Randall Franks: Christmas with the family is a time for presence
By Randall Franks
I remember having my nose pressed squarely against the windowpane. It was cold outside and frost had formed around the edges of the panes near the white wooden stiles separating each of the three windows in the living room into six sections.
I was watching for my father to return home from work because I knew that evening we would begin decorating for Christmas. We would get into the green Chevrolet truck and take a drive to the Boy Scout lot to buy a freshly cut Douglas fir and bring it back home. This was always an adventure to me especially as a boy trying to pick the perfect tree for the living room.
This tradition would go by the wayside for several years as I overcome health issues that precluded live trees in the house.
But for this year, it was going to bring that aroma of fresh pine throughout the house.
We brought it back home cutting the end off slightly so it would slip into the red and green metal stand and tightened the silver bolts into the trunk.
After a little water was placed in the holder, we were off and running. From the attic came down the two brown cardboard boxes of Christmas ornaments wrapped in a white cotton material that we used around the bottom of the tree to cover the stand.
There were big red ones, and yellows, greens and blues; many were round like a ball while some were shaped in various forms.
Mother would begin placing the ornaments while my job was placing the silver strands of icicles around the tree in a systematic yet strategic approach trying to bring some sense of symmetry to the endeavor.
As we progressed on the tree, my father was hard at work placing the exterior lights around the evergreens that lined the walk in front of our house and all along the hollies and azaleas in front of our house.
This was all culminated by the placement of a large lighted Santa Claus face that had more of a bluish gray tint than the customary red just by the door in the sticking vine that ran up the trellis there.
Mother would add little accents around the room bringing a spirit of Christmas here and there but the main focus was the tree.
This year we had the added bonus of a fireplace bought at G.E.X. This cardboard fireplace featured red bricks printed on it face and once put together placed within its middle was a lighted long which flickered and glowed whenever it was plugged in.
Across its top, we strung a string and hung all the Christmas cards we received from friends and relatives.
Over the next, few weeks underneath the tree would appear the gift that we were sharing with one another and then on Christmas morning when I rose, I'd find the ones brought me by Santa.
One of my favorite evenings of the season was when one of the versions of "The Christmas Carol" would play on television and we would all settle in with cups of hot cocoa and holiday popcorn and gather around the television.
We always had a Christmas dinner; whether big or large it was a tradition that brought stability and a sense of order to lives which to a little boy sometimes seemed chaotic. Of course, I caused my share of chaos. My dear mother use to say I could be a little angel for everybody else but for her I was often her holy terror. She was probably right. I was quite a handful for her and dad both at times.
In looking back now though it's safe to say we all had our moments throughout the year, at Christmas they seemed to fade away into a sense of peace and love that wiped away the rough edges of life. The hurts, the pains, the sorrows, the angers were covered over by God's gracious gift to us of that little boy Jesus wrapped in swaddling cloths in a manger in Bethlehem who came to give us a chance at everlasting life.
As we prayed for something better for all our family, as we shared in the giving to one another, as we looked more deeply into each other's eyes, said "I Love Yous," we found ourselves closer to each other and closer to Him.
While life was not always easy for my late parents, they gave me all they could to make it possible for me to not only live through health issues that kept them financially drained and emotionally taxed, but to encourage me and make it possible for all that has come since in my life.
Through ups and downs, Christmas was not a day that centered around the decorations, the gifts, the TV shows, parades, or sporting events, it was about each other and what we could do to be more caring as a family. Now that time has moved on, that is what I remember most about Christmas. Why don't you use this Christmas to show how much you care with your presence not your presents.
Randall Franks is an award-winning musician, singer and actor. He is a columnist and staff writer for News Publishing Co. and can be reached at rfranks@catoosanews.com.