Supplemental: Once Upon a Christmas

Hey, gang! Welcome to my life – where anything is possible and nothing is as it seems. I’m Freedom and I’ll be your host, coming at you from within the depths of Geistopia. 

DOC: Velcum To My Life ees a prochect, un experiment in Life unt ART. A living storyboard, if you will. Its premise ees zat life ees experiential, unt zat you can, unt do, experience ze life you choose. It ees based on Ze Veel of Life unt Ze ARTs for Ze New Millennium as life building tools. Ja, it’s true! 

WALT: Welcome to my Life is a Geist…House Players Production, in association with the Center for Creative Inspirationalism. JustUs Productions, the parent company, would like to give a ‘Shout-Out’ to the following for their ongoing, and oft-times unknowing, inspiration and support:

Princess Cuddlebug

Princess Sunshine

Company

The Shaman

The Pillar

F’n Bob

The Entire Putt-Putt-Putter Clan

The Warden

FaeriePrincess

Professor Siggy Chong

Sparky Wentz-eclaus

The VanMan and General Ralph Glossop, and Craze (may they R.I.P.)

The Messengers of The Galactic Federation

 Looch

BJ & The Bull

Bert-On

The Baker of the Cornbread

Andy Pandy

The Mudder

Zason

St. Diane & You (4)

Brother John & Sister Jen

The Bee Man

Spooky Queen

Boom-Boom Snuffbox

The Nameless One

Tim-Bo

The Cousins

The Rox

PDT

Sir Richard Slouch

The Wix-ians

The Socialite

The Village of Idiots

Piz-Niffer

Dancing Queen

Downtown Encyclopedia Brown

Chicken Witch

Dick Pointer

Soup, the Son

The Legendary Pink Elephants

Baby-Mama Rabbit

Wisconsin Belle

The Babes

Aaaand, of course, a very generous sponsor who (not-so-much) wishes to remain anonymous.

It is…Someday in late December, Two-Thousand and Twenty-Free. Time...Present

The Post

For as long as I can remember, Christmas has always been my favoritest time of year. There’s just something about it. It brings out something different in everyone – a whole different vibe. For it’s brief moment, it changes the world into the most magickal, mystical, miraculous place to be. At Christmas, Anything is Possible and Nothing is as it Seems.

All you need do…is Believe!

Christmas has always been a potent time in Geistopia – Olde & Nu. When I was young, Big ‘D’ would decorate and bake and host meals for almost all holidays, but she always put her heart and soul into Christmas. As time went on, Christmas became her focus. Today, Christmas is a whole transformation. There were always decorations, but now it is a full on transformation of Olde Geistopia into a mini North Pole – snow globe collection and all.

There were always Christmas time traditions. For example, every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, the family would go out and find their tree. They had different lots over the years, but they always had a grower with the most splendid trees. Craze was always very particular about his tree and it always had to be real.

There were movies and shows that were watched every year. The classics, of course – all of the Rankin/Bass productions, Charlie Brown and the Peanuts, Miracle on 34th St, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Pop had this one favorite. It was a made for TV movie. The Man in the Santa Claus Suit, with Fred Astaire as Santa.

One of the many traditions over the years was Mom’s Cut-out cookies. She was famous for these. People would come from far and wide to try them and to get their own batch. I can remember years when she had tables…tables full of tins, because this person wanted some and that person wanted some and she was shipping some to California.

They are the most dangerously delicious cookies I have ever come upon. They melt in your mouth. Light. Sugary sweet. Melting like butter. They are thin as paper sometimes. This is the first secret to making them. They must be thin. If you think they are thin enough – roll em a few more times.

But there is another secret. Over the years, many have tried to copy the recipe. Big ‘D’ even gives notes with the recipe to help along the way. Many quit before they even got started – once they realized just how much work is involved. Some got through a batch or two. Some even managed to complete a batch. But in all my years, none have come close to hers. None…but one.

As much as it pains me to say it [every time] the only person that has come close to mom’s cookies is Mama Rabbit. She comes close, but there is still something missing. It’s the other secret. The reason no one can copy the recipe completely is because no one else has the final ingredient.

Love.

