Holly-Jolly

Remember Christmas shopping? I mean in stores full of shoppers - there was music in the air and some shops had free hot-chocolate while others offered hot cinnamon apple-cider and ginger-reindeer cookies Parents would have to wait outside stores because the whole expedition was surreptitious - you shielded your gift bags from prying eyes. Siblings would offer to help you carry your loot - as if any respectable kid would fall for THAT. School choirs competed for applause, caroling in food courts. A line of excited children would spark my older brother, Brice, to smirk and tease, “Are you sitting on Santa’s lap this year?” There was a dazzling neon candy-cane roller-coaster on the roof of Macy’s called “the pink pig” that we’d squeeze into - even though it was made for little kids. I was always in charge of checking the calendar so we’d remember when my sister would be flying home for college break. Have a careful Christmas - holly jolly as it can be. Make memories that will last forever - like favorite songs.