last week 21st century learning express page 10 jan 13 2010 ran an
american student's humorous ironic take on christmas and new year home with
parents she lets on at least she's outgrown she gives us little pen portraits of them
how her father subcontracts his evocative and amusing newspaper column out to
his journalism major daughter he's too busy watching sports on tv to be bothered
let's hope his boss doesn't read his daughter's other column and then there's the
exasperating mother who treats the writer and her brother as if they are still
children which they're not of course mom insists that they wait till she's made the
coffee before they open their christmas presents since she doesn't want to miss our
reactions when they open their gifts mom you can almost hear her saying
what do you think we are kids
is she a little disrespectful towards her mother and father but compared to me at her
age she's an angel of filial piety
reading the piece made me think back on my own behavior towards my family over
the holiday season back in the mists of time when i was a student in the uk in the
1980s i have to confess that although i already had the legal right to vote drice a
car and especiallu important to me consume alcohol in a public house i wasnt the
most mature of young men in particular i could be insufferable to my parents
younger brother and sister
let me share with you some of my ghosts of christmas past
i have a painfully vivid memory of my triumphant first homecoming from college
in december 1983 after three whole months away i was back in the family hearth
with my brand new opinioms attitudes and tastes and how i shoved them down
people's throats how could they watch such terrible television programs i the
english literature major with his shakespeare and milton and james joyce could
hardly bear to sleep under the roof of a housr whose few boolshelves held thrillers
and bound editions of the reader's digest what a sophisticate i couldn't see it at the
time but i was the cardboard cutout of the student snob i'm sure my family was glad
to see the back of me when at the end of the holuday i packed up my books and
headed back up to university in the north of england