December can be a cruel month.
Late one December, when our kids were little, my wife developed a very bad case of the flu. She came down with it like around the 18th. She didn't get back on her feet until after New Years. We had no Christmas. At least not as she defines Christmas.
I bought some toys for the boys, who were both under 10, and I bought myself a golf sweater and some golf balls, so the boys and I enjoyed Christmas morning was just fine. Then we had Swanson's Turkey pot pies for Christmas dinner, while my wife was busy heaving-up watered down Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup. I kept the Christmas Carols playing loudly on the CD player so the boys and I wouldn't be distracted by the sounds that accompany virtuoso heaving.
The boys, now 21 & 17, and I barely remember that Christmas, and when we do think about it (which is every Christmas when my wife talks about it over Christmas Dinner) we don't have any negative thoughts about it. For us the Christmases sort of just run together, all blurry when we look into the past. If there was anything notable about it, it was that we were very much at peace; my wife wasn't enforcing any schedules or agendas.
Some of our Christmases have been spectacularly materialistic. Some less so. It's been very neat being nuculear (hee hee!) family. But no matter your circumstances, the lower you can keep your expectations, the more you'll probably enjoy a particular event. Men are probably better at this than women.
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5 comments:
If you have no expectations, you can't be disappointed.
Nothing like a good heaving to help one take a stroll down memory lane...
: )
Here you show you can be a good daddy and a sensitive guy -- with a hidden agenda to downplay Xmas! Good for you!
Even-Handed Hope, I have mellowed a bit. My rage against X-mas burns within me but I'm better now at living and let live(ing)... That's a hard sentence to construct!
Grammie, yeah! If you're not a bulemic, you can probably remember many of your more notable heaving ho's...
Ms. Nibbles, but shouldn't you at least have a couple of teeny-weeny expectations so you can feel some occasional fulfillment?
I like the words teeny-weeny.
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