Just Like Bedford Falls
Friday night, my husband Gary, son Erik, and I attended the annual community Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Central Park. Bundled up in winter attire, although it wasn't really cold, we walked around the park before the ceremony began.
We stopped to listen to a brass quartet comprised of four high-school-aged boys playing Christmas songs.
I was surprised when we were handed three candles and told they would be used in the lighting ceremony. Funny, I thought lighting ceremony just meant someone flips a switch and a big tree is illuminated.
Usually, during most of the lighting ceremonies I've seen, the illumination of the tree signals the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and a Santa Claus is nearby to listen to the wants of boys and girls.
Following the ceremony, we walked across the bridge to our van which was parked by the post office. The decorated light posts of the bridge, the nativity scene in the park, the memory of townspeople gathered in a circle passing a flame from person to person and the twinkling white lights outlining the downtown buildings brought a familiar scene to mind. And I said to my husband, "This reminds me of Bedford Falls."
Not being the Christmas movie buff I am, Gary asked, "Where's that?" I told him it was the town in "It's a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart.
"Oh, yeah," he responded politely. Not that he knew what I was referring to because every time I watch most any type of movie, he retreats to another room to watch sports.
But I was totally serious. All the town needed was a thick coating of snow on the streets with flakes falling from the sky and the illusion would have been complete.
Speaking of Christmas viewing, the holiday viewing season is my favorite time of year. I still get a kick watching cartoons like "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "A Charlie Brown Christmas." The first time the Charlie Brown show was televised was the night of my first-ever Christmas program at St. John's school in Herington. I was a first grader.
As for movies, my favorites are "White Christmas," "The Bishop's Wife," and lots of old ones I can never find on TV anymore. But the one that makes me laugh like a hyena is "A Christmas Story," the movie about a boy who wants a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. I drive my family nuts reciting the lines before the actors on the screen can say them.
Sometimes, I really wish for the days when it would snow and you could feel justified staying home and just watching movies. Since it's usually so sunny and fairly temperate, it seems like a waste of time to stay home when you could be out doing something productive.
— KATHY HAGEMAN
