- George Bailey, a character with whom I always sympathized. My dad once told me, when I was about 12 years old, that I, like George, was also “born older.” I just know I, too, thrilled at the sight of that huge piece of luggage.
- Ralphie Parker, and the Bumpus’s dogs, and that lamp – 24 hours on one special day on TNT, and don’t we all watch it at least once?
- The island of misfit toys, and the elf who wanted to be a dentist – a fact I totally accepted as a kid, and which I now find somewhat random and strange.
- The poor little Christmas tree that Charlie Brown brings home.
- The heart that grew so big it cracked the magnifying glass, and the poor little dog who fell right over because of those antlers tied onto his poor little head.
- Rudolph, and claymation Santa, and that horrible nails on a chalkboard sound that his nose makes in the blizzard.
- Ebeneezer Scrooge, be he Mickey, Muppet, or regular old grumpy human.
- The Nutcracker, which I vow I will see one of these days.
- The poor burglars who get irons in the face and tacks in the feet and tar all over them, while Macaulay Caulkin connives and watches old gangster movies.
Growing old gracelessly.
