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viewsLooking For Reason This Season
By Dawn Maria, Thursday, December 23, 2010, 1 commentsThe Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lied and stole and smoked cigars (even the girls) and talked dirty and hit little kids and cursed their teachers and took the name of the Lord in vain and set fire to Fred Shoemaker’s old broken-down toolhouse.
So begins Barbara Robinson’s 1972 classic children’s novel, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It’s a tale about bad behavior, low expectations and the power of the Christmas story. If you rebooted the Herdman kids’ behavior to 2010 standards, it would go like this-
The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lied and stole iPods and sexted on the bus and bullied kids on Facebook and mocked their teachers with homemade videos on You Tube and sold Adderall they stole form the nurse’s office at school.
Since this year is Big Boy’s last Christmas at home, I felt I had to make sure it was the best Christmas ever. Next fall he’ll head off to college and our family life will never quite be the same again.
As often happens with great expectations, invariably you fall short and end up disappointed.
At work we read Robinson’s book in Reading class and I cried at the end. I cried because the writing was so beautiful. I cried because characters were transformed. I cried because the message about Christmas had nothing to do with gifts, lists or fruitcake. So I decided to read aloud the book to my family to get us in the true spirit of the holiday and provide source material for that best Christmas ever I so desperately wanted to manufacture.
We started off strong. I read at dinnertime, on the few nights when all four of us were home. One night Little Bug volunteered to read so I could eat my food while it was still hot. Not to be bested by his kid brother, Big Boy also read and upped the ante by changing his voice for each character. I basked in the holiday glory.
The next night The Better Half made faces at Little Bug while I read. Then an argument broke out between The Offspring that ended with Little Bug shouting, “I can’t wait until you go off to college!”
To make matters worse, the dogs discovered the tissue paper for wrapping gifts and began shredding it daily. I ran low on the cat’s Prozac and he did without it for a few days. And The Better Half and I weren’t getting along very well either.
When we went to decorate the tree, the new lights had white cords instead of green, which looked ugly. The Offspring argued during decorating, but managed to calm down in time for the star to go on the tree (which we save for last). This year it was Little Bug’s turn and for the first time ever, he did it without needing to get on a chair. (He might need a new moniker if I can bring myself to give him one.)
That brief respite was too brief, because we were all back to bickering the next day and have continued to do so all this week. We aren’t done with the book either, but I’m hoping it can still work some magic on this worn-out family.
The AZ’s were absolutely like any other family in the history of the world. They fought and argued and laughed and played jokes and hurt each other’s feelings both intentionally and unintentionally and came together to celebrate things and got angry sometimes and had fun at other times and never burned anything down, but one time the TV started smoking all on its own.
It feels like the Herdmans came into my house this holiday season, literally and figuratively. If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s what Dr. Seuss taught us- Christmas means a little bit more.
On Christmas Eve I’ll make my traditional Sauerbraten and Potato Pancakes, a recipe of my Great Grandmother’s, who taught it to her son, my Grandpa, who taught it to me. We’ll head to a candlelight church service and wake in the morning to a warm fire and gifts. (We especially enjoy watching the dogs get their presents.)
No matter how much fighting and bickering fills the house, Christmas will come just the same and our Christmas this year will be what it always is- ours. It isn’t something I can make better or worse through purchases and good intentions, it simply is.
I’m still hopeful that by the time we get to the end of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, each of us will have learned something, if not about ourselves, at least about the season.
**Spoiler alert**
The Angel of Lord says, “Hey! Unto you a child is born!”
Happy Holidays (in whatever form they take) to you and yours!
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1 Comments
Loved this post!
Dawn Maria- this is such a nice blog! Thank you so much for posting. Yes, we do have high expectations, especially at the holidays, but I am glad you see that a family is so much more than how it functions at the holidays. Hey, with an 18 year old son, I applaud the effort! Sounds like yours has a good foundation for everyone to grow and be. Merry Christmas.
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