During this, our greatest  Holiday Season of the year, our culture and values have changed through the years.  Today, via the mass media, we are bombarded with the commercialization of Christmas.  Although,it is an important business season for our economy, I maintain that there is a better way to market the season.  I see parents getting stressed out to get their children everything that is on their Christmas list, despite the fact the majority of the Christmas season expenses are put on a credit card and paid through the New Year.  Modern technology and the electronic generation adds to this since every child wants or thinks they need the latest electronic gadget on the market.  Parents feel guilty if they cannot provide the things that their children request from Santa.  Today, a parent takes their young child into the mall to see Santa Claus, they sit on his lap and have their picture taken, of course at a small expense to the parent.

I am not naive enough to believe we can return to Christmas Past, but like many things in our lives we can learn from the past and apply to the present.  As a pre-teenager, I lived in a small rural community in western Colorado.  Predominantly, it was a ranching and farming community.  At that time, the population base was around 5,000 residents.  Each Christmas, I thank my mother for teaching myself and my siblings the meaning of Christmas.  But, I also thank the community for similar values.  Today, in this community, in the center of town is the movie theatre, the Fox Theatre.  The last time I visited the community, it was still there and still in business.  As a child, the theatre always had a Saturday matinee, cost of admission was a dime.  But, Christmas was very special.  On the Saturday before Christmas, the Fox would host a free matinee for the children of the community.  It would consist of two cartoons, the news reel, and a full feature movie.  Following the movie, the lights would come on, Christmas carols would start playing, and then the Mayor would make a short speech and introduce a special guest, Santa Claus. 

Santa would not sit in a big chair, he preferred to stand up with a Elf standing next to his side.  He to, would make a very brief speech, highlighting important things like school work and listening to our parents. When he finish, those of us in the audience, would file out by row and proceed in line to meet Santa.  As we approached him, he would extend his white gloved hand and shake your hand. As he chatted with you, his Elf would appear with a brown paper sack, a lunch bag nearly filled with a variety of candies and always some type of fruit, orange or apple.  In later years, I learned about Santa's visit.  The Fox Theatre would provide the Free Movie, the merchants in town contributed all of the contents of the bag by either donating cash or product.  Following the meet and greet of Santa, we would return to our seats and a choir would come in and sing a variety of carols, with Santa leading them.  At the conclusion, he would depart the theatre, step up onto the City Fire Truck, wait for all of us to clear the building and with sirens blaring head down the street from our sight.  Years later, as an adult, do I believe in Santa?  I do because I saw him through the eyes of a child, I touched his hand, and he spoke to me.

Walking home, the majority of the homes were decorated for Christmas, City Hall and every church would have a naivety scene, some them even having live animals at the manger.  The homes would decorate with lights, but they did not keep time with blaring music, but every home would have an outside tree decorated.  It always intrigued me, but some of these homes would have lights in the shape of a star in their front window.  The stars would always be solid blue or gold.  It was later that I learned that those stars indicated that they had a member on active duty if it was Blue.  If the family had lost a member of the family on active duty, the star would be Gold. 

A family of seven, my farther made a living of buying and selling horses to supplement his guiding and dude ranch business in the summer and fall.  My mother would work in the local restaurants as a cook to provide additional income.  She would start in early November and start preparing for Christmas, making candies, cookies, fruit cake, and reviewing or lists to Santa.  We never got everything on our list, but she always insured that we had at least one gift from our list, two if there was a surplus of cash, and of course school clothes for the remainder of the school year.  She made it possible and we never felt disappointed because we did not get everything we wanted.  We got much more than she realized she was giving us.  We established Christmas traditions that are still practiced in our home today. 

  

 

May 18, 2002

First Visit To Friends Home ~ Meryl Wolford

 At 5:36 p.m. AKST, Good Friday, March 27, 1964 the second largest earthquake to ever recorded would strike the Alaska coastline. The major earthquake would last a duration of four minutes, reaching a magnitude of 9.2 on the Richter Scale.  A vast area, predominantly coastline communities suffered the greatest loss of life and property.  A total of thirteen individuals would loose their lives related to the actual earthquake.  However, the worse was yet to occur.  The Tsunami Wave came ashore following the earthquake, although the Tsunami varied in height from 27 feet to 8 feet.  The loss of life and destruction of property was far greater than that created by the earthquake with a total of 113 lives being lost due to the Tsunami Wave.

