Christmas

Christmas. It brings many things. It's not at all like what we're shown on TV and in movies, though...but very little in life is.

We had some fun here, with family and good food. On Christmas eve we (hubby and his aunt, celebrating her 92nd Christmas) spent the evening wrapping and then enjoying the "Seven Fishes" together. I made appetizers of mini crab cakes and calamari salad, followed by cioppino with shellfish and shrimp and fish. With everything we sipped a fantastic Dry Riesling, perfect with seafood.

We had a quiet, enjoyable evening, reminiscing and talking about whatever. We sat around the kitchen bar/island and I put the food out as it came. After dinner, we went together to Christmas eve services at my church, which is like going home. It's always nice to be there--with our wonderful pastoral staff and congregation, we are among friends. It was a great service. We had a peaceful, enjoyable evening.

We slept in a bit on Christmas; I set an alarm but "snoozed" it until after 9. We finally decorated the tree on Christmas morning (thank heavens Santa didn't mind) and picked my teen up at noon.

The afternoon was very nice; everyone enjoyed their gifts and it was great to see lots of smiles. My son gave me a cat-a-day calendar (perfect) and a book he chose based on his recollection of an animated conversation I had had with another adult he respected about the excellent author Nelson DeMille. Again he impressed me with his thoughtfulness and attention.

By late afternoon though, everything caught up to me and I felt like I was hit by a truck. (Will I never get over this illness??) I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my son on Christmas, so, covered by blankets on the couch I watched him play his new Wii game and listened to his guitar playing. It made me happy to see him happy with his new things and to spend time with my son, as he approaches adulthood.

Christmas isn't like on TV or in movies, but we're not actors and there are no "second takes" here. There was no excited screaming or running out to the new car in the driveway with the giant red bow (I've always hated those commercials). We shared in the day, the meaning of the day, and enjoyed being a family. I enjoyed being able to give my loved ones things that made them smile--and hopefully showed that I understood them and wanted them to be happy. That's what I like about Christmas.