My mother has had such a great love of doing those cookies. Always a lot of work, yes. But her love for it far outweighed any burden. No one can mimic that. No one can fake it.

So many traditions. New York City. Taking the train to Philadelphia to see the Christmas Light show at Wanamaker’s Department Store. There was a house, not too far from Olde Geistopia, where they would do an immense light display that drew lines of cars from all over which would parade by and enjoy.

For us, in Geistopia, it seems the magic of Christmas was always strongest on Christmas Eve. There were things on Christmas day. We would get up and do Santa gifts and maybe exchange amongst ourselves. Late in the afternoon would be The Geist Family Christmas Party and Name Exchange. Through the years, as lives changed and families grew, there would be a lunch with my sisters instead of Christmas Eve dinner.

But, it has always been the Eve that has had all of the hoopla. In my youth, Christmas Eve was a big gathering. It would be the immediate family, which at the time included my Great-Grandmother who lived with us. My sisters would come with whatever significant other was involved at the time. My grandparents would come up from Delaware. After Burkie’s passing, my grandmother would make the trek alone – sometimes with Crazy Aunt Debbie in tow. My father’s Uncle – the only remaining Geist Brother – would come. Good old Uncle Applejack, nicknamed for the liquor he loved so. My father’s straight man and best friend for 30 years would come with his wife and daughters and eventually granddaughter.

Yes, Fellow Travelers, on Christmas Eve Olde Geistopia was the place to be. There was always a good meal and plenty of desserts. There was coffee and conversation. We laughed and we played.

sings That’s what Christmas means to me.

Of course, as I said [but didn’t have to] life changes and traditions change along with it. Over time the crowd would slowly dissipate until it was just me and Craze & Company. Now there were a few years when Encyclopedia would come and spend the night with us. His dad and stepmom always took a trip over Christmas and Big ‘D’ just couldn’t see him being alone. And, there were various girlfriends through the years.

But it was never quite the same.

As my own life began to change, I would become distant from the clan. In general. It was not just a holiday thing. The holiday family dinners were never really my scene. I was like a fish out of water. And this is long before I fell down the Rabbit Hole.

I was just the oddball in the family. The outcast. The Black Sheep.

WALT: Is that a racist joke??

Stop it.

Anyway, I didn’t relate to my relatives. Their interests were all the same and mine were different. They all talked sports and politics. I’ve never particularly cared for either. [Though I can enjoy sports these days.] There was no conversation for me to have. They watched sports and things for which I had no interest. There was nothing to entertain or amuse me.

I always felt so alone on Christmas. [Any holiday.]

Eventually, I would just take to that approach. I stopped going to the dinners altogether. I figured if I was going to feel alone I might as well be alone. At least that was more enjoyable. I came to enjoy and appreciate my alone time on those days. Christmas in particular.

Of course, when Mama and The Princesses came along all of that would change. It would be Christmas Eve at her grandfather’s and also at my parents. Then Christmas day would be spent running to dinners all over the place. [Not my thing at all.]

Somewhere along the way I had fallen out of touch with the Christmas Spirit. I acknowledged it. I made my Christmas wish every year. But somewhere, the magick had faded. Then came the year when I would meet the old man – that Imp of the North, and all of that would change.

Christmas would never be the same experience again.

I’ll never forget that day. Cuddlebug calls the story my own Miracle on MacArthur Road.

It was the answer to a prayer really. I needed one more gift. One more important gift – Big ‘D’. The Voice would speak and tell me where to go. Once there, I asked, “Now what?” And as I let Spirit guide me I was shown. Looking down on the scene I would find the old man on his throne.

His presence was calming and uplifting. He had such a knowing smile and twinkle in his eye. Twinkle may be an understatement. It was like a spark within.

Tsssst.

WALT: Too bad they don’t know that that is you making a spark noise…also that they can’t see the cute lil hand gesture that accompanies it.

Enough.

It was unlike anything I had ever seen before and I haven’t seen anything like it since. I have come across so many spirits, so many beings, of all shapes and sizes and none have had that spark. And I was not the only one to recognize it. [But, that is another time.]

Nonetheless, now I had it – the perfect gift, sprinkled with just a touch of Christmas magick.

