Violins, please! Grab your Kleenex! “Like sands through the hourglass….” Back in the fall of 1967, when I was a freshman in college, I got hooked on a silly soap opera called Days of Our Lives. It seemed like half the gals in Tanner Hall would congregate in the dorm basement TV room at 1 PM to watch the shenanigans of the Horton family. Dr. Tom, the patriarch, was the chief physician at Salem General Hospital, and his wife, Alice, was the chief busybody in town. Their adult children, Mickey, Laura, and Bill, were always engaged in some caper of tragedian proportions, as were their grandchildren who eventually came along. This was in the time before VCRs and taping shows, so many of us would work our class schedules around Days. Earning a diploma was secondary to missing a single melodramatic minute of our favorite soap.
Christmastime was always special at the Horton household. Specifically, Tom and Alice would decorate their tree with ornaments bearing the name of each family member and then reveal some historic hysteria that had occurred in that person’s life once upon a time. Nothing like reliving trauma in order to whip up a little holiday cheer. I haven’t watched DOOL in over 25 years, and I think Big Sis, also once a rabid fan, gave up on it long ago but still tunes in to the annual “Let’s decorate the tree and tell a sob story” show.
Which leads to some of my Christmas present purchases in 1982. That year I had scrounged through a bunch of el-cheapo mail order house catalogues, trying to find potential presents, and there they were! Personalized glass ornaments for sale! What a great gift this would be for Sis, her husband, and two kids! I quickly ordered her family and myself what has come to be known as the Days of Our Lives Christmas Balls. As each of her five grandkids has come along, another personalized ball has been added to the tree--ho-ho-homemade ones that I craft myself, although they aren’t as jazzy as the original style, which I can no longer find for sale. None have ever broken. Amazing.
When I was talking with Big Sis on the phone last night, she mentioned that the younger grandkids have recently been having fun identifying the family names on her DOOL Christmas ornaments. Maddie is reading now, and Boomer assumes that every ornament with a “B” is his. In the name of tradition, I’ve recently made a new one for 4-month-old baby William, which will be ceremoniously added to the tree next week. Here’s hoping there’s no horrific tale of his conception or delivery to go along with it, a la Tom and Alice. --May all the days of your life be happy ones, little William.
2 comments:
Oh, we'll skip the conception and delivery and go right for the circumcision. :)
We do a dated ornament for each of the kids that represents something about their life for the year. It was fun putting them on the tree each year and remembering. When they were teenagers and not into helping, I said they had to put on their own ornaments on the tree if they wanted to represented. That was interesting to see just which ones went on and those that didn't. A couple of years ago they all went home with their ADULT owners . . . sad in a way, but then I got to go back to my snowflake ornamanets.
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