Christmases Past and Present

As I was dusting and vacuuming the house today in preparation for our family Christmas Eve celebration, I cam across a photo album.  It was from my Mom's side of the family when she was much younger.  There were pictures of her parents together, which is a rare sight since they got divorced when my Mom was around twelve or thirteen I think.  There were also pictures of my great-grandparents, my Grandpa Sleepin's parents who were right off the boat from Sicily.  There were also some pictures of my Mom with my Dad while they were still dating I guess.  It was just really heart-warming to see all of those pictures, many of which were taken during Christmastime.  

I am at this part in The Perks of Being a Wallflower where it is Christmastime for Charlie, the protagonist.  He also had a similar experience where he was looking at pictures from the past and noted that everyone just looked happier.  I know exactly what he means now.  In old pictures, everyone just seems so much happier than what today's level of happiness can sustain, as if in the past people could ascertain an even higher level of happiness.  Whether or not they were more joyful, who knows? But still, everyone just looked happier in the photos that I came across too, and part of me wishes I could just travel back in time and sit in on one of those moments and just observe.  I wonder if they really were just as happy as they look.

Surprisingly, I'm in high spirits, even though I don't particularly care for the holidays.  Good work, team - you really got me into the Christmas Spirit I guess. I also am just not expecting anything this year, and I think that has a lot to do with it.  When I was a kid, I loved Christmas because I got presents, and that was about it.  This year I am finally going to enjoy Christmas for non-materialistic reasons, which I think has put the Spirit back into Christmas Spirit for me.  We'll see how today and tomorrow go, but I'm keeping a positive attitude and deep down I know I will enjoy these next two days. :)

A Christmastime favourite of mine since I was very young:

Overture to Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker"