"Scott...I have some news....they put a HOUSE on Plinko Jesus."
There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment and then he simply said, "It is the end of an era."
Childhood. Does everyone else have such a strong drive to feel like a kid again as often as I do? I seem, particularly more lately, to CRAVE my childhood. Don't get me wrong - my life is great. I love my kids, my husband and what I do, but I so miss the days of "kid Amy" and the fun that went along with it.
So, I suppose I should explain "Plinko Jesus" before I lose readers ... Each Christmas, there were certain things of which my brother and I could be certain. We WOULD have ham on Christmas day, there WOULD be a tangerine in the toe of our stocking and our granddad, at least once in the season, WOULD take us to look at the Christmas lights at the house on Hill St.
To say that this homeowner put up Christmas lights would be akin to saying that Jennifer Lopez has a few dresses. This house was not big - probably only 1 or 2 bedrooms - but he had a vacant lot next door that he decorated to the HILT! He had wooden figures painted like Muppets, Peanuts characters and superheroes. He had built dollhouses with light up interiors. He had illuminated Santas, sleighs, reindeer, ice skaters and giant Christmas candies - all lit up - and encouraged people to get out and walk around the lot.
And then- at the back - soaring high above the trees, he had created a Jesus out of lights, not the baby in the manger Jesus that we all associate with Christmas, but a lifesize Jesus, if Jesus were about the height of Danny Devito. Below Jesus' feet, the homeowner had added strings of lights streaming out at angles in each downward direction. It resembled, as my brother was quick to point out, the famous Plinko board on the long running 'The Price is Right.'
NOW - I feel it necessary to add that I am a Christian and LOVE Jesus, but my brother and I just found it....creative....that the homeowner would choose to honor our risen savior in this way. It became 'our thing' to go and see Plinko Jesus each year and run around looking at the different light displays that our unseen friend had added.
When I graduated high school and came home from college, we made a point to drive over and see Plinko Jesus. When we both moved away from our hometown and would come back to visit as adults, we'd go see Plinko Jesus. It was one of the things we could cling to that reminded us of "the good old days."
Until this year.
I came to visit my extended family and decided on a whim, to go by and see if Plinko Jesus was still there. Lo and behold, as I drove up, I could see that there is now another house on the vacant lot. The homeowner, I learned, had passed away and his family decided not to continue the light display any longer.
How is this possible? They didn't ask me! They didn't consult with me on whether or not it was ok to CHANGE something in my life that should not change. I needed to feel like some things are just the way they always were. I needed to feel 10 years old and show my own kids the wonders of Plinko Jesus and the wooden Peanuts gang (hey - that sounds like a great name for a band!). I needed, for just a minute, to be a kid again with no worries about bills and finances, violence and mass shootings, tornados, ugly politics and all the other sadness that the world shows us on a daily basis. I needed to feel my granddad's hand in mine and know that I'll wake up to a tangerine in the toe of my stocking again one day.
As I called my brother to share the news of Plinko Jesus' departure, I could hear in his voice, the same nostalgia. For just a moment, we paused, remembering a cherished time long past.
Before I bring us all to a low point only solved by a box of Kleenex and a pint of Rocky Road, there is good news!
I am building new memories and new traditions. My own kids may not get to experience Plinko Jesus, but every year, they get new pjs on Christmas eve and set out both cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. We have the tradition of the Christmas Trout (a story for another day) and beautiful memories of Christmas eve services together.
While I want, desparately, to cling to the traditions and "rules" of the past, I have accepted that we are now building our own memories with me as the parent and them in the coveted "Kid at Christmas" role. I've learned I can love my Parent at Christmas job and still elebrate the fact that I have such cherished meories of Christmases past.
Maybe I'm just a big sap. Maybe I'm the only one who misses getting Barbie campers and Pac-Man and knowing that when I go to sleep, my parents are just in the next room.
Or maybe you've felt a little nostalgic this holiday season and can relate?
Either way, I pray you have a blessed new year of building WONDERFUL new memories with those around you. Seek out and seek to be the love and positive voices in a sea of negativity. Surround yourself with people that build you up and celebrate life and make every crazy memory a good one.
Happy New Year!
A
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