Tuesday, December 13, 2011

My Christmas Cussin'

Every Year when I was a kid we would load up the family and presents in the car and go to both grandparents houses and then the cousin's houses and also the homes of various other friends and family. My Pepaw on my dad's side was a mean old alcoholic. Every year he would be so drunk that he couldn't get off the couch and he would cuss us the whole time we were there - unless he was passed out of course. We would all stand there and laugh at him.

My mom would explain that the meaning of Christmas was to give to everyone and not expect anything in return. So every year we had a gift for Pepaw and we didn't mind giving it to him even though he never had anything for us because that was what Christmas was about. I continued this tradition into adulthood.

As an adult I would go every year to see Pepaw as I always had and I always had a gift for him. Usually I had 3 cowboy books that I bought at a flea market for him or his favorite present - a block of commodity cheese. The first year I was married I told my husband, "Come on, we're goin' to get our Christmas Cussin' ".

His reply was, "What in the Hell are you talkin' about?" I explained to him that my Pepaw would be passed out on the couch. I had to take him a present while he would lay on that couch and cuss me the whole time I was there. Bobby did not believe me and as I assured him that this was indeed how it would be, he told me, "there is no way I will stand for that kind of behavior!"

I told him "You can't come with me then, because that is exactly what is going to happen." So we went to Pepaw's trailer and laughed our heads off while he cussed us out.

Years later, I think I was around 27 or so, I went to Pepaw's on Christmas Eve. He had quit drinking the year before because he had a new grandbaby that he wanted to be around. He was drunk that day though. He had only promised to be sober for one year and the year was over.

He was telling me about all the marvelous presents that he had bought for this new grandbaby. I pointed out to him that I was 27 years old and he had never bought me a present in my lifetime. When I said that to him, he turned and looked at me for a few seconds and he started laughing. He pulled out his wallet and gave me $20. He said, "Now go down to the liquor store and get us a fifth and we'll drink it together."

Then he said "Come to think of it here is $20 for your brother and $20 for your sister too. Give it to them from me." So that's how I got my first present ever from my Pepaw except it was not near as much fun to get that $20 as it was to get my Christmas Cussin' every year.

I believe that he died when I was 30 years old.

True Christmas Memories

Everybody has their wish list of must have presents that they just have to have for Christmas. Over the years I have gotten most of those presents if not all of them. Looking back I can only recall what a couple of those make it or break it presents were that I just had to have or it would not be a good Christmas.

Here is what I do remember:

1. My 4 year old nephew, Arnie, flinging the mountain of tissue paper aside sheet by sheet that I had piled on top of the Tickle Me Elmo doll that only I could find so my dad could give it to him.

2. Becca and Arnie laughing with glee when they opened the Furbees that only, once again, Aunt Pam could find when nobody else could.

3. My ex-husband, Bobby's shy, quiet smile because once again I had got him something he really wanted when he didn't even know it himself.

4. Katie, my stepdaughter, bursting into tears because she got the computer she had been dreaming of. (this was in the days even before the internet)

5. Kandi, my other stepdaughter, squealing with glee over the boom box and the awesome cassette collection that she never imagined in a million years she would get. (back in the Thriller days when she was positive she would marry Michael Jackson)

6. The pretty porcelain ornaments the my mom bought me for my first married Christmas - I still have ALL of them.

7. Katie and Kandi getting 8 cabbage patch dolls that first year they came out when there was a feeding frenzy over them in the stores. (twins from us, 2 from their mom, 2 from their stepfather's parents and 2 from my parents)

8. The present I wrapped for Becca that was like something out of Dr. Seuss. It was red and green striped with purple velvet bows all over it. it suited her personality perfectly and she loved it.

9. I wrapped a present for my mom once that was so exquisite that she didn't unwrap it until spring. She just sat the box in her living room and stared at it for three months.

10. A Christmas Wreath made from baggies by my niece, Becca.

None of those moments have anything to do with me getting one of those must have presents!

Why Was Santa So Mean To Rudolph Anyway?

You would think that if anyone would understand a disability it would be Santa Claus!

Things I Miss from Past Christmases

1. I miss singing Christmas Carols. I can't sing anymore because of my low oxygen.

2. I miss fruitcake. I don't miss eating it. I miss buying it for my dad because he liked it so much.

3. I miss my Granny Brennan's crochet work. Every year she would make snowflakes or angels or some sort of Christmas handiwork. I especially miss the crochet stockings that she made for each of us. Some how mine was lost when I first got sick.

4. I miss making the rounds to see family and friends on Christmas Eve. This tradition started when I was a kid and I kept it up over the years. Now I don't even travel to see anyone on the holiday. It is just too hard.

Except for number 4 that is really a trivial list. I am fortunate that I will have a good Christmas.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

"Silver and Gold"

That was always one of my favorite Christmas Carols. It made me want to have a silver and gold Christmas Tree. Now I have one.

Last year Fruth sold me a white Christmas Tree for $12.00 because all the lights were burned out. I just spent the last couple of weeks cutting the old lights off the tree. I bought clear white lights on white wire and I just finished decorating my white tree with my silver and gold decorations.

I had plenty of gold decorations already from my regular tree and just to splurge I went to dollar tree and spent $5 on more gold decorations.

I now have the tree of my dreams for less than $30.

Remember when you would get a straw and pound it on the table and the paper would fly off...

...or you would blow it off. Apparently that is one of the small pleasures of life from days gone by. Now when you get a straw the company is so intent on saving a molecule of paper that you have to spend 5 minutes peeling the paper, piece by piece, off the entire length of the straw.

Does it really take that much more paper to loosen up just a little?

We Cheered My Brother on When He "Broke" the Christmas Tree

In my family we always had real Christmas Trees. When I was in junior high school my parents decided that they wanted an artificial tree. All three of us kids HATED it. We wanted a real tree complete with needles falling and sap and that wonderful Christmas Tree smell that no scented candle can duplicate even though they all try.

For two years we complained about that stupid tree. For two years it was packed away to be used for the next Christmas. When my parents would get the tree out we would beg them for a real tree but they had "invested" in the artificial tree and they were determined to get their money's worth out of it.

The third year my brother had an excellent idea. He "accidentally" broke the stalk of the tree when he was packing it away. My sister and I just smiled sweetly as he stored it in the workshop. The next year my parents went to put up the tree when "lo and behold" it was broken.

We begged then NOT to buy another aritficial tree. They finally admitted they didn't like the artificial tree anyway and we always had a real tree after that. In fact I always had a real tree myself until just a couple of years ago. With my breathing problems it became obvious to me that I was going to have to give up a real tree.

I miss them.