Christmas memories of Harry hang on this year’s tree.
My child Harry, now 24, grew up lighting candles on our menorah and hanging ornaments on our tree. So it seemed only logical to them* in kindergarten that we should celebrate Kwanzaa, too. I hated saying no to that kid. But I had to draw the line at another eight-day celebration. So we stuck to the Hanukkah rituals of potato pancakes, gold foil-covered chocolate coins, or “gelt,” and visits from Santa.
For me, the holidays are most fun experienced through the eyes of little kids. So I did some page turning this week in The Harry Chronicles to find some holiday-themed “Harry-isms.” Here are a few of my favorites.
Harry was almost two years old in February 1992 when we celebrated his dad’s 40th birthday at the house with family and friends. After lighting all forty candles on Ken’s cake, Harry tugged on my pants leg and asked, “Hanukkah gelt?”
Before getting into bed on the Christmas Eve Harry was three, they* looked up at me and said, “Santa’s at other kids’ houses now.”
Our elderly next-door neighbor Brad passed away the December Harry was four. A week later, Harry asked, “How come Santa Claus doesn’t die? Is it magic?”
The holiday season Harry was five, she wanted the Barbie Bubble Gum Shop. They made a point of telling us, “The Barbie is not included.”
That same year, I’d left a price sticker on the bottom of a foil-wrapped chocolate fish in Harry’s Christmas stocking. “Look, Mom!” they said, bounding over to me. “Santa paid 19 cents for this!”
Harry was six years old in 1996 when I bought the Barbie ornament hanging next to their homemade noodle frame in the photo at top. After we finished trimming the tree, Barbie’s white fur wrap mysteriously disappeared from her shoulders. Harry had taken it, along with three faux-fur ball ornaments, up to their room to play with.
The Christmas Eve Harry was ten, he wanted a family hug, during which they said, “I have the greatest Mom and Dad. This is for running away at the water park, for not eating my fruit plate on the plane and having a fit, and for throwing your Christmas presents in the garbage.”
What’s the sweetest, funniest or cutest thing one of the kids in your life has said over the holidays?
*My kid Harry uses he/she/they interchangeably.
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