It's Just me, V

Good Morning!

Here I am in my quiet home, husband is working, daughter is snoozing, and my puppers are quietly napping next to me. I have already started laundry and dishes for the day. (Nope moms don’t rest on Christmas either… haha)

I am sitting here thinking back to Christmas when I was young, before I had children of my own, before I was married, like WAY back to when I was a little girl. Most of my memories are all bunched in, but one of my fondest memories is from the Christmas of 1982. That year we had a HUGE blizzard! The snow piled up so high that we couldn’t open the front door. We had cousins in town, they had stopped by for a visit and were then snowed in with us. Unless you had 4 wheel drive and chains, you weren’t going any where. I remember my Daddy managed to get the back door pushed open (thank goodness for the covered patio) and started shoveling with the cousins. He had a 4 wheel drive truck and started helping people dig out while shoveling his arms off! I felt like he was gone for ever that morning after the snow had slowed down.

I can still recall the smells of my aunt and my momma cooking in the kitchen, the smell of the fire place in the basement where we all liked to hang out watching television and telling stories. I can even remember, once cousin had brought her significant other who used chewing tobacco, sitting on the fire place edge – desperate for a chew (having run out) and decided to try to chew one of her cigarettes! OH YUCK! And I can still hear the laughter at how green he turned!

I had to share my bed with my cousin who was a couple of years younger than myself. I remember her being so excited almost electric and SO worried that Santa wouldn’t find her because they weren’t where they had planned to be for their final destination. I remember her mom telling her that it would be alright, and that everything would work out fine. That night, Christmas eve, I laid awake trying (like all other kids at that time) to sleep… only to be woken up several times by my cousin fidgeting and asking me if it was time to get up and if I really thought Santa would come. Tired and cranky, I remember telling her “He’s never going to come if you stay awake!” I was just sure that Rudolph couldn’t see where we were from all the snow fall, we were buried after all, and that since SHE was awake – Santa would skip us for sure with out trying! I’m not sure when she finally went to sleep… really it was probably still pretty early but it seemed like an all nighter to me.

We woke up the next morning, to the smell of coffee and breakfast floating in from the kitchen, of course she was up before me telling me that it was MORNING… And Santa had not only made it to the house, he got in – and brought gifts, candy canes and ribbon candy for EVERYONE! Even the cousins that had landed at our house so unexpectedly! That Christmas morning feeling… that warmth, the laughter, that electricity it was all there! Nothing had been missed.

I now know that my daddy helped make Christmas for all of us, he wasn’t just out shoveling and helping people dig out. (That was one of his favorite things to do with his trucks, help people during the snow storms) The thing that I remember most about this storm, this Christmas… is that even though we had extra people in the house, and it was… chaos… our family came together to show love and truly celebrate the season.

So, my new found friends… no matter how you celebrate the season, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas from my family to all of yours.