A Wonderful Christmas

Well, how was your Christmas?

That old holiday spirit was slow to arrive this year, but it finally hit when I went out for a haircut and some stocking stuffers a couple of days before Christmas. Online shopping is so easy, but I just have to see the store décor and hear the carols and fight for parking before I feel it, I suppose.

My daughter and son-in-law arrived and they were feeling the spirit too.

“What’s that annoying sound?”

A toilet running.

“What’s the other annoying sound? The beeping.”

Alarm system.

“Why won’t the fireplace come on?”

Because the day the repair bill came it quit working again.

“The radio won’t come on.”

Battery.

SIL: Do you just save all this shit up until I visit?

Me: Pie?

The next morning son-in-law went to Lowe’s for flappers and batteries and something to support the guest bed frame, since their first night was spent rolling downhill toward the center. He fixed everything (like a good elf) and we sat by the fire, marveling at the sound of …nothing, except the Christmas songs on the radio.

We had a great Christmas and ate a strange combination of salmon and holiday salads and key lime pie, maybe so we wouldn’t get mixed up and eat the green bean casserole that was still in the fridge from Thanksgiving.

I gave my youngest friend some Legos, and I knew she was happy when she said, “Gosh, I thought you would give me pistachios!”

Yesterday daughter and I went to lunch, where we ran into my ex-boss. He hugged me and chatted kindly and asked if that was my daughter, and introduced himself, although they met many times when I worked for him. When he got back to his office he said, “What’s the name of that gal that used to work here…the one that lives here in town?”

Then we went to the nail salon, where people remembered our names.

Yep. It was a wonderful Christmas that came and went too fast. Think I’ll go plug in the tree and sit by the fire, reading one of my favorite gifts.