There’s a signature line in the classic old school Holiday song by Andy Williams that goes “It’s the most Wonderful time of the Year”.

What makes this Season so wonderful?  Maybe it’s cherishing the countless heartwarming and even inspiring moments we don’t normally experience during the frenzied workaday world the other 11 months of the year.

Maybe it’s the joy of bundling up the family during the nippy days of early December to uncover just the right Christmas tree.  And struggling to maneuver it into the house without losing all the needles or ravaging your home’s paint job.  Maybe it’s the magic of a Menorah, or other reflective symbols of the period. 

Maybe it’s the sometimes precarious, but always rewarding task of hanging colorful outdoor lights without trashing your rain gutters or tumbling off the ladder.  

Maybe it’s the initially stressful act of buying gifts for loved ones, only to be uniquely gratified when you’ve enjoyed a tot’s smiling face, tears of joy, or a warm bear hug in response.

Maybe it’s sharing a cup of egg nog and reminiscing with an aging old friend or relative aside a crackling fireplace.   Or frolicking in the snow at an inviting ski resort, and simply tossing snow balls in the mountains surrounding Los Angeles, in the streets of Chicago, Boston, New York or Des Moines.

Maybe it’s stuffed Santas, candy canes, red sweaters, knit caps, multi-colored scarves, or Frosty the Snowman.   Maybe it’s the sounds of the Holidays – from Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban to Nat King Cole and Bing Crosby.

Or maybe most of all, it’s mom whipping up Holiday cookies and traditional meals that have become her seasonal trademark.

Maybe still, Chris Erskine, the wonderfully humorous everyman columnist for the LOS ANGELES TIMES, affords us a rare perspective on the season:  Wrote Erskine over this past weekend:  “I like how, when you open an old treasured book, the binding cracks like a log fire.  I like the kettle drum sound kids make when they run on old wooden floors.  I like the way Scotch tape sticks to their socks.  I like board games on Christmas Eve.  I like barkeeps in plaid bow ties.  I like the way snow looks in old black and white movies.  I like ski racks on Porsches of a certain age. . . beat-up and old toboggans. . .snow shoes from 1930.  I like wreaths on the fronts of buses.”

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS
AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
 TO THE ENTIRE ‘AIR FAMILY’

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