Music
Handmade glass bulbs
Ancient songs about birth
Cheap ornaments bought in childhood
Gingerbread

***

The sadly-sweet strains of Vince Guaraldi’s piano fill the air with the melancholy of Charlie Brown, and with nostalgia. I open the package and carefully unwrap the treasures within.  I smile at the first priceless item, a box with cheap bulbs from the 1930s bought at an antique store for only a dollar. That was from my first Christmas alone.  Next there is a bulb wrapped in tissue from several years later.  It was bought at an art gallery for more than the price of 20 boxes of Wal Mart ornaments. But then there are those Wal Mart specials, all gold and red.  As I go through the decorations one-by-one and slowly fill the tree, the music changes to the late medieval music of Praetorius.  Why did Christmas demand to have a soundtrack that included so much from the medieval and Renaissance? The last bulb up, I stand back as the Roche’s version of Sleigh Ride adds a joyful note to the air.

Bing crones White Christmas
Ancient boxes hold treasure
Gingerbread spices
Sounds heard but once every year
Add sparkle to old glass bulbs

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