Christmas magic

I often wonder if today's children really experience the magic of Christmas like I did as a child.  Kids are exposed to so much stuff on TV, I can't imagine that they feel the same wonder on Christmas morning, the way we used to.  

Things are so confusing these days.  When I was a kid going to a one-room country school, we had Christmas programs that included songs and plays about the birth of Jesus.  Nowadays there are so many various religions in the country, you can't have that sort of program because, if you did, you would have to have programs about holidays of the other religions, as well.  And truthfully, I believe that if one religion is going to be represented, all the rest should have their day.  I know that isn't going to make me popular, but hey... when the pilgrims came to this country, the Indians had their own religion, and it was taken away from them.  We have never been a people who could live and let live.  But I sure do miss the old days when it wasn't so complicated.  

Meanwhile, I love Christmas.  It's a holiday that was never mentioned in the Bible.  Nowhere in scripture are we told to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  I was raised in the Church of Christ, and we didn't have Christmas programs at church, but most all of us had Christmas trees and presents and holiday goodies at home.  Some of my best memories are of Christmas.
  
Those were good times.  Kids today will never know the thrill of waking up Christmas morning and seeing that bulge in the toe of the stocking they hung on Christmas Eve, knowing it's an orange!  We didn't have many oranges back then, so it was a treat.  I'm pretty sure that if a kid found an orange in his stocking today, it would be ignored.

I'm glad I was born in a simple time.  

By the way, the new header on my blog is a Christmas card from my father's childhood, so it's probably a hundred years old.  

Merry Christmas!