ALL ABOUT CHILDREN HOLIDAYS ARE BEST VIEWED AND ENJOYED THROUGH A YOUNGSTER'S UNWAVERING EYE.

Byline: RICHARD NEMEC Local View

AFTER the holidays pass each year, I dutifully box up my family's eclectic collection of tree and home decorations for a return to their year-round resting place in the attic of my garage.

About this time annually, I mutter to my wife that next year, surely, we will buy a coordinated set of decorations to replace these disparate trinkets collected over more than three decades.

The new, perfectly matched, artfully coordinated set never seems to get purchased, no matter how many post-holiday sales my wife attends. I was reminded of our habitual failing recently as I retrieved the old, dusty boxes and, with a young helper at my side, somewhat apologetically took out some of the ornaments for the first time in many years.

I had an 11-year-old overseeing the annual unpacking, with fresh eyes to assess our aging baubles. Despite my many apologies to her for the tacky, dated feel for many of the decorations, I was encouraged by a new perspective on our Christmas decor.

Our simple, old and dated items held a real allure for Khia, the sixth-grader who joined our family last fall. Not only was she enthusiastic about almost all of the varying beads, bows and trinkets but she also, with little prompting, arranged them in a more beautiful alignment on this year's tree than we had

seen in many years, not since my then-teen-age daughter came up with the basic design scheme.

Among our collection is a series of about two dozen handmade ornaments crafted by my sister-in-law when she was a sophomore in high school in Chicago. The same hands that painstakingly placed each bead or sequin on a Styrofoam ball are today the steady hands of a neurologist, who helps treat patients with serious ailments at Long Beach Veterans Hospital. Khia instinctively recognized and reminded us of their special place in our annual holiday festivities.

Many other ornaments - although less distinctive and certainly not as lovingly crafted - also hold a special place for us, because we have kept them for so long and continue to display them on whatever tree we manage to drag into the house.

Khia, being a typical 11-year-old, involved herself in all of our holiday decorations this year. She picked the Christmas tree and provided encouragement to me as I strung lights along the roof lines of the house while dangling near the edge, wondering (as I do every year) what the hell I was doing peering over the second-story roof's edge.

This year's experience reminded me that the holidays ultimately are about children. And they are best viewed and enjoyed through a child's unwavering eye. While America's irrepressible materialism already is embedded in these same kids, the simpler pleasures of our year-end celebrations can also be more clearly delineated by someone still short of the teen-age years.

In my case, I like the feeling of connectedness that comes from seeing the three generations of women - four if we include my wife - who are represented in the shimmering little baubles that brighten our tree. They include my sister-in-law, my once beautiful daughter who would have been 29 years old this month, and Khia, our newfound child.

While Khia knows nothing about the tradition and memories linked to what she took out of the boxes and arranged so perfectly on the tree, her unquenchable enthusiasm makes this a special holiday season - after I had endured several that seemed empty without my late daughter.

My son and his fiance will be visiting from Washington, D.C., bringing the eyes and hearts of young adults in their early 30s, still not entirely jaded but no longer able to recognize the beauty of Christmas ornaments reflected in a child's eyes.

I have some problems with Khia's kid stuff in other respects, such as homework study habits, irrational devotion to N'Sync rock concerts and incessantly asking questions for which I have no answers. (Sometimes I don't even understand the question.) After having long-ago raised two children to become well-established young adults, I have not had a holiday season with an 11-year-old in the house in almost two decades. It's a growth experience for both of us, for sure.

I wasn't sure Khia would help define the season for us as well as she has. Even though she and I don't agree on music or how best to feed our two cats, we agree that traditions help make the holidays. Old ornaments seen through her young eyes give me hope.

This Christmas I have the greatest gift of all - an 11-year-old with a big heart and plenty of love to spread around.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo: (color) no caption (Wreath)