The Chiclet Christmas Card

When I was a child, my parents would send out a picture of us kids every year as a Christmas card.  This was a long time ago, when taking pictures meant buying rolls of film, and flash bulbs, and taking pictures, and then getting the film developed, and then searching through all those pictures to try to find one that would work for a Christmas card.

Trying to get four children to all look at the camera at the same time is enough of a challenge, but if you want reasonably decent facial expressions on all four, you are going to take an awful lot of pictures.

In the fall of 1965, my brother made his First Holy Communion, so of course, the Christmas Card picture would feature him in his First Communion suit.  At that time at St. Matthew's Parish in Edison, NJ, First Holy Communion ceremonies were held in late October.  Right around Halloween.  The set up for a perfect storm that my family still laughs about fifty years later.

So, Mom and Dad took hundreds of pictures as usual.  For some reason, I was imagining myself an actress in television commercials when I grew up, so I held my Halloween favorite box of Chiclets prominently in many of the photographs.

I don't know why no one noticed until the pictures were developed.  I imagine that Mom and Dad were watching faces, not hands.

When we got the pictures back from the drug store, all of a sudden, the Chiclets were noticed.  I remember my Mom asking me why I had held my Chiclet box like that, and me not having an answer.

I also remember not getting in trouble.  There wasn't enough time to take more pictures and then get them developed and send them off to the Christmas Card printing company, so the Chiclet Christmas Card went out to all Mom and Dad's friends and family.

I remember getting teased a lot that year about how much I must like Chiclets.  Mom and Dad got lots of laughs from people.  It was the most talked about Christmas Card.  My family still laughs about it.

Everytime I see the picture, I get a little choked up now.  Because it reminds me of what amazingly good parents I had.

They saw a five year old acting like a five year old.  Nothing more, nothing less.  They didn't get angry with me for being a child.  They saw the humor, and shared that humor with our extended family.

I got teased, and learned that doing things without thinking them through can cause you embarrassment.  But all the teasing was loving.  And I learned it is good to laugh at yourself.

Kids do silly things.  That is part of being a kid.  I was blessed with parents that understood that.  

As Christmas approaches and many people and cultures celebrate holiday traditions, I hope your memories, like mine, are happy ones.

And I hope this holiday season presents you with the opportunity to make more happy memories.