I have never seen the old man again. Not like that. There have been images and likenesses. And, of course, every year at his time I can hear his voice whispering on the wind, repeating the magickal words, “You didn’t think I could do it…did you?”

That was the moment, those were the words, that would forever change Christmas for me.

That Christmas was particularly potent with magick and experiences and lessons – visions of the past and of what was to come. Somewhere in existence – in a file, on a paper, buried in some prior incarnation of this blog – there is a writing that tells it all so much better than I ever could now. [Hopefully one day I can find it again.]

Since that year, Christmas has become a time of absolute magick. It has been all sorts of Reindeer games.

The year after my encounter I had discovered a cookie recipe. It was titled Santa’s Favourite Cookie. It was actually printed on a door mat that Big ‘D’ had at the bottom of the basement steps. The trick was that it was not a complete recipe. It had some ingredients and several blanks. Some of the blanks even had measurements. That’s how I knew it was a game. It had measurements and a blank space. No ingredient.

I set to work, talking with all of the best bakers I knew at the time. I showed each one the list of ingredients and the list of measurements and asked them what they thought was missing. I compiled a list and sorted through the best I could. In the end, I had a batch of cookies that seemed like lil snowballs. Round powder sugar coated little pieces of deliciousness.  They were a big hit too.

Unfortunately, I no longer have that recipe. It was a one time thing. [That’s the unfortunate part to magick, Fellow Travelers, you can only ever do a trick once.]

When The Princesses came along, the magick kicked in full force and traditions would once again begin to take shape.

Santa came to see the girls every Christmas Eve. I did it one year. The Putter another. We got another neighbor to do it one year. [He had never been Santa before. So it just had to be.] Eventually, I would even find an actual Santa and he came every year for Christmas Eve. He would tell stories and give little gifts. We would talk and sing songs.

The Spirit had returned. From there it just grew and each year become something a little more.

It was on Christmas Eve that we would start making homemade hot chocolate. We experimented year after year. One year I even made a gingerbread hot chocolate.

I would start to make ornaments for Santa to bring for the girls. Each one with their name on.

Each year I would get a list of presents to craft. Each so precise in its creation and giving.

I would learn of the 12 Days of Christmas and this would eventually become 12 Gifts given throughout Yule. Sometimes it was as simple as visiting with someone and providing love and cheer. Other times it would get more complicated with magicks falling into place before my eyes and without my help. I have watched many a Christmas come together in the last moments.

At the height of it all, it would come to a sudden halt. For, there would be a year when I would no longer find myself at Olde Geistopia. The experiences were stifled and stalled but the Spirit still soared.

The first year I think I sat alone at Hoagie’s while he and his son celebrated.

The second year, I would have breakfast at Mama’s. What a joy to see the surprise on The Princesses faces when I was at the bottom of the steps. Then I would head to Gettysburg for dinner with Munchkin and her family. This is perhaps one of my fondest Christmas memories.

The third year would find me at The Nest. I moved in just as Yule began so there wasn’t much of a Christmas that day, but The Princesses and I celebrated mightily on New Year’s Eve.

Last year, the fourth, would find me here at Brother John’s. By the time Christmas Eve rolled around, we knew that I would be renting the house but nothing was moved in. Decorations were sparce. The tree was small.

I hosted dinner on Christmas Eve. It was me and The Princesses and Big ‘D’ and Boom-Dee-Aye. It was both awkward and magickal at the same time. Last year, I managed to have some small stocking stuffers for the girls and I was able to make something for everyone. [I think they all got incense bottles.] All of that happened in the last moments. I was up for most of 72 hours working at cleaning the house and finishing presents.

This year was different. This year it let even more important to me to manage a good Christmas – as close to perfect as I could get it. The problem was that I had no clue how I was going to pull this off. Last year’s tree died and I disposed of it. I had extremely limited funds with which to work [basically enough to do dinner,] and I had no time, or space, to craft. [Even though I have the workshop, it is not good for working in cold weather.]

All I wanted was a good strong Yule. My first one in my own home. My first one when I felt grounded and in control. How was that ever going to happen?

It starts with the tree.

I had intended to put the word out on Facebook that I was looking for a tree in case someone stumbled upon one. Before I could do that, I was at The Mechanic’s one day and randomly mentioned it to one of the guys there. I don’t know why. It’s not something I would normally bring up to them.

