December 5, 2004
-
CHRISTMAS REMEMBERED
As a little kid, I had strange Christmases. My dad was very active in design, decorating, and production for one of the US's first Christmas Boat Parades (Miami Beach in the late 30's and early 40's). Mostly it was hectic. Those were BIG yachts and there were no minature lights in those days. Lots of live action and animations.
He used the artists from Fleischer Studios (remember the old Popeye cartoons?) for most of the art work. Work on decorations started in June or July and since this was the end of the depression,he got a lot of talent pretty cheaply.
I got to ride one of the yachts during a couple of the parades. The parades were held on Christmas Eve and we generally didn't get home until the early morning. As you might expect, Christmas Day was pretty low key. The festivities lasted through the First of the year (The Orange Bowl Regatta - that was in the daytime). WW2 shut that all down. After the war they eventually resumed but not on the scale of pre-war.
During the fifties my dad (then a Captain in the USCGR) acted as supervising officer for the Regatta and power boat races held in conjunction with the Orange Bowl festivities. By then our Christmases had changed somewhat as my mother then managed a fancy flower shop which was popular with all the gamblers and Mafia types. As the flowers all had to go out Christmas Eve, things were still pretty hectic.
Comments (3)
Sounds like your childhood Christmas' were quite hectic!
The word, "radioactive" scares people - but it's just ignorance. It's too bad, really.
As far as, "normal" - who knows. I don't. I do also have a nail biting issue, so I guess I am REALLY messed up
That darn rheumatic fever! Trich and nail biting have been linked for some time now. In that book they talked about such anxiety issues being related to some traumatic experience - I really can't recall any at that time in my life. I don't remember how the nail biting came about, but I know it came before the hair pulling (I only remember because I couldn't pull hair with my nails because I didn't have any) The hair pulling started when I was around 12 - I had gone through puberty at age 10, and by age 12 the hairs on my legs were getting quite thick and they bothered me. When I would shave, I would sometimes get these bumps on my knees - I found that I could pop the bumps and pull the ingrown hairs out - then I didn't have bumps. It was solely a means to an end in the beginning. Over time, the pulling was interesting. I loved watching the hairs come out and marveled over the root. I also noticed the pain - it felt like a little electric shock, and I liked it. I never did anything any more extreme (ie. cutting) but I did like the pain part - it didn't hurt, per se - it was almost relaxing.
Eh, who's really normal anyway
RYC: You're right. I don't think anything I say will help the attitude of WOT.
A bf I had in high school - his father was a christian pastor who had a PhD in Greek (as well as a Masters in Theology) and he would translate the New Testament himself, and then compare his translation to the King James version and discuss why there were differences. My point here is - perception. It's all in how you interpret it. Factor in how you WANT to interpret it, and things can get really sticky.
My experience with most people who are very religious is that they seem to spend most of their time reading the bible (which most have done many times before) and judging those not like them (which is discouraged in the bible they spent all that time reading) Why not, instead of going to even MORE bible study - go help others? Go make the world a better place - whether by cleaning up trash, planting trees, spending time with old people, teaching immigrants English - why not DO something? Since I was 17 (and old enough to volunteer and have transportation to get where I needed to go) I have volunteered for many organizations, including meals on wheels, senior companion, the humane society - you name it. I was never told by anyone to do such things - who needs to be TOLD? Isn't it obvious?
A friend of mine - her (decidedly) non-christian mother and stepfather were extremely well off (I would almost say rich) Every Christmas, they would request not even a single gift for themselves (and they would tell you that if you got them something that they would have to give it away to someone who needed it) They would go to the local REI (a sporting goods shop) and buy up all the sleeping bags they could fit in their cars (they would bring both of their cars) They would then go home and make lots and lots of sandwiches and pack bags with sandwiches, fruit, juice, and maybe some chocolate. A couple days before Christmas (at night), they would go to Golden Gate Park in SF and start their gift giving. They would pass out the sleeping bags and food to anyone who needed them. If they had more than what those in the Park needed, they would go to other popular homeless congregations in the city. On Christmas Eve and Day, they would work at shelters - playing games, serving food, whatever.
I guess their example is a tough act to follow. Most people just think, "ME ME ME!" on Christmas - as well as most other days.
Greetings! Very helpful advice within this article! It is the little changes that produce the greatest changes. Thanks a lot for sharing!