Thursday, December 24, 2009

Memories...misty, water-colored memories

Favorite Christmas Memories:

-Going to my aunt and uncle's house to have gumbo and family Christmas on Christmas Eve every year. And my grandfather always gave all the grandkids $20...but that ended when you turned 18. Seriously...he was all "I survived the Great Depression and you've gotten your $20 for 18 years now...go get a job lazy-ass". Not really, but that's totally what I would think if I were him.

-Every year on Christmas Eve, my sister and I slept in the same bed so we could get up at the same time to see our stuff from Santa. And this tradition continued well into our late teens...possibly even when I was still in college. I know you're thinking it's all sweet and sisterly, but I really don't know what the hell she was thinking...I sleep like a fucking kung-fu ninja. Yeah. I probably beat the shit out of every Christmas Eve. Like on family vacays, we got a roll-away just for me....it's gotten better, but my husband and I have a king-sized bed, so I probably just can't reach him to kick his ass at night.

-The year my cousin worked at a drugstore in town and had to work Christmas Eve, so we walked over to it to visit him with plates of food and his gifts singing Christmas carols all the way there. And it just now occurs to me that, had the cops driven by, many of the adults could have been cited for PI. (and if you don't know what "PI" means, I'm not sure why we're friends)

-The Christmas my uncle was Santa and got a little tipsy (okay, maybe more than a little)--Santa was very "huggy" that year when everyone sat on his lap. Then he convinced my older sister and I to sit on his lap...and got a little "huggy" with us. Bad Santa, bad!

-The Christmas after my parents got divorced, my mom and I went with our best friends (who also happen to be mother/daughter) snow skiing in Taos, New Mexico. No one had told us 1. How to buckle ski boots 2. That we would even need ski boots 3. That Taos is pretty much for black diamond skiers 4. That snow skiing is flippin' HARD! We drank alot of vodka martinis in the ski lodge. We also went to see some psychics that New Year's Eve and they told my friend's mom that one of her children was "sensitive" and then they told my friend that she was "sensitive"....so we are totally convinced that she's a psychic because it was two separate women who made the same prediction. (Yes, there was plenty of red wine involved.) But they also told me they saw lots of money in my future, and that hasn't happened so they probably weren't all that "on target".

-Last Christmas...and I don't really know why, because my husband had just gotten laid off and we were involved in some ex-wife drama. But in the midst of it all, we had each other and two beautiful, healthy children. I remember putting out the Santa stuff for the kids in the early morning light in our living room with the Christmas tree lit up and thinking "I should've gotten them each a couple more things". Then, I looked at the husband and he winked at me...he winked! And gave me his little shit-eating grin that I'm sure got him out of lots of trouble in school....and all was right with the world.

All sarcasm and cynicism aside (for now), enjoy the holidays, thank whoever you pray to for everything and everyone that you are blessed with, and collect happy memories....those are the true gifts and will outlast any THING you receive.

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