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It's That Time Of Year by Carol Wells

Christmas is a time of reflection at times; especially if one is a parent. This year, in our home, my husband is not missing one seasonal tradition, of sorts, shared by many parents of young children around this time of year. Me? I find myself missing it already.

I do not rely on local stores, stocking Christmas items on their shelves well before Halloween, to let me know, "It's that time of year." For one thing - the stores apparently function on a different schedule than I do.

I cannot bring myself to Christmas shop while putting bags of Halloween candy or a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner into the same cart. My children, while back to school shopping, want to pick out their Halloween costume while selecting an outfit to wear on the first day of school in late August! I turn down their request as it just doesn't feel or look right, in my opinion, to mix holidays that way. And yes, given the commercialism involved, I consider Back To School Shopping being akin to a holiday in how it is promoted.

I am also unlike my mother-in-law who can have all her Christmas shopping completed before Back To School sales become full-fever. She even has all the presents wrapped by the end of July in preparation of handing them out in December!

Nonetheless, I can always tell when it is that time of year because suddenly people, with small children, sound as though they are prepping for a Parents Spelling Bee sponsored by one of the area toy stores.

"Honey, I think I am going to try to do some s-h-o-p-p-i-n-g tomorrow," I said cryptically one evening during supper.

My husband paused for a moment with brow furrowed just slightly as he lowered his voice, "s-h-o-p-p-i-n-g ..." Then the brow relaxed as the invisible light bulb clicked on and Frank looked at me, "Oh! You're going shopping!"

"Well, thanks a lot. I wouldn't have spelled it out if I wanted everyone to know." I said while tilting my head in the direction of where our youngest child sat.

"I think you could've just said it instead of spelling it," my husband replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "It isn't like h-e would c-a-r-e about you doing t-h-a-t."

"Sarcasm," I mutter while taking a bite of my food.

"So, what are you thinking of getting," Frank casually asked.

"Well," I know my eyes started to twinkle at the idea of shopping to surprise someone on Christmas morning. "I was thinking this year of maybe one or two hand-held v-i-d-e-o g-a-m-e-s."

"V-i-o ..."

"No," I interrupted to correct my husband's misspelling. "V-i-d ...."

"Video, Dad, v-i-d-e-o" my son chirps. "Mommy spelt video games."

Frank lowered his head to, unsuccessfully, hide his amusement. I glared at him and the child, whom I realize innocently thought he was helping his father. I have to spell quick enough to throw the child off the scent while spelling slow enough for the older male to keep up. The above helps to demonstrate this timing is not always easily achieved.

"Sounds good," Frank said. "Anything else?"

"Nope," I responded coolly. I did not dare risk spelling out the remainder of items on the prospective list of goodies. Apparently this year I will not be competing in the annual Christmas shopping spelling bee thanks to my son's continually improving spelling abilities.

Yes, I can always tell it is that time of year. It is hard to not to know, while out doing errands, and happening to overhear more and more couples, usually with a blissfully unaware child in the cart, converse with certain words in their discussion being spelt out. I feel a slight tug inside my heart as these conversations remind me about how my little boy is growing up - much too fast.

I will miss being a participant in the annual Christmas shopping list spelling bee. However, in a few more years, I will one day become a grandmother then I can optimistically look forward in putting my spelling skills to use again while participating in the senior division.

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Take care that you never spell a word wrong. Always before you write a word, consider how it is spelled, and, if you do not remember, turn to a dictionary. It produces great praise to a lady to spell well.
-- Thomas Jefferson (to his daughter, Martha)

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"He respects Owl, because you can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right."
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They spell it Vinci and pronounce it Vinchy; foreigners always spell better than they pronounce.
-- Mark Twain