I usually am the last person to get excited about Christmas in my house. But the Christmas bug finally bit me. Yes, it's less than a week before Christmas. I went through the mall tonight to run errands. I always manage to ignore the decorations and music. That stuff's been up since Halloween. So the lights and garland are just part of the background, generating the same feeling as furniture being in the same place too long.
I went to stores to drop off payments for a few charge cards and still avoided doing any shopping for people on my list. A snowstorm sent me home from work and I ended up missing our company's Christmas party, casting an additional bit of disappointment upon my mood. The mall looked even kind of grim, with the Christmas music belying an empty mall from the nasty weather and consumers fatigued from a weak economy.
After parting with my cash to Verizon and being in a somewhat foul mood over the inflation of the family's cell phone bill, the Christmas finally bug sank its fangs into me. The Salvation Army kettle was gone, but the tree with the names of kids needing gifts was there. My kids were already taken care of this Christmas and they're too old to believe in Santa anymore. The tag immediately erased my disappointment and renewed my spirits.
An 8-old-boy named Elvin needed a Santa to get him a Laser Tag set and the Salvation Army puts the kid's sizes on the tags. I've never met Elvin and I don't plan on meeting him. His tag is the first one I saw.
It soon dawned on me eight is a crucial age in the Christmas lexicon. That's when a lot of kids start becoming Christmas agnostics when it comes to Santa Claus. The kids start talking about spying on where parents hide the gifts or start expressing disappointment about what they didn't get. I hope this year he still keeps his belief a little big longer. Elvin, I hope the Laser Tag set brings you the same joy that I had when I got my Star Trek walkie talkies. Merry Christmas Elvin, you brought some joy to a 41-year-old man's heart.
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2 comments:
My parents would never get the Star Trek walkie-talkies. They got us Kmart-brand - and that may have been the moment of my life that gave rise to my life as a reporter. Keep your expectations low and your skepticism high.
Laser tag set?! I didn't even know those exist, Elvin definitely loves it!
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