Counting down 25 days of ‘Happy Melodays’

There is no official opening bell to the Christmas season, no definitive launch sequence or “save the date’’ reminder.

It’s not like New Year’s, when the clock strikes midnight. There isn’t a green flag, like there is at the Daytona 500.

The countdown comes in all colors, shapes, sizes and kickoff times. If you shop at Walmart or Hobby Lobby, it falls somewhere between the Fourth of July and Halloween. 

The holiday spirit can suddenly show up in line at Best Buy at 6 a.m. on Black Friday. Or when the first Christmas card arrives in the mail. Sometimes it arrives dressed in a tacky Christmas sweater at a party, at a Secret Santa gift exchange at the office or a random Nutcracker artwork sighting on the back window of an SUV. 

Are you a planner or procrastinator? Are your self-imposed deadlines real or arbitrary? Maybe you are one of those who wait until the last minute to do your shopping and hold out until Christmas Eve to pick out your tree down at the corner lot.

My calendar is already getting crowded, so I am going to officially declare Monday, Dec. 1, as my opening day. That’s when I plan to premiere three and a half weeks of holiday stories in The Macon Melody.

I’m calling it “Happy Melodays.’’

Every day until December 25, I will post fresh, fun features on our website. (maconmelody.com) Many of these will later be included in a package in the weekly print edition. In addition to the stories, there will be photographs and online videos.

Here is a preview of what to expect:

• I will head downtown for the opening weekend of the  Macon Christmas Light Extravaganza. I may have to park three blocks away, but more than 1 million twinkling bulbs will guide me to the city’s biggest annual event. 
• The search for the perfect Christmas tree. We’ve all been there. My family has settled on Fraser firs in recent years, but others have their own favorites. There’s a live tree out there with your name on it. Go find it. (Artificial tree aficionados need not apply.)
• In keeping with tradition, I will volunteer to ring the bell for the Salvation Army at the Kroger on Forsyth Road. There is nothing that gets me in the Christmas spirit more than this. I’ve been bell-ringing off and on for more than 30 years.
• I will attend the performance of Handel’s Messiah at St. Joseph Catholic Church, “The King is Here” at Ingleside Baptist Church and take in the live nativity and luminaries at Wesley Glen Ministries.
• The most magical book for children this time of year is “The Polar Express.” I plan on reading it to my youngest grandson’s preschool class.
• At some time during the holidays, I will make a trip to Duluth for a nostalgic ride on the Pink Pig. It won’t be quite the same, but I have many happy memories of soaring on the monorail high above the toy department at Rich’s in downtown Atlanta. 
• Christmas is my wife’s favorite season, and she will give readers a tour of her Department 56 village and the history behind it, as well as the handcarved Santas from our friend, Neil Creter.
• We will make memories with our grandchildren constructing some gingerbread houses and chasing that mischievous “Elf on the Shelf” around the house. 
• Is mistletoe still a thing? I don’t know. It might be fun doing the research.
• I got my invitation last week to the annual Egg Nog party at L.E. Schwartz. It has been a tradition in Macon since 1918. 
• December is National Fruitcake Month and, for years, I have been gathering the dreaded fruitcake gifted to me during the holidays, cutting it into slices and exporting to unsuspecting places from Minnesota to Florida. I call it my Fruitcake Relocation Program.
• Do you know someone with a December 25 birthday? I have a friend who will talk about sharing his birthday with Jesus.
• “Mary Did You Know?” is one of my favorite Christmas songs. What makes it even more special is that Macon native Buddy Greene, who lives in Nashville, co-wrote it.
• Speaking of “Buddy,” I will catch up with Macon’s Grey Henson who, at this time last year, was cast in the lead role of Buddy in the musical “Elf’’ on Broadway in New York.
• A group from our church will go Christmas caroling on the Monday before Christmas Day. I plan to be there. I might get asked to sing a solo. Or not.
• I am looking forward to writing about a couple of local non-profits. The Merrie Christmas Project is dedicated to helping others and honor the memory of Merrie Kaplan. And the Hot Dog Club is continuing the legacy of the late David Duncan with its “Friday Night at the Table of Grace: A Night of Comfort & Joy’’ on December 5.
• Get ready for a fashion show when I trot out my collection of Christmas ties.
• I will be asking other old-timers to share memories about the Sear’s “Wish Book” catalog at Christmas.
• For years, I have been taking photos of people with our family’s giant Santa doll. Be on the lookout for some picture postcards of St. Nick with folks around town.
• My favorite Christmas movie? “It’s a Wonderful Life,’’ of course. You will have to stay tuned for the others on my list.
• My favorite book for this time of year? “A Christmas Memory” by Truman Capote. I got to hear him read the short story when he spoke during my freshman year at the University of Georgia. 
• Chuck Place was a retired forester in Macon who would often share interesting articles with me. In 2003, he gave me one called  the “Lesson of the Peaches.’’ It quickly became one of my favorite holiday newspaper stories, and I will share it with you.
• I will bring back the local lore of Alfred King Story, the man who in the 1940s, ‘50s and 60s, was the face and voice of Santa Claus in Macon. 
• Another Christmas morning tradition at our house is taking a covered dish to the old Southside Methodist on Houston Avenue,  which gives out holiday dishes prepared by local church congregations to feed between 300-500 people. 
•  I will be asking some friends to help narrate “One Solitary Life” for our Melody readers.