{From the 2023 Christmas Newsprint Magazine}

Written By George Hanstein 

I still love Christmas -but it, like everything else- is different now than when I was young. When I was young Christmas morning was filled with anticipation and excitement of what the day would bring. Christmas morning now… is filled with memories. 

Memories of my parents, whose smiling faces, I can see as clearly as if they were in the room with me now, excitedly watching me open presents. I can see them opening their presents too. My dad and I would get my mom a bottle of Chanel N°5 perfume. She would open it and get a tear in her eye. It was her favorite perfume, and it was an expensive luxury back then. She would make that tiny bottle last the whole year. I still have her musical jewelry box that plays Stardust when you open it, and it still has the subtle fragrance of Chanel N°5 after all these years. In that box are some clip-on earrings, some bracelets, broaches, and my dad's dog tags from WWll. 

My dad's Christmas gift from me and my mom was always a box of 50 El Producto Favorito cigars. He would get very excited and always say, "I'm going to smoke one of these while I watch a game today.” As I look back now, I realize that my parents must have had to save up for Christmas. They always made sure that there were lots of presents left under the tree, by Santa, for me. I didn't realize, back then, the sacrifices that they must have made.  Thinking about the presents that they gave each other, I realize how huge of a present that bicycle was, that Santa brought for me. 

Christmas morning is also a time that I remember friends that have passed and some that, for whatever reason, are no longer a part of my life. I have few regrets, but I do sometimes regret not working hard enough to nurture friendships of people that I love. Life sometimes gets in the way, and I tend to put off calling or visiting friends. Christmas morning is a time when I think about those friendships that have, sort of, slipped through the cracks of life. There are those friendships, however, that can last for many years without any care at all. Those are the friendships that I cherish most. You can go for long periods of time without seeing those friends, but when you do, it is as though you saw them yesterday. 

Yes, Christmas is a time for remembering now. 

I recently have noticed that every year that passes seems to make the memories more vivid and more important. Enjoy this Christmas. Someday it will be a memory. If you are very lucky, when you get old you will have beautiful, vivid memories and if you are really lucky, maybe you'll even have an old jewelry box that plays music or some other touchstone that makes all of your memories come flooding back.  

How much more could a person ask? 

Merry Christmas and if you are a friend that hasn't heard from me in a while, it doesn't mean that I don't think about you or love you. It just means life got in the way.