Now, this is "Change" that you can actually see with your own eyes. The two photos were taken the same day, January 19, 2011. That date should be familiar to you as it was the day that President Hu made his visit to the residence of President Obama. In the morning, a light graying of the hair. Later in the day when photographed with President Hu, he had washed that gray right out of his hair.

As with all of our Presidents, the daily stress of this office has a tendency to age them rapidly. This process goes with the job. However, hiding the signs of this stress does not really eliminate the factors of the stress. President Clinton discovered that smoking a good cigar would reduce his stress level.

The President is forty nine years of age, typically this is the point in a man's life that you can expect some changes. There are those that describe this process as a mid life crisis for men. First sign of this process is the desire to become healthier. The purchase of a "juicer" and making up all kinds of concoctions of a variety of fruit and vegetables is a sure sign that a man is looking for the fountain of youth. Then come the motorcycles, vintage cars, new clothes, new hair style, and yes, coloring of the hair in order to return to the age of their youth.

I am just a few years older than the President. Although, I have not had the stressful life of the President, I too am showing a little gray around the temples. Several years ago, I went to a costume party. For this particular party, you had to come dressed as you would in your younger years. I donned my "old" Navy uniform that I was issued when I joined the Navy thirty years earlier. Looking at myself in the mirror, the gray that was showing did not go well with the uniform. I got myself some of that instant youth looking goop and washed it through my hair. Drying it and combing it as it was in the 1960's, I was amazed that my hair looked worse than before I tried to restore my youth. You can hide the color of hair, but those little wrinkles in your face will not disappear.

The "graying process" has never bothered me, I consider it the "learned look" as well as being distinguished. The thing you must keep in mind is that you may wash the gray out of your hair, but at the same time, you also have to color your beard, mustache, arms, legs, chest, and any other area that hair happens to grow. The best thing to do is let it go and consider yourself lucky that you have achieved that position in your life.

Recently, while having morning coffee at the Anchor River Inn, one of the regulars at the coffee clutch produced a email from a lady that lived in Anchor Point. Although, I knew of her, I had never overly indulged myself in conversation with her due to her radical political philosophy. She was a self proclaimed Democrat, very liberal in her beliefs pertaining to saving the environment, global warming, and destruction of our planet. She placed the majority of the blame on the timber industry and large oil companies.

Her email went on to explain her life after leaving Anchor Point. She moved to Sappho, Washington, a small community on the western side of the Olympic Peninsula. She purchased a small home and several acres in Sappho which is situated on the border of the Olympic National Forest. On the highest point of her property there was a very large tree. Wanting a better view of the "natural environment" of her land she decided to climb the tree.
As she neared the top of the tree, she encountered a Spotted Owl that attacked her because she got to close to the owl's nest. In her haste to escape the owl, she slid down the tree to the ground. Having her legs wrapped around the tree, she acquired a number of large splinters in the area of her crotch.

In considerable pain, she hurried to the medical clinic in Forks, Washington, about ten miles in distance. Arriving at the medical clinic, she demanded to see the Doctor on duty immediately. During his examination, she explained as to how she acquired the splinters. She went on to expound on her political beliefs as to her position on the environment, anti-hunting, and how much she admired President Obama.

The doctor listened to her with great patience and then told her to to wait in the operating room and he would see if he could help her and remove the splinters. The nurse assisted her in positioning herself on the table and placing her feet in the stirrups in anticipation of the removal process. After waiting for two hours, the Doctor reappeared in the operating room. The angry lady demanded "What took you so long, I am in great pain and very uncomfortable!"

A sly smile escaped the lips of the Doctor and then he went on to explain to her, "Well, I had to get permits from the Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Forestry, the Division of State Parks, and the Bureau of Land Management. She demanded why he had to do all of that simply to remove the splinters from her crotch! The Doctor again smiling to himself, replied, "Well, before I could remove any old-growth timber, which is the nesting area of "Spotted Owl" from a recreational area, I needed the required permits. I'm sorry, but due to the permitting process, Obama Care turned me down." The nurse will assist in helping you get dressed, have a good day. As the operating door closed behind him, she could hear him laughing and repeating, "How Do You Like The Change Now"