The Holiday Season That Almost Wasn't

You know how it is...or am I just alone in this?  Most Christmas/New Year's seasons, I have a celebratory feeling, along with some fairly good ideas about what gifts to get my loved ones.  We usually decorate my Christmas tree on the day after Thanksgiving, and presents begin to show up under it--a few at a time--thereafter.  We make candies and cookies, fix our favorite traditional foods, and drink egg nog spiked with brandy or rum.  This year?  Not so much.

In the first place, my daughter and her husband would be going to Florida to visit her father for Christmas again.  I would be cat-sitting for their feline in my home.  Then, too, this year was my grandchildren's father's turn to have them with him for the holiday, through December 28th.  They would all be here visiting family and staying at my house for a couple of days, but they would depart for Muncie, IN, on the 24th.  Thus, no one would be around for Christmas.  This is not a big deal for someone who lives alone, as I do, but it does tend to dampen the spirit of festivity.

But let's back up to what started it all.  On the day after Thanksgiving, we normally put up and decorate my Christmas tree, as I mentioned.  My family--my mother, really--always made a family project out of decorating the tree.  In those days, we had real trees--the kind that make the whole house smell of pine and balsam.  Dad would select a tree, bring it home, set it in the stand, and put the lights on.  It was up to the rest of us to decorate it.  (There were times when Dad brought home the ugliest trees, but after we decorated each one each year, it became our custom to say it was the prettiest tree we'd ever had!)  Because it was such a happy tradition in my childhood home, I made it a tradition in my own.  And my daughter followed in those footsteps, too...but there were a couple of times when her children fought or didn't cooperate the way she thought they should, and she'd end up in tears.  I think decorating the tree became risky business to them, then...so they have steadfastly resisted the process altogether ever since.  In spite of the fact that my helper, James, had brought all of the fixin's out of my minibarn, when the family departed to go back home, the tree hadn't been put up yet.  We didn't even hang our stockings on the fireplace mantel!  Since no one would be here for Christmas, I considered not putting up the tree at all but reconsidered since the grandchildren and paternal parents would be here for a couple of days before the holiday.  James came over a day or two later.  He put up the tree and put on the lights.  I put up the "popcorn" garlands (actually crocheted by me many years ago to look like popcorn), and installed a few minor ornaments.  And so it was.  There wasn't even a skirt at the bottom of the tree!  I was going to get at that but just didn't...

Over the past couple of years, I've had a present to open for each family member plus cash.  Since this year, I would see the grandchildren once just before Christmas with their father and stepmother, and again after Christmas when we would exchange gifts again, I decided to divide things up.  The children would get their present to open when here before, and their cash after.  My daughter and son-in-law would get their cash before Christmas, and their present to open after.  (Following me, so far??)  This year, we never did stockings.  I didn't even have all of my shopping done by Christmas!

Megan and Denis came through on their way to Florida to drop off their cat, eat a bite, and hit the road for points south.  I gave them their cash then because I felt they could use it on their trip--along with a gift card for Starbucks.  (Why people like that stuff, I will never understand...but they do!) They would be making the last leg of their trip back northward on Dec. 28th--the same day that they were supposed to make the kid trade from Daddy to Mommy, but Meg wasn't sure if they could be in the Chicago area in time for the appointed trade, since they were coming such a long distance and wouldn't know what they could run into on the road.  I was asked (and agreed) to go up to their home by the 28th so that there would be "coverage" for the children in case they couldn't.  (Meanwhile, the children's stepmother had said that they would happily keep the kids until Meg could get there, but I had already committed, so that was a backup plan.)