A few days later, he let me know that he and his wife had one that we could have.

The plan became to decorate the house and the tree on Thanksgiving. The Princesses had other plans for dinner that day and I had the house to myself. So, I figured I would get the decorating out of the way. Since I was going to do the tree, I also decided to do a little tribute to Craze. The tree was always his thing. So as I worked on the tree I also watched some of his favorite Christmas movies.

The day did not go as planned. I did not get all of the decorations up. It was more of a process than I had thought. I needed to find homes for everything. Unlike last year, there was plenty of space with which to work. In fact, all of the decorations would not be in place until the week leading up to Christmas. This was partially due to the fact that decorations and lights kept coming in – Boom-Dee-Aye and Big ‘D’ gave us some small things here and there and Cuddlebug brought some stuff home from her mom’s.

I got through some of the movies, but not quite all of them.

And the tree…oh, the tree.

It is a pre-lit tree yet four of us could not find all of the female plugs on the tree. We looked off and on for days and could not find them. I had ordered a multi-outlet extension cord, but Boom-Dee-Aye also gave me one. I decided to keep the one I ordered…just in case.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, I was not feeling well. I had one of my pressure headaches. I got out on the road long enough to do one delivery. But, I couldn’t really see straight so I could not continue. However, during that one delivery, I happened to find a second tree.

Built on inspiration from DancingQueen’s mom, I have always wanted to have a home and be able to put a Christmas tree in every room. Believe me, I was far from this Goal at the beginning of decorating. So, I grabbed the tree. Now I had a use for the second cord. [Or, did I have the cord because there was going to be a use for it?]

I spent the rest of Sunday working on the original tree.

In an effort to at least establish my tree in every room mission, I managed to put some kind of representation of a tree in every room. In the bar room I put the bottle cap tree. The girls of course have their lil trees. In the Spirit room I put the 12 Days of Christmas tree. In the kitchen I hung a string of 3 pine trees that The Putter had made at some point. In the sun room I hung a small green bag that had a tree printed on it. And so it went – finding little ways to mimic the actual Goal. Even the laundry room got a little tree that was an ornament.

But now I had this second tree. The obvious place for it, of course, was the bar room.

The decorating, as I said, continued on in bits and pieces as I figured out just where everything belonged. I was satisfied with these efforts. I used everything I had and there is a bit of Christmas in every room.

It is a hodgepodge of decorations – things collected over the years, including this year. For instance, Brother John brought me some strings of lights that he no longer needed. The ones that I could get working have been put in place. Some were used on the bar room tree and some made their way outside for lighting.

There were pictures of all shapes and sizes that I had collected through the years. [All of them of, or with, The Princesses.] Slowly, they found their way around The Homestead.

Cuddlebug brought decorations from Mama’s and they found their place piece by piece.

Boom-Dee-Aye gave us some strings of lights and Big ‘D’ gave us some little stockings and door covers. Those lights went on the tree and then another strand to decorate the bar top. The door covers all got used. I even used 2 on the basement door – one on either side. [They are the exact same.] That way whether the door was open or closed I had some Christmas.

I had left over garland that I used here and there.

I found an old Christmas train in the garage. It must have been up there for a long time. There were batteries in it but they were corroded beyond anything I’ve seen before and there are missing wheels on the caboose. It doesn’t rub but it makes one hell of a decoration. Big ‘D’ even gave us some buffalo snow to complete the picture.

I also found a yard decoration – the bumble from Rudolph. He has lights attached to him and it just so happens they match the string lights I put out.

Slowly, but surely, it all took shape. And before long, The Homestead looked and felt like Christmas – even with the lingering decorating.

It took some time to get the cookies going. We needed to borrow Big ‘D’s mixer and so had to wait until she had mixed all of her cookies. As soon as I could, I mixed all of the doughs [3 types of cookies.] Then in the weeks just before Christmas, between Cuddlebug and I, we managed to bake them – including the cut outs. Which, by the way, we were told were “pretty darn good.” Not perfect. Not exact. But pretty darn good…and I’ll accept that for a first run.

