Christmas time is a time for remembering the birth of the Christ Child, of reflection, and of giving service to others. It is also a time for Christmas parties, and tonight we had been invited to just such a party with some of our old neighborhood friends.
When we arrived, we parked the car and started walking up towards the front door, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a........... a major award! Yes, there it was, occupying its rightful place of honor right in the front window. The “major award”, the most sought after prize of memorabilia, the ubiquitous “leg lamp”. Where or how they got it I don’t know, but there it was, heralding in the beginning of the Christmas Season.
Once inside the home we were greeted by what looked like Mr. and Mrs. Clause, but who were really our good friends, Mary and Rawley.
Their home had been decorated just as “Ralphie” had described his childhood home, there on Cleveland Street, in the film classic “A Christmas Story”. The smells emanating from the kitchen told us that a Christmas feast was in preparation. Large pots of meatballs, sauce and homemade lasagna were cooking on the stove.
The whole house spoke of Christmas; there was a brightly decorated Christmas tree standing in the corner; the tables had been set up with dishes and napkins which were embossed with Christmas logos, all just waiting for the guests to be seated around.
M&M’s were placed in every corner, on every shelf and on every table. Wait a minute, M&M’s; that’s not a Christmas tradition. Well, maybe not in anyone else’s home, but they sure were here. There were small packages of M&M’s placed on the tables, on the shelves, and on the tree. There were miniature M&M characters occupying almost every spare space throughout the house. There were large M&M dolls propped up in corners, on beds, and sitting in chairs.
As we toured through the house looking at all of the antiques, memorabilia and Christmas decorations, I spied the infamous fuse box. Yes, the one that Ralphie’s dad had been so adept at in replacing a blown fuse that there was hardly an interruption in the festivities at all.
Walking down the hall I found an open door; it was, …… the basement. The portal which would allow access to the very gates of hell, housing that dreaded furnace; the coal burning, smoke belching, clinker growing furnace. We dared not venture down into the belly of the beast even though we were assured that the old coal burning furnace had been replaced long ago with a modern gas flame variety.
We had viewed most everything in the Christmas House when I spied something different; a new type of “mini-me”, a miniature version of the famous “major award”. It had to be a “minor award”, a smaller version of the awesome “major award” leg lamp. So cute, so adorable; where on earth did they get it? None the less, there it was, occupying its rightful place in the rear window of the home.
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