d ROBERT’ S WORLD
The Holidays, They Are a Changin’
BY ROBERT SMYTH
The evolution of Christmas as one ages.
The holidays, and especially Christmas, seem to get here faster and faster the older I get. I’ m sure there’ s some scientific formula that calculates your age and what you got then versus what you buy now, and that equals the speed at which the holidays arrive and what you haven’ t been able to pay off yet from last year. I’ d write it out for you, but it’ s math, and my brother was the one who was good at math, not me. It just makes me sleepy, my ADHD kicks in, and I start getting distracted by shiny stuff.
No matter how you calculate it, the fact is that my wife and I are still sadly paying off our great idea from last Christmas. You see, our kids have all gotten older, and so we thought instead of buying a bunch of presents they don’ t really need that we’ d go on a family cruise. Sounds like a good idea, right? Wrong! My wife still wanted to make stockings for all of them and those are no longer just filled with candy, socks, and an orange at the bottom to make it look full. Instead, they’ re full of all kinds of expensive doodads and trinkets that I would have killed for as a kid. Gone are the days of bubble gum and underwear, and in goes expensive makeup, hats, and jewelry. The stockings were literally overflowing on the mantel.
Besides the stockings, we were just going to get everyone a small present for under the tree, and Santa was instructed to only visit the youngest child. Apparently, Santa missed the memo, because everyone had stuff to open on Christmas morning. Two 50-gallon garbage bags of ripped-up wrapping paper later, and we still took everybody on a cruise.
Fast forward to today and we’ re still paying off the cruise from last year and now have to buy gifts for this year. Merry Christmas to me! Hurts me right in the jingle bells. I need to ask my parents if they
We’ re still paying off the cruise from last Christmas. Hurts me right in the jingle bells.
felt the same way about the holidays when we were growing up.
My childhood memories of Christmas are wonderful. Full of traditions, sounds, and smells that make me smile from ear to ear. I remember how time would slow down to a crawl on Christmas Eve. I thought it was so Santa could get around the globe with all those gifts, but now I realize it’ s so moms and dads can get all the last-minute wrapping done, or to make a run to the store for double-As for all those battery-operated toys going under the tree. Or so they have time to ask for forgiveness for all the foul words they used while trying to put together a trampoline at 11:30 at night, in the dark, while it’ s raining.( Not a joke, I actually had to do that!)
I remember how my mom and grandmother would work so hard to prepare all the food we loved for the holidays, and it was fantastic. There was a rule at my grandmother’ s house that we couldn’ t open gifts until everyone was finished eating. We have an uncle who’ d be the last one to finish each year, and then he’ d announce as loud as he could,“ Maybe I’ ll have one more piece of pie.” He was almost sacrificed to the Christmas spirits by some very angry juveniles.
I could go on, because I have plenty of wonderful holiday memories, and I hope my kids have some as well. I hope one day they’ ll tell their own kids about the magic and the warmth we’ ve tried to create each year. I can’ t wait to sugar up my grandkids, give them cash, and send them home just like my grandparents did. I guess that’ s why my grandparents were always smiling during the holidays. Merry Christmas to all!
38 | NW GEORGIA LIVING NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2025