Lexington, KY - They say the best gifts come in small packages, but young boys pillaging the loot under a Christmas tree don't have much use for tiny boxes. What could fit in there? Not a new Nerf gun, that's for sure.
Nonetheless, every Christmas, there they were. One for my younger brother and one for me. Two small wrapped gifts. Their contents were already known. They were ornaments, shipped from our grandmother down in Florida, along with other, much larger gifts.
Even at a very young age, my brother's interests were very honed: sports, sports, and, if there was any sunlight left in the day, shooting basketball or throwing baseball. Accordingly, his ornaments were always little trinkets of polar bears with ball bats or Santa with a football helmet or Rudolph kicking a soccer ball. My interests were a little more varied, so my ornaments never adhered to any type of rigid theme. When I first became interested in music, I got an Elvis -
"Live in Vegas" style. When I started driving, I got a Christmas truck -
not because I drove a truck, but because that was the closest vehicle my grandmother could find to resemble my ride, a Jeep. Then there is the "donkey leaning on a picket fence" ornament, and I still can't figure the symbolism out behind that one, though my grandfather never fails in cutting a reoccurring "Christmas Ass" joke.
As young children, my brother and I hated these ornaments. What a waste of wrapping paper and energy unwrapping it. And on top of everything else, it was a Christmas ornament; I could only really get one good day out of it on the tree (though in actuality, it was a good two weeks in my home, but you don't think of those realities when you're 10).
Why Grandma? Why would you get me an ornament when I wanted Ninja Turtles and Nintendo games? What bizarre game are you playing with my young mind? One day, she would say, I'd have my own Christmas tree, and I'd need ornaments to put on it.
That day has yet to come, but every year I still get an ornament, and I get a little annoyed when my mom tries to sneak selections from my old ornament collection to the back of the family tree, out of view, to make room for new, fashionable Kris Kringles. Now, I actually look forward to my new ornament, and they've become a bit of a family joke. We all wonder what our ornaments will be this year, and everybody pays a little more attention when those small wrapped boxes are pulled out from under the tree.
In this issue, be sure to read Saraya Brewer's piece on Local First Lexington -
a follow-up to last December's story about the organization's inaugural holiday season. A lot has changed in that short time with the group, especially its size, but its mission is still the same: promote the locally owned, independent businesses in Lexington. As with last year, we're also challenging our readers to go out there and spend a certain amount of their holiday-shopping money with these businesses and I hope it is something you consider. Aside from being an economically and culturally conscious decision, the hodgepodge of Lexington's locally owned businesses have some great merchandise for presents under the tree.
Like ornaments, in case you wanted to start your own Christmas tradition.