Merry Christmas greetings, from the Pacific Northwest...its a grey, dull, day outside, but people are cheerful in spite of the weather, what with the approaching Christmas festivites...I just returned Safeway, getting all my goodies in store for good eats, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day....it was a mob scene, too many people, filling the aisles, and not watching where they were going...incidents of carts crashing, and goodies tumbling off the shelves, were all taken with good cheer and smiles...I was quite glad to get out there...Big Dom is going over to Costco, in his ever relentless quest for new and exciting beers...he has already stocked up on such holiday brews, as 'Jolly Roger', 'Jubelale', 'Old Fezziwig', and 'Ebenezer'...he has also taken to sampling some beers from the Internation Market in Tacoma....beer from Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, Rumania, and a few other countries...he seems to be really fond of these Eastern European beers...but he will see what else Costco has to offer...
My decorating is finally done...I have a giant tree in the family room, filled with ornaments from local places, such as the Point Defiance Zoo, the local bird feed store, and from some specialty magazines...we like to put a lot of animals on that tree as well, lots of cats, dogs, bears, and pigs...also Betty Boop...she is a favorite of ours...
The giant tree in the kitchen, is filled with 'food' ornaments...lots of beaded fruits, gingerbread cookies, and candy canes...even a glass chili pepper, a glass hamburger, and a glass slice of pizza...appropriate for a kitchen tree...
The giant tree in the front room, is more a 'family' tree...ornaments, that have passed down from Doms grandparents, ornaments passed down from my parents, ornaments that both Mike and Andy made when they were little guys, ornaments that my mom bought for me when I was a little girl...its really somewhat humbling, to see and touch these ornaments, as they bring back memories, of the people who are no longer with us....
Then there are 9 other small trees posted in various rooms of the house...each bedroom, each bathroom, each hall, must have its own little tree...Dom says we always have a dozen trees up...I guess we are looney...but I know, that if one year, I did not decorate as such, Andy would bound in the house on Christmas Eve, and be disappointed, as would Dom...I dont want to see pouty faces on my men on Christmas, so year after year, its the same ritual, of putting up all these trees...
Its the same story, with the front yard...every tree and bush is decorated with lites....some landscapers were here the other day, and they said, you could probably see our house from outer space, as we are so lit up...
And as with Christmas, we always like to remember many of our Christmases past, with friends and family who are no longer with us....and what we most often remember is not the Christmases where everything went right, but rather we talk about, and laugh about those Christmases where something went wrong...
Like the year I had just finished decorated our massive real live tree, ,and as I walk away, the whole thing came crashing down on my head...oh my boys laughed, as I did, when I came to my senses...I guess it was a funny sight, me all proud with my decorating, only to have to crash, and smack me....
Or the first year Dom and I were married...Doms dad came to my moms house for Christmas dinner...and Doms dad and my dad both got drunk..now, they did not know each other well, ,but they had both served as young men in WWII..Doms dad pinned down on a Normandy beach for days, my dad, an aviator, on planes flying to Burma and the Phillipines, delivering supplies and picking up wounded, ,and having to outrun being fire on, while in the air...so they bonded over their war experiences, and the liquor got them hepped up, and we spent much of Christmas day listening to these two men, relate their war experiences...one of the few times, I ever heard my dad talk about his time at war...
Or the Christmas Eve at my moms, when she got drunk...the one and only time I ever saw her so...by the time Dom and I left to go home, moms hair was askew, the ribbons in her hair were all twisted, and there she sat in her chair, holding the whole punch bowl, full of spiked punch, and using the ladle to drink...
I guess the funniest Christmas Day we had was when I was a teenager...We got a phone call in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve...it was the police...wondering if we had an uncle Oscar...when dad answer in the affirmative, the police asked dad to come and get him...Dad said, maybe this was a mistake, as we were living in Chicago, and Uncle Oscar lived in New Jersey...well the police said, ,this is Uncle Oscar who says he is from New Jersey...so in the middle of a cold Chicago Christmas Eve night, dad went to get a tanked up Uncle Oscar, and brought him home...
