Christmas Eve...oh the memories this day brings. The big thing when I was a kid was getting all dressed up in my new Christmas dress and going to my grandmother's house for dinner and gift exchange on Christmas Eve. It was the one night of the year that we did something out of the focused routine my dad established...you see every night was dinner at 5:00 pm...at 5:30, my dad would go into the living room to watch television...usually the Beverly Hillbilly's reruns...at 6:00 the local news would come on and then 6:30 NBC Nightly News...regardless of what might be going on...this was THE routine every single night.
But, on Christmas Eve, we ate on my Grandmother's fancy china and sat at her big dining room table and ate a weird jello salad with a gigantic glob of mayonnaise..(to this day, the thought of that mayo and jello combo makes me want to vomit!)...once dinner was over we would into the living room where I would distribute the wrapped packages and the unwrapping would begin...
I would give anything...literally anything for just one more Christmas Eve like that...I miss my grandmother...I miss the smell of Christmas in her house...I miss how much fun it was to have a list of people to buy gifts for...I really no longer have that. Oh I am definitely Santa Claus for my parents...but they both are at the stage where the their wants and needs are minimal. Most of the fun for me is picking out or making just the perfect gifts...I really don't have that anymore and it simply saddens me.
But...today is Christmas Eve and I will make the best of it...I'll be making the 4 hour drive home. It's supposed to snow there and so we'll have a white Christmas...Dad and I will go see Mom later today and also tomorrow...and she, more than likely, will not really be cognizant that it's really Christmas. It makes me sad but we'll do the best we can to bring some cheer to Mom and ourselves.
I wish you all a wonderful Christmas...one in which many warm and happy memories are made.
All the best,
BJ
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