Christmas was great, but over far too quickly, as usual. Six weeks of lead-up and then poof! It's over. But it was still good. I went to my parents place on Christmas eve and finally felt I could relax. We went to the Christmas Eve service at my parents church, which was in the gym of my old high school. It's always so strange to be back there. Though, kind of a sad thing, over the whole evening I kept thinking about Buff, who was a special ed aide and coach extraordinaire at my high school, and the crossing guard at my elementary school before that. The last time I saw him was at last year's Christmas Eve service. He comitted suicide a few months ago - he jumped off a bridge - and I just can't seem to shake a really sad feeling about it. I barely knew him, but he was such a warm hearted, loving guy - a real presence in the community, too - just someone you always expect to see around. Like at the Christmas Eve service.
Anyway, after the service we went back home and took part in our regular family traditions, like leaving out a snack for Santa. Yes, we still do that. And in the morning, Santa had come and had left a mess, as usual. I love it!
My favourite Christmas tradition in my family has to be the anual reading of the letter from Santa. How that man gets to every house AND has time to sit down at the computer and write a big long heartfelt letter to our family, I have no idea. But well, he seems to manage. (tee hee)
Every year, my dad reads the letter, a section devoted to each of us, telling us how proud he is (he... do I mean dad? Santa? We never can tell!) of us, talking about what we've been up to in the year, and reminding us that he (again, was that dad or Santa???) is praying for us and loves us very very much. My dad is pretty much the biggest softie in the world and I love him for it.
Gifts were exchanged, turkey was eaten, and fun was had by all. My favourite gifts would have to be a sweet ski/boarding jacket from my brother, a day on the mountain with my sister, and a camp stove and gift certificate for outdoor gear from my parents. Yeehaw!
It was nice to just chill out at my parents for a few days, too. Kind of like my own little mini vacation.
I honestly haven't been doing too much over the holiday. I've spent some time with friends, cleaned out some black holes in my house (yesss!) and spent a lot of time sleeping! Um, I decided to spend all of New Years day in bed. It was glorious! I lounged, and read, and slept, and didn't feel one ounce of guilt. Not-a-one.
Ah yes, which leads me to New Years. Well, past, actually, but well, you get the drift. :) But you're just gonna have to wait till tomorrow for that story...
5 comments:
sounds like you have a great family! Glad your Christmas went well! So, umm.. what did you get your brother for Christmas?!?!
I like your Christmas story..
H&B - thanks!
CeCe - I TOTALLY got him the picture! My mom emailed the photographer asking how much he charged for a print, and told him the story, yadda yadda yadda. He remembered talking to my brother for quite some time that day, and so told my mom that he usually charged $65, but meh, it was Christmas, so he just attatched it for free! I had it blown up and will frame it for him (I had to ask him some specifics about size and whatver first). I tried to post a picture of my brother with the photo, but blogger isn't letting me post pictures right now! I'll email it to ya.
Hillary, that is so awesome that you got your brother the picture! A while back my dh took a pic of a fire in our neighbourhood and it wound up on the front page of our paper...the mom of one of the firefighters asked us for a copy of the pic for her son for Christmas. We didn't even think of charging for it (naive I guess), but I thought it was cool.
Taking up lots of comment space, I can't wait until your family adds another generation to those letters that Santa writes to your family!!
Very cool story, Hils! :)
Post a Comment