December 23rd is Grandma Judy's birthday.  (Judy is the children's father's mother--my friend and co-grandmother.)  Since everyone would be leaving by noon of the 24th, it was decided that we would gather at Judy and Phil's house for a Christmas meal and gift exchange on the 23rd.  It was a double-duty celebration:  Grandma Judy's birthday and Christmas.  (Normally, Judy and Phil and I don't exchange gifts.  If we do, it's just little remembrances.  This year, however, I actually had something to give Judy that I thought she would like:  a DVD from the Smithsonian Channel of The Day Kennedy Died.  The significance of that is that I watched the show months before and noted that Judy's uncle, James Tague, was in it.  I HAD to order it for her for her family archives.  When she complained that I had purchased something for her, I reminded her that it was not expensive, and that she would have gotten it from me, no matter the occasion!)  I came home after the gift exchange. The rest of the crew came later...after playing a game or two and watching the DVD,  Before bedtime, Kendra (the children's stepmother) got bored and proceeded to clean the kitchen, including sweeping the floor.  And I sat there like a boob and let her do it, grateful all the time that she was really, really helping me out.

I almost begged for the family to stay for Christmas Eve services at church before departing for Muncie, to no avail.  I understood, but I longed to have them with me in the pew.  My church is so blessed with a music director with connections who puts on a program to die for.  Two of the five services that night would have a 40-piece choir and a 30-piece orchestra.  I went to the second one of those, all by myself (as usual).  If ANYTHING saved the spirit of the day for me, it was that service. It was full of beautiful music and symbolism; reverent; all a reminder that all of the clap-trap activities of the previous four weeks came down to this: the birth of Jesus whose life changed the world.  I came home a happier, more joyful person.  Refocused.  Thank God I went!  It would have been so much easier just to stay home.  (There is a lesson in that.)

I had decided that Meg and Den would have to stop by my house on their way northward--it's pretty much on the way--to pick up their cat.  She hates to travel and hides the instant she thinks something's up.  I didn't want to mess with that.  Christmas Day passed without company or incident. Along about the 26th, I got a call from the grandchildren's father.  Their plans were changing, so he was willing to bring the children to Indy on the 27th to trade them with me before they headed home to Zion, IL.  I met them up on 38th Street and brought the kids back home.  We would trek to Meg's house the next day.

The kids and I had lunch at McD's on 38th Street.  When we got back to my house, I was BEGGED to take them to Sky Zone, a huge trampoline/dodge ball place in a local warehouse.  (They had been there earlier in the week with Dad and Stepmom.)  I was happily surprised to find that the place was affordable.  I originally signed them up for 30 minutes, but added another 30 when all was going so well.  We came home and had a Schwan bag meal (good stuff), and hit the sack for travel to northern IL the next day.

The trip went well and quickly, largely because I had two people in the car to talk to.  When we arrived at Meg's we found her instructions on how to turn up the heat, and found $100 on the fridge to stock up on some foods that they would need.  I made a dash to the local grocery to get bread and milk and eggs, etc.--the usual.  Got frozen pizzas for food that night.  Meg texted Ryan when they left my house with cat, so I knew about when to expect them.  They showed up right on time!

When it came time for New Year's preparations, Meg and I went shopping.  We got ingredients for traditional Russian foods, since NY is traditionally bigger than Christmas in Russia.  We had shrimp and cocktail sauce, cucumber slices on party bread (with cream cheese and rosemary), California Onion Dip and chips, cheeses/salamis and crackers, a homemade cheese ball, Salade Olivier (glorified potato salad traditional in Russia), deviled eggs and garlic deviled eggs, champagne, and I know I'm forgetting things.  Long story short, we had enough full-fat foods that our arteries should have slammed shut that night!  At 3:00 PM, we joined Denis's parents on Skype for their midnight. Then they got up to join us at our midnight for another toast and Happy New Year!  Thirty minutes later, we were all in bed.

In spite of all traditions being trashed and the Christmas spirit being non-existent in a few of us, the holiday happened anyway.  Kinda reminds me of The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, that no matter how hard the Grinch tried to take Christmas away by stealing the trappings...Christmas trees and presents and all...the day occurred in spite of his efforts.  And that's what it's all about!