Here it is Christmas Day. I’m not going anywhere. I’ve got no dinner planned. No one is coming to visit. I’ve gotten phone calls this morning from my people. This truly is the most wonderful time of the year. This is the first day in over a week that there is no place to be. No dinner to go to, no children to play with. I am sore, and tired and so happy.
I had Christmas early with my daughter and her family. Then the rest of the grandkids came. I had a neighborhood (which is the town) party. I held our family party - all the cousins and Aunts and Uncles. Iwent to two work parties, one very intimate, and one very loud and rambunctious. At one point during the week, I tiptoed downstairs to get a drink of water, and I counted 11 bodies in my home. Now, this is not a biggie until you know my home. Tiny. It was wonderful. We baked sugar cookies and decorated them. We made dinners and breakfasts, I worked as little as possible and when I did work, I took assortments of my people to work with me.
I wrapped presents and somewhere in there Santa snuck off with my truck to have a CD Stereo System installed as a Christmas surprise for me. I opened the faceplate this morning, confused as to what it was. Then it hit me and I ran out in my pj’s and coat to listen to a CD. It was a truck Christmas for me. My son, daughter and Santa Claus hooked my truck up with the goodies I said I wanted. It will sport a lighted hitch plate. I have air fresheners, bungee cords, straps, tire gauges and key chains.
I went to mom’s last night. Christmas eve is her night. My son and his fiancé were there. We ate King Crab Legs and steaks. We laughed and ate and opened a mountain of presents. I opened a 1950's style turntable, so today I plan on listening to my albums that I saved from my teen years, a little Pink Floyd, some old Bob Seger, Aroesmith’s Toys in the Attic. I was giggling. I love the sound of an album playing, The scratchy white noises, the sounds. So different from a CD.
The best memory in this recent Christmas season was with my dad and my baby grandson. My dad played Santa Claus for years and years. He would do schools and churches and an occasional town party. He would visit the homes of dear friends on Christmas Eve. He put his suit away when he got ill a few years back and I haven’t seen Santa Daddy in half a decade. Becca wanted a photo with Santa and my Boog. To get one we would need to travel to Kalamazoo, Jackson, or Fort Wayne. Any one of the malls would have one. Instead she called the North Pole hotline and asked Santa Claus is there were any helper’s nearby. He pointed to my daddy. Daddy dug out his suit and put it on, transforming himself into a jolly old St. Nick. We took a zillion photos and laughed and cried and couldn’t get enough of the sweet surprise. My first photos of my own children with Santa are of my Santa Daddy. Now some 23 years later, I have my grandson on Santa Daddy’s knee. The best. We got photos of all the grandkids, even the dog got a photo with Santa Daddy. Sweet, precious and priceless are the photos and the memories.
The night we went to get photos made at the Rite Aid, it was a girl’s only adventure. My daughter, my soon to be daughter-in-law, and myself took off in the truck. We headed off and in the twilight of the evening, we ran into a heard of deer. I hit one, and two hit me. A small dent is all the truck sustained. Another Christmas accident, but we were all okay and the only deer that was injured that night was the one I hit. The rest ran off. There were about 8-10 crossing the road, in the rainy twilight. It scared the girls. We bonded with a story of Christmas past for the years to come. My son bought me critter whistles for my truck. I just shook my head and realized that maybe we need to get a new truck. That truck seems to draw chance events to it. Not bad luck, I can’t even consider it bad. In the events that took place we are all safe and sound. The truck didn’t even sustain anywhere near the damages it should have.
So hear I sit, in the calmness of Christmas Day. The house is quiet. I am going to read and listen to some old time rock and roll. I am washed in the love of my family and friends. I rejoice on this holiest of days. Our Lord Christ’s birthday. I know the love of God. I know it in the memories I hold of this season.
To all a very Merry Christmas, It is my hope that you have loved ones surrounding you, and you too feel the love of Jesus Christ this season.
And I smile ...
love me later ~ tj
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