Signs of Christmas

Signs of Christmas:

• Santa arrives at the end of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
• Neighbors with poles and ladders string lights along anything on their property.
• Wreaths appear on doors, lamp posts, fence posts, fire trucks and SUVs.
• Christmas carols fill the air.
• Visions of sugar plums, gingerbread houses, plum pudding, piedmont terrone, sticky toffee pudding, candy canes, petit fours, panforte, stollen, fruit cake, marzipan, marshmallows, and stilton with figs dance in children’s heads.
• Kids star in the nativity scenes of the Christmas Pageant as angels and wise men. (some hoped for elves).
• Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker opens at the New York City Ballet.
• The giant tree at Rockefeller Center is lit with much fanfare.
• The Boy’s Choir at St. Thomas Fifth Avenue performs Lessons & Carols.
• Store windows attract crowds and photographers.
• You read the 1823 story, T’was the Night before Christmas. (A visit from St. Nicholas)
• Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is performed with a "year-round" meaning.
• Folks donate more to St. Jude’s Children Hospital.
• Bartenders create magic with cinnamon, cloves, honey and peppermint schnapps!
• Office parties!
• Brass ensembles perk up passengers at airports and bus terminals.
• You notice that the list for Christmas cards has gotten bigger, this year.
• Garlands of holly, holly berries, pine, magnolia, bay leaves, coxcomb, boxwood, juniper, spruce and mistletoe are everywhere.
• Jolly Old Saint Nicholas (a.k.a. Kris Kringle and Santa Claus) is outside grocery stores, on street corners (which is perfectly legal), and in department stores.
• People are looking everywhere for mistletoe.  (Enterprising folks carry their own).
• Eggnog hits the shelves (with the better and more authentic ones at fine liquor stores)!
• Roasting chestnuts.
• Decorating the Christmas tree during a Tree Trimming Party!
• Big-game hunting skills, stealth, strategy, creativity, intuition, negotiation, and asset management help with the gift-buying.
• Advent wreaths and Advent calendars count down the days.
• Churches are packed.
• It becomes a joy to bake Christmas cookies. 
• Sprigs of holly replace boutonnières in men’s lapel buttonholes.
• People hum, whistle, sing or slur “Jingle Bells”.
• Kids make all kinds of tree ornaments out of things like macaroni, popsicle sticks, Q-tips, pipe cleaners, felt, and construction paper.
• Letters to Santa are thoughtfully worded and neatly written. Later, milk and cookies (and carrots for the reindeer) are carefully placed under the stockings.
• Everyone stays up late the night before, but stills gets up early on Christmas Day!
• The joy of receiving a gift—even if it’s from yourself!