Re-gifting

I just realized that I forgot something I wanted to write about. When Allie (the 19-year-old psych major) was here last week, we were listening to holiday music and "It's the most Wonderful Time of the Year" came on. When Andy Williams sang about "...scary ghost stories and tales of the glories..." I asked, "Who tells ghost stories at Christmas?" As soon as Allie said, "I always wonder that too," it came to me. "Oh, 'A Christmas Carol' - Scrooge is visited by ghosts." To which Allie said, "After 50 years of hearing that song, you just had that epiphany?"
First off, my dear, that song hasn't been around 50 years, it just seems like it when you hear it 2000 times every November and December. Regardless, it struck me that "epiphany" was the perfect word to describe a revelation at Christmas time and perfectly fitting to the theme of "A Christmas Carol". What I said, though, was, "I guess I never really tried to figure it out"; to which she replied, "Okay, I just thought people at your age didn't have any more epiphanies.
Oh, that's right - a sudden insight into a harsh reality from my daughter: You get a little bit over 50 and there are no more intuitive perceptions. You'd better have everything figured out by 49 because after that, everything is perceived according to stock footage of life in your brain.
I'd never realized life would be like that until she told me - but I just smiled because it did occur to me suddenly at some point that you can't argue with a 19-year-old.