When i was a kid, Christmas was a magical time. I mean, way more magical than now. Every new thing that came along was a thing of wonderment.The toys were made to inspire imagination. Not based on a movie or a video game, but things like G.I. Joe, and cowboy and Indian play sets. (which i realise now are completely politically incorrect but believe me, it was wonderful.) Anyways, i was a student of the TV. I knew the TV Guide off by heart. Someone wanted to know what was coming up on one of our two channels, i could tell them. Any time slot, any day of the week i was the guy, a television prodigy. Now about this time, in one of my babysitting homes (yes, people trusted me with their kids.) i discovered remote control telivision.(this is my meager attempt at forshadowing) Up until then, people had children for the sole purpose of having them to get up and change the channel or adjust the volume. That was a game changer. Ok, back to Christmas. Every year, one time only, you could watch either one of the two major holiday masterpieces. How the Grinch Stole Christmas, or The Charlie Brown Christmas Special. Those were the go to Christmas programs if you were a kid.You prayed that nothing was going on on those evenings. You had one shot, one time only, one time a year to jumpstart the spirt of Christmas. If you saw those shows, Christmas would indeed be magicial. And so it went, it became a routine, it was the way it was supposed to be. But things always change.We got our own remote control TV, which my dad wielded like some sort of.....well, remote control wielding ninja and we never saw a complete show again. (i think i may have inhereted that) By then we had not two but three channels to choose from, plus a few more specials popped up every year but it was still all good. Then came the VCR (if i had a soundtrack, here's were it would go .....DUN DUN DUN!) Now VCR was in fact a wonderful invention. I didn't have to be home to catch a show, just record it, right? I could watch one thing, while i recorded something else. I was in my glory, i took to it like a fish to water. It might be possible ours was the only house this side town that didn't have a VCR that flashed 12:00 over and over. I knew what i was doing , i was the man....well, the kid and that was my undoing. The one thing i regret doing until this day (i'm pretty sure there was something else too, but i can't remember what it was?) anyways, the thing i never should have done was record How The Grinch Stole Christmas. It destroyed the magic. The minute i was able to watch that show any time i wanted, it was just a show. Not something to be waited on for endless days, planning your evenings around, being excited for. I think my kids never got to experience that. There's still magic in Christmas, i believe that. I just think that the things that made it magicial for me when i was a kid aren't there any more and that makes me a little sad.
........oh, just a small public service message here. If your fake crab smells bad, yet tastes ok, you should probably just throw it out and not put it on your salad because all the other flavors will make it ok. I'm never doing that again!
No comments:
Post a Comment