These Wonderful Things Are the Things We Remember All Through Our Lives
For weeks, we were all getting into the Christmas spirit. The first weekend in December, we picked up our tree from The Home Depot and decorated it with our home-made ornaments. I knitted the twins’ stockings. Dad shopped around for gifts. I sang carols around the house. Dad would yell, “Stop singing!” (to remind me of my childhood Christmasses). A week before Christmas, we took the children to visit Santa Claus in his little house at the mall. Ty, Kyle, and Taylor sat with him to take pictures. Actually, Ty and Taylor sat on Santa Claus’ lap, and Kyle stood next to him and covered himself with plush toys. Kyle has never been one to sit on Santa’s lap. The two babies sat with Santa for another picture. Kendall smiled. Talon was wondering What the crap.
The Monday before Christmas, we were invited to a Christmas Eve party and were asked to bring a dish. After grumbling about how people ought to be considerate, we arrived the party promptly because we would be there for only one hour – being that it’s Christmas Eve, and Santa was on his way. But the hostess was still in her pajamas. Her child and step children were running around barefooted. The floor was wet from having been mopped. It was a good idea to have eaten a few bites of the macaroni and cheese before we left.
We put the children to bed at 9pm on Christmas Eve. Taylor thought she would hang around a little, but children’s hanging around delays Santa Claus. So we got mad at her and sent her to her room. She didn’t like it. Dad had… well, we can’t dish out all the secrets of Santa Claus…
Before Ty went to sleep, he told me to keep an eye out or Santa because he knew that I would be a couple of times during the night to feed the babies. When Ty woke up, Dad and I were already up (I was going to go back to bed though). Ty came down the hallway with a faint smile and broad, happy eyes. The Christmas tree lights were on, glowing softly of gold upon the new dragon and bad knights who had captured one of the many good knights. The good knights had allied with the Elves and were on the brink of storming the castle.
“Merry Christmas,” said Ty and Kyle and they immediately began playing with everything all at once. Taylor was the last to wake. She was still in a daze when she started playing with her castle and princesses. Ty was happy to get a football like he had asked Santa Claus. Kyle really, really liked his Elvish fighters. Santa Claus left me a broom. I had asked for one. He also gave Dad and me new bags for everyday gear and some WTSHTF stuff. Santa Claus is so smart.
The children’s paternal grandmother came by and dropped off some gifts. Kyle received a bicycle from her, but it came before she did becuse Santa had dropped it off as it wouldn’t fit in her car. The maternal grandparents came by later in the day along with my own maternal grandfather (are you getting all of this?) who is visiting from a far, far, far away place where the people do not speak English. They gave us presents. The boys were excited to see the bags, looked inside, and tossed the bags aside. I thought that was pretty rude, so I asked what was inside. “Clothes!” yelled Kyle.
We passed around the coffee and Panettone and ended the day with a happy feeling that nothing in the world can buy.
