A quiet Christmas can be a wonderful one

This was my 59th Christmas on this soil. As has been said many times (and years)before, it was the best Christmas ever. It certainly was adifferent one -- one that reminded me that the holidays are about memories ... and priorities. When you are a kid, the priorities are simple -- get fun gifts. My memory of kiddom is that, for several years running, we got a game or a toy that my three brothers and myself could use. One year, it was an erector set -- a complicated thing that we spent hours contructing ... and de-constructing. Another year, it was a table hockey game -- a wonderful game at which two or four could play. It had an automatic puck dropper. When you scored a goal, there was a little crowd noise. Another year, it was Foto-Electric Football. This would seem tame by today's vodeo standards. But we were enthralld by it. This got topped the next year by a GTO car set -- complete with tracks that seem to fill up the living room. We melded that one with the erector set for a truly complicated operation. As you get older, the priorities changed and you appreciated getting a check or cash from a favorite relative. As an adult, the priorities changed again. You wanted to be invited to the house of that cute girl in the third row. You had a gift for her ... and hoped to get one back in turn (even if it was just a kiss). (But you didn't necessarily want to give to her in front of her parents.) As an older adult, the holiday priorities have changed again. I just want Christmas Eve and Day to be one with a good meal and friendship with people you want to be around (and, hopefully, vice versa). That was the case this year. Christmas Eve was a quiet night at a local tavern with friends. We played games, listened to holiday music and ate and drank together for a couple of hours. It wasn't formal and it was very relaxed. We laughed a lot. What better night could you have? On Christmas Day, Lynne's sister and a brother-in-law came over. There was a great meal, a lively discussion and the day ended watching Barbra Streisand being interviewed on CNN. It was lowkey all the way. We left the dishes for the next day and didn't worry too much about how the kitchen looked. When I was 10 years old, I would never have imagine a holiday like this one would ever be considered "fun." Looking back at it after the fact, it would b hard to imagine a better way to spend the last two days. Priorities indeed.