Well, another December 25th is winding down, and this one will go down in history for several things....
1) Another year I wasn't awakened at 5am (yes!). The kids spent Christmas Eve night with Nana Norma, so they didn't even arrive at the house until 930am. Yeah, I know, by 930am, some kids have already broken Christmas toys.....go figure!
2) For Robbie, a Yu-Gi-Oh! Christmas. Big surprise (sarcasm duly noted). Duel disk, the DVD, and Egyptian God Card, packs, a puzzle, and a box of Yu-Gi-Oh! Hamburger Helper....(just kidding on the last one....)
3) For Rachel, music, fashion, and the final piece of her dog family puzzle. She got her first keyboard, lots of clothes and jewelery, an Icee maker (yum!), and Shirley, wife of Silas, and mother to Isaac and Mocha. The family is now complete.
4) And for me....the first season of the Flintstones on DVD!! :)
Then, after an early afternoon nap, it was off to the traditional Christmas event.....
....Fat Albert, The Movie!
For once, a TV show made into a movie that made some sense. Go in with a "nostalgic" mindset, and you won't be disappointed. In fact, you might even cry near the end (I won't spoil it), I know I did....but if you've read this blog for any length of time, you'll know that, lately, I cry when someone finds the "Daily Double" on Jeopardy.....
Great family movie, almost NO cussing; glad I went. So, in 2004, I went to see two movies: The Passion of The Christ, and Fat Albert. Now that's diversity!!!
Memorable Christmases for me......
1972-74: The Christmas mornings I can remember the original family of five together before my parents split. On Christmas Eve I spent the night sick on the couch, really wanting to have "TV Magic Cards", which sent my Dad (bless his heart) all the way from Beaverdam to the only Peoples Drug left open in Richmond (at Boulevard and Broad) to find them.
1983: A tough Christmas; my brother never made it to the house Christmas Eve because his vehicle died in horrificly cold weather (I believe he was walking down the road in single digits, and sub-zero wind chill). Somehow there was an argument Christmas morning at home (I don't even remember why), so, it being a Sunday, we didn't even touch presents until after church. Weird day.
1984: My last Christmas (unbeknownst to me) in Beaverdam, and a cherished Christmas since Dad almost didn't live to see it.
1985: Christmas....in an apartment.....in Richmond. Huh? Enough said.
1987: Woke up at the Regency Inn, where I worked (and was manager in charge Christmas week while my boss was on vacation); we finished checkout, I drove the maids home downtown so they wouldn't have to deal with the bus, and went home to Mechanicsville to make sure I had actually proposed marriage the night before (no, it wasn't a dream....)
1988: First married Christmas, a foretaste of years to come: how do I spend Christmas morning? Working!! Sunday paper route, followed by nap; we didn't even open our few presents until early afternoon, and it was the only year so far we had a real live tree.
1990-91: I elected to spend Christmas morning working at the radio station because my morning man became a dad in '90, and I felt it important to be home with his son. Besides, I hoped for the same when I became a Dad.
1992: Quite possibly the best one ever: Mama was there when I got home from work, I went to bed while baby Robbie stayed up with Nana and Nana Norma past midnight doing Christmas stuff in the great room (which we have archived on video). That morning, we opened presents, Robbie headed up to Nana's for fun, and I went to work for three hours that afternoon.
(Editors Note: Every year I would do the paper route before "tree time", and it was one holiday (unless it fell on a Sunday) that I didn't mind newspaper delivery. Sometimes, I'd even see lights come on people's living rooms and once in a great moon, family members outside checking out a gift...kinda neat!)
1993: Quite possibly the worst Christmas ever. Late Christmas Eve night, Robbie gets sick, catching a bug from his babysitter's house. The next day (12/26), Dad gets sick at work, and that afternoon, Mom gets sick at home. Brutal 24 hour bug, couldn't come at a worse time.
1994: A rough one for me as I was in the middle of a six-week "mysterious illness", that, in hindsight, I think was my initial bout with acid reflux disease with exhaustion thrown in there for good measure. Plus working Christmas Eve 6p-midnight, doing the paper route, and going back to work noon to 6pm Christmas Day didn't help matters either (that's what happens when you're short employees....)
1997: First Christmas with Rachel; she had a cold, and, as Robbie did at his first Christmas, loved paper and boxes and stuff.
2000: The Charlie Brown Christmas Tree: it began to die shortly before Christmas and was actually leaning in the corner of the great room on Christmas morning. We loved it just the same and put it out of its misery shortly thereafter. :)
2002: It began with trying to rest in a "cot" in Mama's hospital room; leaving the hospital after 6am, stopped at Wawa for a snack, and, still in my suit from Christmas Eve service the night before, walked in the house just in time to see the kids open presents. Then, while Mom took the kids to her Dad's house across town, I took a nap, then proceeded to work from 3pm to 11pm at the radio station, getting ahead on my work so I could spend time at the hospital the next day with my brother and his family, who were coming back from North Carolina after being up here the week before when Mama was admitted. I kept in contact with the hospital to make sure nothing happened to Mama and just worked away. Working is sometimes a wonderful release for me...kinda sad, huh? :)
I proceeded to spend Christmas night at the hospital, too, in the same old "cot". It's a wonder my snoring didn't take Mama out of her coma.....
So, now, Christmas #38 has come and gone. Most of all, whether good memories, tough times, or Christmases so "bland" I don't remember many details, I'm thankful for why there is a Christmas. And, in a society that, no matter what others may say, there is a definitive push on by some to make Christmas irrelevant in the public square save it be the best push for retail sales of the year, I'm proud to say, as my daughter did after we received our gifts this morning..."Happy Birthday Jesus."
Those three words say it all.
Merry Christmas everyone.
Rob
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