By Allen Hamrick
While swigging a cup of black coffee the other day with some friends, the conversation of Christmas was brought to the floor. The conversation quickly swung to shopping and the usual chaotic rush to get final gift selections, the pure despair that seems to follow a shopping trip and the after Christmas day debt blues that are sung across many kitchen tables when the bills start rolling in. The question arose as to “Whatever happened to the good old days?” You know, those days not so long ago when folks just gave what they made like a prize meat loaf, a pan of steaming lasagna or a simple story from the past. You know, things that don’t cost much but are priceless none the less. Gifts that mean something, that make a statement as to how the giver felt about someone; gifts that just can’t be bought only given. Well, those were the good ol’ days when people didn’t have gaming systems and high dollar habits to feed seem to be a thing of the past.
Now, satisfaction seems to only come with the next best and biggest TV you can put in a buggy and walking proud as a peacock going through a store outspending the neighbors. The good ol’ days never had a list; people just knew and did. Now, people have to buy for lists are as long as your arm and the gift want list is even longer. Sieges are laid onto most people’s already strapped bank accounts and loan papers have been signed. In the old days, sewing machines, woodshops, blacksmiths, writers, poets and cooks were called to arms for the Christmas rush. Now, the internet has spawned Amazon and Google, among others, and has opened a whole new world for people to explore and empty their wallets. Shopping for the perfect gift in the old days was a personal vendetta, a time when great thought surrounded your choice. In the new era, that has been taken away by the list of 23. No matter where you go on the internet, there is an ad showing you the top 23 gifts of 2023. So the good ol’ days of oranges and candy in a special sock over the fire place that great grandpa wore only on Sundays is gone. The days have arrived of Santa’s very own special socks now hung by the gas insert stove with care hoping that Apple or Burger King will leave a gift card there. So, recliner shopping is the go-to now, no more hustle and bustle fighting over parking spaces, no more cursing the long lines at the stores, no more eating out and worrying whether or not the disgruntled cook behind those walls put a wrong topping on your pizza. No, wait, that wasn’t the old days; that was last year, my bad. Still, folks get out and do a little shopping and carry on tradition, but does anyone do it like the good ol days anymore?
However, with the holidays of Christmas and New Year making their way back full circle from last year, decorations, presents, food and good memories are still there to be had and, to a point, have some resemblance to a time of the horse and sleigh; a time when lists were short and the gift list shorter. It is a time for remembering the year that has just passed and to make promises with raised glasses that the next year will be different. Christmas comes and goes, and you realize that you have no batteries for your toys as you sit and ponder in your new house shoes while chewing on that new bag of dark chocolate Hershey bars. Why would anyone in their right mind would have gotten you a new shovel for Christmas? They knew your back was out. So, they can take it back and get you money instead even though return lines at the stores are as long as river. Your arm chair shopping has now turned into fighting return robots at Amazon to send your gifts back so you can somehow get enough money to pay back the holiday special loan before the 39.9 percent interest hits.
Many stories of “the good ol days” when the family was together, and snowflakes made a huge difference in how the day went still ring in the voices of those that lived it. Not many people are still around that did. The smell of food cooking, the taste of fresh made cookies, songs sung in earnest and kids shaking wrapped presents trying to guess what was in the box are all experiences that bound families together. Trees gleamed with a spray of lights, candy canes and pop corn strings. Those were good times, and some are fortunate enough to still have those opportunities.
In the good ol’ days there were days when going to the post office was fun and a much anticipated event. Catalogs were on the way, and they served not as just something to make your mouth water over what you couldn’t have, but as wall coverings, bathroom necessities, outhouse insulation, covering plants, fire starters, paper airplanes, research material, math education, inspiration to inventors and future clothing makers and, on special occasions, as a quick smoke when you were out of tobacco paper. In the new world, what can Amazon and Google do to compete with that? Seriously!
Good ol’ days or new days, whichever you prefer, this is the season to huddle together in masses and gift each other the gifts of peace, to live and breathe the fresh air, to enjoy a cup of rich Wagon Train coffee and a biscuit. In all seriousness, most people can just go and get what they want anytime of the year, so this season, probably the best gift of all are gifts handmade or straight from the heart. After all, that’s all the good ol’ days were – families getting together and enjoying what time they have left. Christmas is a time not just for families but for everyone, no matter your situation, to remember and reflect on what’s real and prepare for the coming days, months and years. As I always say, “The gifts you give now may be at yard sales in the spring, so whatever you make or buy, be sure that it’s something you want.”
