Remembering Childhood

By Susan Berger

Well...Tis the season. I love the holidays. I love the lights and the songs and the feelings of good will and anticipation.

 

I do not love the tension, the anxiety of trying to do everything right and on time. Of finding the perfect present. The illusion that there needs to be more money. I wish I never felt those things, but I do sometimes.

Twenty years when my children were young and I was a harried mother, I wrote this poem:

Christmas

The Carols are caroled. The gingerbread's made.

The turkey's not bought yet. The bills are half paid.

The kids are both fighting. The gifts are not wrapped

It's six days till Christmas and we are all zapped!

 I want back my childhood, the joy and delight,

The magic and wonder of Christmas Eve night.

It's odd being grown and the mother of two.

What quality time? I'm just running a zoo!

 

Oh I wish that a Fairy was sitting right here,

She would just wave her wand and make Christmas appear.

She'd sparkle the gifts and then light up the tree.

And I'd look, and I'd marvel, and I would be free.

Still, at night, when I gaze at each young sleeping face,

I know that, for me, there is no other place.

So I cling to bright moments and take them for proof

That reindeer still land, in our dreams, on the roof.

I think at this time of year we. as writers, need to remember our childhood. Or as William Goldman, author of The Princess Bride, might have put it:

Childhood: The Good Parts Version.

 We need to remember a time when the world was full of wonder. We need to remember the magic. How it felt to believe.

I still remember joyous anticipation I felt as a child when the TV news anchor reported Santa had been sighted.

I remember lying in my bed tense with excitement staring up at my neighbors peaked snow covered roof, sure I would spot the sleigh and those tinkling belled reindeer any moment.

My believing memories fuel my writing. I want to play in my writing with other believers in a world when anything is possible.

Have you got a special believing memory you can share with us?

I hope so. Happy Holidays. These last two pictures are from this year's Gingerbread House Decorating Party, one of my favorite Christmas traditions now in its 31st year.