I Wonder What Christmas Will Bring?

• 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.