Dinner was slowly coming together. Brother John brought us a ham to use. Big ‘D’ had given me dinner rolls at Thanksgiving which we kept frozen.

There were only two elements missing at this point – presents…and coffee.

I do so enjoy my Starbucks Christmas and Holiday blends. I just couldn’t figure out how to afford them. I made a joking post on Facebook [if you know, you know.] That post led to someone sending me money to buy a bag and someone else stopped by the house the next day with two bags of coffee. Soon after that, Big ‘D’ gave me 4 bags of Christmas/Holiday coffees that she had received in error. We have enough holiday coffees that we will still be drinking it long after Yule ends.

But, what about presents?

I couldn’t really afford anything and I didn’t have time to craft anything.  How was this going to work?

It took a long time for me to accept the decision, but finally, it was decided that I would get everyone lottery tickets. Not just one ticket as I did last year. I got everyone, including myself, a stack of 5 - $5 tickets, as well as a numbers ticket for Christmas Day. As far as I know, no one won anything on the numbers tickets.

Now, I didn’t really have the money for this venture. But, I knew that if did it this way, there would be a winner for everyone. And, there were. There were 6 winners in all of those tickets. 1 stack had 0 winners, while 1 had 2. But, still, there were winners for everyone. We had agreed beforehand that if we started winning a larger amount total that we would split the winnings evenly. There was a total of $190 in winnings and everyone got $30.

It wasn’t much, but this way I did manage to get something for everyone and that was so very important to me.

However, it was going to leave me with a significant negative balance on the morning after Christmas when the banks opened. I had accepted this. It was what it was. Before I made other arrangements, I was going to be at least that same amount short on rent. I decided not to think about it until I had to deal with it.

On Christmas Eve, someone had sent me a PayPal gift and Big ‘D’ had given me a cash gift. Between the two of them, it was enough to cover my impending deficit.

Before I conclude, I need to step back a bit. Something I did not mention earlier [and it is too hard to go back and try to fit it in now,] but that is important was my Lesson.

Early on I fretted over Christmas and Yule and how to pull them off. There was just so much stuff to get, things that were ‘needed.’ I had a series of unrelated conversations and experiences that left me standing back and thinking differently all of a sudden.

I was so concerned about gifts and decorations and trees. But are those things really necessary to have a good Yule experience? No. They are the trimmings. They are not the experience nor the magick. It wasn’t hard to face but I accepted that there may be nothing for Christmas except as much spirit as I could muster up.

I point this out because it was soon after I accepted this and acknowledged that the things were not necessary that the things actually started to flow in.

All I wanted for Christmas was a “perfect” Yule. Somehow, against all odds, that is precisely what I was given.

This is why I stand firm with The Old Man. Every year, I have the most incredible Yule experiences. There is only one catch – The List. Each year [slowly and in pieces] I receive a list of things to do or see that they happen, of gifts to create or deliver. This has been a developing process for over 20 years and I take it very [very] seriously. It is my part in The Old Man’s Christmas Magick. So, no matter how difficult it may be, nor how impossible it seems, I follow through and every year I have the most splendid experience.

This year just happens to have been the epitome of it for me. I even thanked The Princesses for being a part of the 2nd best Christmas I have ever had. They were a little disappointed in the answer to their question, “Which was the best?” [Never ask a question that you don’t really want the answer to.] Sunshine commented, “Oh it wasn’t even a Christmas we were alive.”

No. No it wasn’t.

The best Christmas I ever had was – and forever shall be – the year I met The Old Man. That is the Christmas that paved the way for every splendid and magickal Christmas since.

If you’re not already there, go to the Welcome to my Life Facebook page – WTML. Or the YouTube channel – WelcomeToMyLife08. You can also find me on Facebook under Rev. Matt.

Wherever you are and whenever you are – Like, Comment, and Share – we’re on a Journey and it takes you to get there.

So, without hesitation, for now and for always, from here in Geistopia, this is your beloved Rev…

WALT: And Walt…

DOC:  Unt Doc…

JOHNNY: Aaaaand Johnny…

And those guys, saying, “Stay Tuned-In, Fellow Travelers,” and wishing you Peace, Love, Light…

WALT: And Freakishness, Baby.