I’ve been known to make resolutions regarding my health, exercise and financial goals. Despite my best intentions, the business of life, temptations of past eating habits, or the after-Christmas sales at the stores have derailed my plan for success. I’ve come to realize that I’m not the only one with a problem, and it’s made me realize the two major culprits contributing to our collective downfall.
I am not against resolutions. I make them. In fact, as 2011 rang in, I made a fabulous resolution. It had nothing to do with how I looked or saved or what I wanted to stay away from. I made a resolution to love. Love what or whom? Everyone. I resolved to live a life free of anger, gossip and other such negative feelings or actions towards my fellow man/woman/child.
I got married in May 2014, and I noticed that as I researched trends and advice for various articles, I was sad. As I studied DIY methods, I remembered the fun I had creating the favors for my wedding with my family. As I looked at photos of gorgeous gowns, I remembered the fun of having my mom’s wedding dress altered to fit me. Finally, I realized that I missed the planning, the excitement, and the anticipation. Perhaps I even missed the attention I received as a bride …
When I was but a young lad, I created a game that became a New Year’s Eve tradition in the Ribner family home. That said, I was the only one who actually enjoyed it. The game appealed to my inner schadenfreude – pleasure derived from others’ misfortune – and it was designed to poke a little fun at my long-suffering younger brother. I called it “New Year’s Sucker” and as its name implies, the game was designed to make the loser feel like a fool, a chump and a sap.
Naturally, I was a bit worried. My father had taught me to keep my right foot in the middle of the lane, obviously not good advice when you are positioned on the right side of the car. In the days leading up to the trip, I adopted a pretend air of confidence. I felt it was necessary amidst my mother’s cries of, “You’re so brave! Think how dangerous it will be!” I had to feign indifference. Anxious? Me? Not at all. Preposterous!
While I was raised a Catholic, I chose long ago to follow a different spiritual path. My adopted faith is called Asatru, which means “true to the Aesir gods,” and it’s a modern reconstruction of the ancient pagan faith of northern Europe. As a heathen – what we Asatruar call ourselves – I venerate Odin, Thor and the other gods of the ancient Norse pantheon, and live by the Nine Noble Virtues: courage, truth, honor, fidelity, discipline, hospitality, self-reliance, industriousness and perseverance. I won’t burden you with how I came to choose this path; but suffice to say, these ancient deities and the qualities they represent resonate within me like nothing else ever has, and I’m proud to have pledged myself to Odin long ago.
Christmas music, much like the holiday itself, features two very different, and sometimes competing, influences: “Ho Ho Ho” joviality, and the nativity of Christ. It’s sufficed to say that Frosty the Snowman is not topping my list of favs.
I long for the simple Christmases of my past. Christmas was a big deal but it wasn’t about presents. It was about tradition. It was the traditions that we enjoyed every year, things that brought the whole family together. We spent the month before Christmas making cookies and candies. We made sugar cookies, chocolate chip, peanut brittle and old-fashioned fudge with Hershey’s cocoa – all stored in festive tins in anticipation of holiday get-togethers. The windows of our home were simply dressed with fresh pine sprigs and old-fashioned Christmas lights. The movie A Christmas Story wasn’t shown 24 hours a day on cable TV. It was a one-time event and we all sat down together to watch it with a big bowl of popcorn and Coca-Cola.
When I was a kid, my mom put up decorations. We had not one, but about 30 elves on various shelves, stockings, a tree skirt, ornaments and tinsel (my mom will deny ever using it, but she did). She broke out the good china for Christmas dinner and dad had Elvis, Glen Campbell and Bing Crosby on his playlist. The end.
Still, there are many holiday movies out there to enjoy. One might argue that It’s a Wonderful Life isn’t even the best of Jimmy Stewart’s Christmas-set films, if one prefers Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner. One might also argue that It’s a Wonderful Life isn’t even the best Christmas movie of the 1940s – check out Preston Sturges’ little-known Remember the Night, with Barbara Stanwyck as a shoplifter and Fred MacMurray as the assistant D.A. who takes her home with him for the holidays (Turner Classic Movies will show it December 4 at 8pm, by the way).
