulated over the years. Here is that lovely little cardinal given to us by my sister Gayle, the Buck that was a gift from the Nortons at Camp Buckhorn, the ball from the Menzie’s Christmas party at Graceland, and so on. Its not that our decorations are all elegant and beautiful, some are decidedly not, but each is special to me.

And then there are the other special things reserved for this time of year. Here are the various little groupings of angels and the little wooden snowmen, a gift from Teagan that bear a wish for “peace on earth this night,” Here is the little Santa collection and, ahh yes, the (apparently) hand-carved wooden nativity set from Africa. There they are, the wooden Mary and Joseph, the little wooden manger and the tiny wooden baby Jesus, the donkey, the horse, the sheep, the lama (or is it really a camel?), the angel and the five wooden kings with their crowns and gifts. I wonder again that there are five kings and no shepherds. Is there someone somewhere else in the world who has shepherds but no kings?


Last August, a week’s vacation trip took us through Frankenmuth, Michigan, home of Bonner’s famous Christmas store. That resulted in three new pieces to add to the Christmas collection: a lovely glass Christmas ball for the tree, a new centrepiece for the table, and a new “cooking Santa” to make the kitchen a little more festive. Lovely!


Then there are the Christmas books, especially my copy of Frank McCourt’s beloved story of Angela and the Baby Jesus, bought at Borders in San Diego four years ago. (Angela and the Baby Jesus was discussed last year in a What's the Good Word post called Missing. You can read it again here if you wish.)

This morning, the world outside my study is white with freshly fallen snow. I have a choice, I can feel grumpy about it, or I can feel Christmassy. I choose the latter. It is a good thing.

I hope you may also be blessed with feelings you can describe as “Christmassy” this year. It is a good feeling that recalls to memory the special wonder of childhood. Or in the spirit of the little wooden snowmen, “Star light, star bright, wish for Peace, on earth this night.”


Carman