All I Want for Christmas is a French Guillotine

 Christmas Traditions

When I was a kid, every year my parents would have my sister Jan and I make a list of what we wanted for Christmas. We were to make sure and make the list in order of importance as we couldn’t get everything. Well, I would take it one step further and use a check mark system, the more checks next to an item, the more I wanted it. So one year, when I was about 13 years old, I put a UF Grant French Guillotine on my list. It had four checks, it was the absolute most important thing on the list and we always got what we wanted the most. So my parents head up to San Francisco to see Buma at the House of Magic, but they came home EMPTY-HANDED. They explained to me that it was just not going to be possible to get me the Guillotine that year.

 

The catalog page for the French Guillotine

Every Christmas Eve our family tradition was that Dad would go to work and as soon as they were done with all the deliveries (he had a furniture store), he would come home and we would open our gifts. Jan and I would separate all the gifts into piles for each family member so that it was all ready for when Dad came home. Dad would come home early and then he would stretch out the afternoon, building up the anticipation for the Christmas gift opening. Another thing Dad did was to always trick Mom about what her gift was going to be, it was something he did every year, the joke was always on Mom. Finally, after Dad was home for a while, we got to open our gifts from our piles. When we were done opening the gifts from under the tree, Dad told me to help him bring in Mom’s gift. So we go out to the garage and there, in the back of his truck, was the Guillotine. The joke was on me that year!

Since then we’ve had many French Guillotines come in and out of the Hocus Pocus showroom, but none as great as the one I got that Christmas.

After we finished opening our gifts, we would go to my grandparents for Christmas Eve. My grandparents would have a huge party, over 100 people, with their family, friends and neighbors coming and going all evening long. They had this huge picture window in the front of their house and it always reminded me of the house in It’s A Wonderful Life. I would look out that window and see crowds of people all night long just like in the movie (except there was never any snow).

Tomorrow we will have Christmas Eve lunch at my mother-in-law’s house, then go to Christmas Eve party tomorrow night at my cousin’s house and finally, on Christmas morning, we will be at home with the family. It is a wonderful life!

Merry Christmas, The Elves Need to Rest

I can’t believe it is already here; it seems like yesterday was Thanksgiving and now we’re at Christmas. We’ve been working like Santa’s Elves in the shipping and receiving department all month long; huge shipments arriving every day and zillions of orders being shipped out every day.  

The Elves resting at the Hocus Pocus Christmas lunch

 Sometimes I wonder how we get it all done.

We had our Hocus Pocus Christmas lunch with food catered from AJ’s; you cannot believe how good the food is…lulu kebabs, grilled chicken, pilaf, salad and, of course, dessert. We had such a good time eating lunch together as a group, which is something we cannot do daily. It was festive and relaxing at the same time. After a hectic four weeks, it is nice to sit back and take a breath.

Through the Eyes of a Child

Zachary with Santa

I have always loved Christmas and I especially loved it when the children were all small. The excitement of Christmas morning was something I always looked forward to; it is just a wondrous thing to look at all the possibilities of the world through the eyes of a child. This year, I have new eyes, this is my grandson Zachary’s first Christmas. I know he still won’t be quite aware of the holiday and everything going on around him, but I have many years ahead of me where he will be bringing the excitement and wonderment to Christmas morning.

 

I’m wishing you all enjoy the holidays with the wonder and excitement of a child.

Until next time,

Paul