All wrapped up for Christmas

My favorite Christmas song was written in the middle of a hot summer by a Jew. At the time, I was coming up on 2 years old.

The title is "The Christmas Song" -- catchy, no? -- and it was written in 1944 by Mel Torme. You probably know it as "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire."

(I spent Thanksgiving in Manhattan some years back. As we were walking towards Rockefeller Center I asked my friend Walter, "What's that odd smell?" He didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. A block or so later we passed a man on the street who was working over a charcoal grill. Walter asked me, "Is that what you're smelling?" The man was roasting and selling chestnuts. They didn't smell all that tasty to me. Nonetheless, I still love the song.)

"The Christmas Song" was playing on the radio as I started wrapping presents yesterday. I had done all my Christmas shopping -- most of it online -- within the first week after Thanksgiving. But I had put off the wrapping, primarily because I'm not very good at it.

But yesterday I dragged out the box of wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, scotch tape, scissors, pens and tags that I have accumulated and replenished over the past four decades and set to work. Only one of the presents I bought actually came in a box suitable for wrapping. The rest were of odd sizes and shapes and were a struggle. Cassie chasing ribbons and getting in the middle of things was no help either.

Most of the presents are for the little kids in the family, and I suspect they won't even notice my feeble attempts. And I think I did well enough to avoid any arched eyebrows from the grownups. Maybe, anyway.

So all the work is done, and what's left is the enjoyment.

Watching the kids open their presents tomorrow morning will bring the most delight of the season for me. And that's what it's all about for me -- kids and spreading joy.

So I'm offering this simple phrase
To kids from one to ninety-two
Although it's been said many times, many ways
Merry Christmas to you