The Day the Earth Stood Still


There are moments in everyone’s life that they can recall with perfect clarity.  All it takes is the briefest reminder and a whole scene plays out in front you as if you were there again.  Some of these glimpses are happy times, some of these glimpses are the saddest of times. I have experienced many of these days in my life, but the one that changed me forever occurred for me in the year 1980.  What pray tell could have impacted me in such a profound way?  Well sit down at Uncle Shane’s feet and lend me your ear…well, in this case your eyes (you can all groan now).

Let me set the stage for you for just a moment.  I love Christmas.  I do; however, I believe Thanksgiving should get its due.  Let the Turkey cool before we start all the hullabaloo with decorations and singing and peppermint mochas.  Now that that is out of the way, I LOVE Christmas.  I still can’t sleep on Christmas Eve, partly due to the fact I am now Santa delivering a sleigh full of toys that my wife feels my kids need, but mostly because I LOVE seeing their reactions the next day.  Sure, I sleep longer than they want me to, but now I know why my dad did the same thing – he was TIRED!  So now that the fat guy secret is out of the bag, not my dad, but rather St. Nick himself, I can get to the crux of my now overly long story.

So, one chilly December day my sisters and I were on a mission – to find our Christmas presents.  We went into this fully expecting to find out what our parents had gotten us for the big day.  I had no idea that my sisters knew what else they would find; however, that thought had not even crossed my mind.  We were rummaging through the closets and under the beds, all to no avail.  We had one last place to look: the dark, foreboding, evil space under the stairs in the cold food storage room (if you’re from Utah, you know what that room is).  This was not a place of joy before this day and it would soon become forever the heart of darkness.

As we moved aside 5 gallon buckets of rice, flour, and dreaded lima beans a little shock of red and green could be seen.  As we dug deeper we realized we had hit pay dirt!  I was like the soon to be introduced Indiana Jones, I had the golden statue in my hand.  As we slowly removed each present, memorizing the placement of each to insure they were returned so as not to give us away, I held “the one” in my hand that changed it all.  I looked at the tag to see who it was for and I had a surge of glee as it read, “To: Shane” in my mother’s beautiful penmanship.  My eyes moved to the next line and what I saw left me in stunned silence.  I couldn’t move.  My thoughts were all jumbled.  My sisters talking was a muted, dull reminder that others were in my space.  I sank to my knees in horror as I read, “From: Santa.”

That was the day the earth stood still.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Autumnal Invocation

Image
Fall, I have fallen for you.   This is my prayer to celebrate this triumphant occasion.   Oh, the bounties that thou hast provided this illustrious juncture lifts my heart and fills my soul with joy as I look upon thee and the blessings thou doth bring.   My cup runneth over, for the autumnal splendor that explodes upon me is more than I can contain.   I pray thee well, oh mother of nature, for thou hast provided us this season of thanks and giving. My dear, glorious, beautiful division of periods set between the warmth of summer and chill of winter, thou hast brought me so many things for which I am grateful.   I want to thank thee openly - for the world to see, read, and hear.   I shout my gratitude to the heavens and feel it burning in my bossom. Bountiful grace I extend to thee for the bringing of the football, for it fills my everlasting presence with a happiness unmeasurable by the accounting of man.   I thank thee for the oblong t...
Read more

Go Time.

Image
It’s “Go Time!”  What time is that?  Funny you should ask.  What’s right around the corner?  Thanksgiving?  Too easy.  Think harder.  Not that hard.  Okay, you have it now.  Yes, it’s Christmas (shudder).  So, in preparation for Christmas what do we do?  Decorate?  Put up lights?  Shame on you, it’s WAY too early for that.  If that was really your answer, so help me… There is something bigger at play here than your lights and trees and the decorations adorning your tables and mantles.  There is the real focal point of Christmas to consider.  There is one thing that can and should bring us all together, once a year, in a spirit of peace and love.  The true meaning of Christmas.  The one undeniable truth – Presents. I’m not talking about giving them, okay I am, but still…  Let’s be honest, we all want to get them!  Or is that just me?  I can’t be the only selfish p...
Read more

February – It Almost Wasn’t a Month

Image
Yup, we are going back to February, there was more you needed to know. If you are looking for a few words on Valentine’s Day, there, you just got them.  I have decided to spare us all the pain and agony of reading another article about the love day, hard pass.  Instead let’s focus on February itself.  As you may or may not know, February is the second month of the year, it also has an “r” which makes no sense to me.  I mean it’s like Wednesday with its rogue “dn” messing with everything we know about English. Now let’s get to the real meat and potatoes of the whole thing – where does the word February even come from?  Well, here it is: February was named after the Latin word februum, which means purification because the month was a time for purification – don’t ask me, I didn’t come up with this. This is actually quite interesting because the Old English word for February is Solmonath.  Why is this interesting?  Well for starters Solmonath is...
Read more