What had happend was this...Uncle Oscar was a confirmed bachelor, but he had a girlfriend(who was married to another man, by the way)...whenever Oscar and his girlfriend would have a fight, Uncle Oscar, was notorious for disappearing for a few days...usually he went into the woods, and found some of his friends who lived up there in a shack, and they would just drink and stay drunk for a few days...then Oscar would return home, and he and his girlfriend would make up, and life would return to normal for them...until the next fight, when Oscar would again disappear...
So on this one particular Christmas Eve, Oscar and the girlfriend had a fight...but this time, Oscar called up one of his sisters, to get my dads address in Chicago...he said he was going to visit us..of course, the sister did not believe him, but still she gave him our address and phone number...and darned if he didnt buy a train ticket and boarded the train for Chicago....with our phone number and address in tow...
When he arrived in Chicago, he gave the taxi driver the address...but somehow, he gave the wrong address(how that happened is still open to debate...Oscar claims his sister gave him the wrong address, she claims he wrote it down wrong...who was a fault was never settled)...anyway, we lived at 1817 on a certain street, but Oscar wound up at 1718 in that same street...Oscar was ringing the bell at these people house, in the middle of the night...when they did not answer, he went into the backyard, and started screaming for my dad to come out...of course these people realized he was drunk, and were plenty scared, so they called the police, who came out, and hauled Oscar down to the local precint...
And thus the police called dad, who got Oscar out of custody...Oscar spent Christmas day with us, and then later on Christmas Day nite, he boarded a train back to New Jersey...he wanted to stay only one day...
He had my dad take pictures of him and the family in front of the tree, as proof that he had been to Chicago as he figured on one else of the family back in New Jersey would believe his tale...and he was right...no one did believe him, knowing his propensity for disappearing into the woods for days...when finally dad sent him the pictures, to prove that his story was true, a big laugh was had by all...
Our Andy is coming down for Christmas Eve, when we will feast on Lobster, Prawns, Scallops, Mussels, and Clams, washed down with lots of beer....The Christmas Day feast will be Turkey and Ham with all the fixins, again washed down by lots and lots of beer...
But what we enjoy the most is being together, safe and sound and happy, and talking and reliving all the Christmases past...we always drink a toast to our Mike, who has been gone from us, now for 20 Christmas...its the one sad note in holiday celebration...but we rejoice, that Mike is spending his Christmas with his Lord, for whom we are having our celebrations...Mike is happier than we, as he with the Lord, looking down and smiling, and watching us mortals, with our shenanigans....
And so, what is Christmas about?....to me, its all about family, family here, family in other parts of the country, family who have gone onto the Lord...The trees with their lites and ornaments, the packages all wrapped up, the big feast, and the festive beers, are all just extra trimmings, and dont mean much in themselves...what matters is family....the love and the bonds between husband and wife, parents and children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins...its at Christmas that those with families, should feel blessed to have those families...It must be sad at this time of year, for those who have no families, or for whatever reason have severed their family ties....And at this season, lets all remember that we are all family, through the Lord, if we will believe in his miraculous birth at this time of year...
And so I will end this long winded posting, wishing all of you a merry and happy Christmas, may you all delight in what you have....
MERRY CHRISTMAS....
Merry Christmas!
Good to 'see' you again!
Or the Christmas Eve at my moms, when she got drunk...the one and only time I ever saw her so...by the time Dom and I left to go home, moms hair was askew, the ribbons in her hair were all twisted, and there she sat in her chair, holding the whole punch bowl, full of spiked punch, and using the ladle to drink...
***
Please, please, please ask Andy to take some pics and post them of your wonderful home decorations, the feast, the beers - everything.
Your post is the best Christmas present I will get this year.
Thank you, and God bless and keep you guys.
Cheers.
A great big MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and your family..
.....Westy....
What a wonderful Christmas letter. Thank you, mom. Have a blessed Christmas season.
Greetings Mom.. Sounds like you're making a very Merry Christmas again this year. Have a great one, and say "Hi" to the rest of the family.
No broken chairs now...;)