WHAT CHILD IS THIS?
If you read my previous posting, you know that I recently re-discovered a collection of childhood photos. Among them were a few taken during the Christmas Holiday season. I'm guessing this one was taken in (gulp) 1956.
This photo mesmerizes me. My attention is first drawn to the pretty sparse Christmas tree, heavily laden with ornaments, garland and tinsel trying desperately to look full and ready for its camera, Mr. DeMille. I can spot a metallic silver bell that I have to this day. Every time I hear that Christmas song about “…Christmas-time in the city…” a smile appears on my face.
I can see the glittery cotton tree skirt that hosted a tiny village of houses and trees. My mother would take a pair of scissors and cut a hole in the skirt and place a small mirror under the opening to mimic a frozen pond. Although I can’t see them, we had small metal ice skaters that I used to play with on the “pond.” In later years, I’d improvise a snowy hill for small metal skiers by placing books of the encyclopedia under the skirt, too.
Does anything in this picture date it more than the chair in which I’m sitting? It was a bright red with silver threads that looked like tinsel. The best part of this chair was that it spun 360 degrees.
Most surprising of all in this picture is my pose. Where did that self-confident, self-assured child come from? I suppose part of the confidence came from being “related to Santa” (see previous posting). It’s kind of appropriate, I suppose, in this Holiday season to look at this picture and ask “What Child Is This?”
Now before you begin lambasting me with accusations of blasphemy, you must know that in the deepest part of my faith is the belief that God is within each of us. He shines from within when we are being the best we can be. The child in this picture is living fully in the moment of the Holidays in a way that I’m not sure adults can. I only know that finding this picture this year has brought me back to that feeling in a way that I haven’t felt in a long time.
If you read my previous posting, you know that I recently re-discovered a collection of childhood photos. Among them were a few taken during the Christmas Holiday season. I'm guessing this one was taken in (gulp) 1956.
This photo mesmerizes me. My attention is first drawn to the pretty sparse Christmas tree, heavily laden with ornaments, garland and tinsel trying desperately to look full and ready for its camera, Mr. DeMille. I can spot a metallic silver bell that I have to this day. Every time I hear that Christmas song about “…Christmas-time in the city…” a smile appears on my face.
I can see the glittery cotton tree skirt that hosted a tiny village of houses and trees. My mother would take a pair of scissors and cut a hole in the skirt and place a small mirror under the opening to mimic a frozen pond. Although I can’t see them, we had small metal ice skaters that I used to play with on the “pond.” In later years, I’d improvise a snowy hill for small metal skiers by placing books of the encyclopedia under the skirt, too.
Does anything in this picture date it more than the chair in which I’m sitting? It was a bright red with silver threads that looked like tinsel. The best part of this chair was that it spun 360 degrees.
Most surprising of all in this picture is my pose. Where did that self-confident, self-assured child come from? I suppose part of the confidence came from being “related to Santa” (see previous posting). It’s kind of appropriate, I suppose, in this Holiday season to look at this picture and ask “What Child Is This?”
Now before you begin lambasting me with accusations of blasphemy, you must know that in the deepest part of my faith is the belief that God is within each of us. He shines from within when we are being the best we can be. The child in this picture is living fully in the moment of the Holidays in a way that I’m not sure adults can. I only know that finding this picture this year has brought me back to that feeling in a way that I haven’t felt in a long time.
posted by Pilgrim Path | 9:01 PM
1 Comments:
These pic/prose combinations are getting me through this week...gifts they are...thank you.
Buck
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home