LifeSaver

My Christmas column is about Christmas stockings and the LifeSaver therein. Today’s stockings are often filled with great goodies, chocolate, and sometimes even expensive gifts. Back in the 1960s, things were pretty good in the Burke house. We weren’t rich, heck, I didn’t know what rich meant. We had a great life and never missed a meal. At Christmas, we almost always got the big gift we wanted. But before the gifts were opened, we opened our stockings. The stocking would have an orange or an apple, some assorted nuts, a few knick-knack gifts, and, my favorite, a LifeSavers candy box. I think the boxes back then contained rolls of LifeSavers. The traditional menthol were good, but my favorite were root beer and butter rum. The last time I saw a LifeSavers book, it had five rolls in it. That ain’t right, but “less is more” is the new mantra, right?

After the stockings, we were like wild Tazmanian devils, just unwrapping presents as fast as we could. It was carnage. The result was that it wasn’t until the end that we went through show and tell, showing our present haul to each other. As we matured, we got fewer presents and began to take turns like civilized people. 

Interestingly, my most vivid memory was the year I got almost nothing. It wasn’t until the very end as I was showing off my pitiful haul while trying to have a grateful attitude that my mom exclaimed that my Santa gift wasn’t in the room! My brothers had assembled my shiny new bicycle and left it in their room! Eejits!! My mood totally changed with that new bike. 

That is the Christmas story coming to life, isn’t it? Too often we dwell on what we don’t have instead of what we do have. Chances are you have blessings, material and relational, too numerous to count. It’s so easy to think we have accumulated these things, when the reality is that our life is not about our possessions. Our days are short. Our impact is important, at least in our tiny little world, but in the overall timeline of man, we aren’t more than a blip. 

God gave us free will but he also gave us a golden parachute. We have our very own LifeSaver, the gift of eternal life, if we will only open the package. What’s in your stocking this year?

Kelly Burke was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he spent his younger years, followed by his high school years in Atlanta, where he graduated from Georgia Tech, followed by Mercer Law School. He has been in the private practice of law, a magistrate judge, and an elected district attorney. He writes about the law, politics, music, and Ireland. He and his wife enjoy gardening, playing with their Lagotto Ramagnolo named George Harrison, and spending time with their grandchildren.