Another Christmas Holiday

So now what?
The last weeks have been in preparation for today; answering the anticipation of the young ones, while trying to do right for other relatives. It's mostly great fun, the stockpiling, the scheming, the determining of what will make a good offering. It's sometimes frustrating; the lack of time, the logistics, and working together to connect the dots.

One would hope that after several years of doing this, we would get better at the task and we have. I think we have. This year was relatively painless. If it did not have the drama or the nervousness of wrapping presents on a cold New Orleans balcony at 2am, it did have Maria waking up to join me with hot spiced chocolates and a movie (Meet Me In St. Louis), while putting together the final necessary touches. Meet Me In St. Louis has the most touching version of Have yourself a Very Merry Christmas . With visions of our pretty Christmas tree, what we are preparing for and Maria snuggled with cats helps to balance the feelings of missing those absent.

The next morning. Chaos as the dining table has been turned on its side; the plate for Santa a mess. Maria believes the reindeer may have attempted to eat our cats. A momentary delay and then the dive into Santa's presence. Some baseball gloves, a pillow pet, several Futurama items, a World Series cap, Legos, clothes, a remote control car, a pillow proper, books. I've got a nice new jacket (it's the one I'm always wearing now), Oliver got me a 3-D white shark book and Dexter gave me a back scratcher and back pounder. Oliver complains (mildly) that he asked for Toy Story Legos, and not Toy Story and Legos. I'm not upset, really I'm not. "I don't think Santa can read commas". Santa can read commas. And last year Oliver continues, he received Dora the Explorer Candyland and not Candyland proper. The year previous, Santa brought a Shrek Chia Pet and not the requested Scooby Doo Chia Pet. I'm really not upset.

A perfectly enjoyable evening at my Dad's with Hingee's (my sister Carolyn's) family; so good to see the boys play with thier older cousins, Traci and Kevin. My father, happy to be surrounded by family and the noise and chaos of his grandchildren. Some voices bring their love via the phone; Maria's sisters Eileen, Kathy, and parents, Ann and John. Cailin visited in the mid morning and relaxed with cats, feet up reading a book. Somewhere I worked in a nap.

Christmas has been a good way to conclude a year for me; it's a sort of last chapter in a continuing series. Also a vehicle to reach out to friends and to just blatantly and unconditionally spoil the kids. I try to spread the spending around and hit certain local stores, (while also doing the Amazon thing) and visit old neighbors of my childhood. At this point they may or may not wish for me to end the ritual- but I'm big on rituals. Happy rituals, everybody.