Christmas~Reprise

Christmas morning

Chloe~Baby Girl

Well, kids, Christmas just doesn't get any better. Steph and Gord and their dogs, and Jeff, all arrived safely, we've had tons of laughs, everyone got suitably spoiled, and the turkey was delicious.

The best gift, for me, after the puppies opened their stocking, was watching everyones' smiles as they opened gifts and exclaimed in disbelief. 


Especially Jeff,

who is gifted with a permanent attitude of gratitude. He ramps up the appreciation factor every time he's present. 

My sister gave me a faux wolf fur throw that looks and feels just like a wolf. 

my wolf throw

As I sat hugging it, rocking back and forth, saying, "my wolf!", Steph said, "I swear  you'll make me cry over Chase and Pup, if you keep that up". (Our two beloved furry companions are the missing faces this Christmas.) I replied, "I want this put over me in the coffin - and put in Pup's Urn, too," and pushed her right over the edge. But one might as well be clear, right?

Steph and Gord,
my wonderful soon-to-be son-in-law

Two other missing faces this year are son Jon and daughter Zenny, Jon's wife, who made the perilous and dangerous trip, in Budget truck, pulling the car along behind, through the Rocky Mountains, in blizzard conditions.  They are moving from the desert-like Okanagan to Regina, of all places, which is forty below today. Jon got a job with the government there. Zenny, raised in the Phillipines, cant even compute this latest change. Like Alice, her life gets curioser and curioser. Next stop: the Arctic Circle?

Apparently, they got pulled over by a policeman for driving too slowly, and impeding traffic. Zenny told the policeman he should arrest Jon for making her move to Regina from B.C. The policeman replied, "Sorry, I cant do that. That would be under the Mental Health Act." Hee hee.

Jeff cracked us up so many times. He stated at the supper table Christmas Eve, with great import, that "Psychiatry is like finger-painting." Turning to Steph he said, "If you guys have kids, dont ever ever take them to a psychiatrist." 

Looking at a photo of the Dalai Lama, he said, "That guy is profound!" 

Lori relayed how she had visited a nursing home this week and been introduced to someone she misheard as being the President. 

She assumed the woman was the President of the association running the home, so handed her her business card. The woman looked at it, mystified, and said "I've already got a BANK!" Turns out she was not the President - but a resident! Hee hee. Way to network, Lori!

Andrew

Christmas morning, we invited Andrew, our neighbor and Lori's ex, over for a Christmas breakfast. He told us, "Last night I was invited for dinner by Ex Number One, this morning I was invited for breakfast by Ex Number Two. I would have to say this is an EX-cellent Christmas!" Cackles.

Andrew heard me quietly reminding Jeff to take his meds, and said, "I forgot to take mine this morning." Silence for a moment, then I said, "Oh my God! I forgot to take mine, too." More cackles. 

All Christmas day Lori and Youngest Daughter tried to explain to me how to use my new Kobo. All the icons and places to find one's way thru the labyrinth elude me. I kept looking back at their moving lips with blank stares, repeating: "I just want it to go to Page One!" So far no luck. 

Another classic moment: Lori and I were madly trying to get food to counter, to bowls and platters, to table, dogs were underfoot, Steph wanted to show me something on her ipad and Jeff chose that moment to ask: "Mom, do you ever get lonely living by yourself in one room?"

"NO!" I responded, not to put too fine a point on it, and we all cackled like loons.

There were some classic photos  taken midst the hilarity. Me, at nine a.m., swigging back a Bailey's, with gusto, in the tradition of my mother before me. 

Puppies posing (against their will, I might add) for puppy pictures in Santa hats (required Christmas behavior), me hugging my Wolf Fur, Jeff, hugging every gift and every person, a photo of Lori taking photos : happiness. The kind that Christmas always brings, no matter what the year has brought, no matter who arrives or who is no longer here. We make Christmas with whoever and whatever we have, and it is always full of laughter.

I hope Christmas, or whatever you are celebrating this week, was joyous for you as well. Tonight I noted the light is staying a teensy bit longer before nightfall, and that points me hopefully towards another spring.