“It's the Most Wonderful Time ....

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John Denver & The Muppets - 12 Days of Christmas

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“It's the Most Wonderful Time ....

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.... of the year!”

Before Staples appropriated part of that song for its back to school sales campaign, featuring parents gleefully gliding through the aisles shopping, with children glumly dragging their feet behind them, whenever I heard that song, that was a sure sign Christmas was almost here.

When I was a child, there was something about the Christmas season. It wasn't just the presents on Christmas day, there was also something special about the days leading up to the big day.

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where I grew up, at Christmas time, young and old headed downtown to Center City to John Wanamaker's Department Store. There, not far from the brass eagle, a landmark meeting place for local shoppers, everyone gathered in Center Court for the Christmas light show, accompanied by the giant pipe organ. Wanamaker's is no more but, the light show continues with Macy's, at the same location, acting as the host of the festivities.

In my neighborhood, West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, another sign Christmas was near could be seen when we headed to Market Street to shop. The street lamps were always decorated for the holidays. Many of the storefronts were decorated as well.

There were a number of stores that lined Market Street and the intersecting streets within a four block radius. Among the neighborhood stores were the shoe repair shop, the fish and meat market (one year, the owner put a Santa hat on the pig's head he had in his window!), the pharmacy and the supermarket (there were no such things as supermarket or drug store chains when I was a kid), the Five and Dime, also known as Woolworth's (which has now been transformed into the Footlocker chain) and the record shop.

During my teen years, at that record shop, my friends and I bought the latest hits by Mary Wells, Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell, The Supremes, The Four Tops, The Temptations and The Miracles, all released on LP (long playing) albums and on 45s (one hit at a time), which were available on vinyl records, which are now obsolete!

Anyhow, at Christmas time, the record shop played all kinds of Christmas music, the Christmas Song or as almost everyone I knew called the song, Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire, a seasonal favorite back in the day, O Come All Ye Faithful, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, The Little Drummer Boy, along with so many others I'd have to devote an entire page to listing them all.

As we walked toward Market Street, the music from the record shop could be heard a block and a half away. I was always overwhelmed with indescribable emotion whenever the streets filled with the sound of Mahalia Jackson singing O Holy Night. I have always considered her to be one of the greatest gospel singers that ever lived.

When I was a kid, my Uncle Spab (I never knew where he got that nickname!) made his trek to Market Street, at the latest possible hour on Christmas Eve, to purchase the tree. He always said he could get the best deal on a tree because the vendors who'd set up along Market Street wanted to get rid of them. His strategy worked since he usually came back with a tall, full tree that he'd bought for only a few bucks.

At Grandmom's house at Christmas time, when I was little, the tree would be decorated with candy canes. It was always easy to tell what side of the tree I'd been hanging around, judging by the 'bare spot' I created by eating the candy canes I could reach.

Grandpop would place the wooden doll house near the tree, mounted on a raised platform, surrounded by a railroad track. He placed an old Lionel engine and a few cars on the track and we kids would watch the train go 'round and 'round; it seemed like forever.

During my childhood, I always loved puppets, puppets of all kinds and ventriloquists; I LOVED ventriloquists! That's something I never outgrew! I'm still fascinated and amused by them today! Now, I'm a huge fan of Jeff Dunham and his pals Walter (my favorite!), Peanut and the rest of his gang.

As a child and through my teen years, I was a fan of Edgar Bergen and his alter egos Mortimer Snerd and Charlie McCarthy, Paul Winchell (before he became the voice of Tigger) with Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smiff, Willie Tyler and Lester and Jay Johnson, who was Chuck and Bob, during the late 70s, early 80s, on the television series Soap.

Also favorites of mine were Waylon Flowers and Madame. I guess Madame was a muppet, part marionette, part puppet, you know, a muppet!

Which brings me to the number one way I could tell as a kid Christmas was almost here, the Mabel Beaton Marionettes. In the 1950s, the now long gone and defunct Bell Telephone Company produced a television program called The Bell Telephone Hour. During that broadcast, the marionettes occasionally performed.

Always very near to Christmas Eve, the Beaton Marionettes would be shown on television in their own half hour program, The Spirit of Christmas, performing 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, based on the poem attributed to Clement Moore, A Visit from St. Nicholas and The Christmas Story, the story of the birth of Christ.

I would sit, staring intently at the screen as the marionettes acted out the stories. Yeah, I know, now we've got computer created, digitally enhanced, it looks so real you have to remind yourself it's not but, in those days, it was a marvel to see the control the puppeteers had over their puppets.

When you're very young and I can't recall what age we lose this but, when you're young, when you watch events unfold on screen, each time you watch, you're unsure what will happen so, as you watch, it's as if you'd never seen the show before and you react with the same emotion as if it's the first time.

This Christmas season, for me, not until I've watched the Beaton Marionettes' Spirit of Christmas, which still airs locally at Christmastime, will I know that Christmas is just about here.