December 25, Eve

This has been the craziest December of my life. That's saying something, considering Michael was born in a December and we traveled to Texas last December.

Life has been so busy. So has work. Then the weather turned cold and polluted for two weeks. Then I caught a bad cold, exacerbated by the inversion-fueled smog, that I still haven't shaken. And here we are: Dec. 24. We never got Christmas lights up outside. We got all the shopping done (thankfully, most of it was completed earlier in the month), but that kind of kept us from taking in the holiday vibe in the city (the smog and illness did, too). This morning, Lori woke up to discover a gutter hanging off the front of the house.

Yet, I'm still feeling festive enough. The Christmas Eve family Mass at church this afternoon was nice. All the presents are wrapped and ready to be opened, and I'm typing with a view of our Christmas tree all lit up and "A Christmas Story" on the TV. I had been listening to holiday music all month long and thoroughly enjoyed singing "Angels We Have Heard on High" at church today. The repairmen fixed the hanging gutter, Santa's milk and cookies have been consumed, and except for the fact all four of us are coughing, today turned out to be a good day.

And then the nostalgia creeps in ...

Ben is 7 this Christmas. When I was 7, it was our first Christmas on Rascher Avenue. I think I got the electronic game Simon as a present as well as Super Jock Football and Super Toe Soccer. We had Christmas Eve at our house and spent Christmas Day by my Grandma Elsie's house.

Michael is 10 this Christmas. When I was 10, I got the electronic version of Space Invaders and the board game Risk (I think I might have got my first Dungeons and Dragons set this year as well). On Dec. 26, I went by my friend Chris's house, which seemed to be the gathering place for a bunch of us to show off what we got for Christmas. A few of us got Space Invaders ...

I'm clearing off space on the camcorder to videotape tomorrow morning's proceedings. The presents might be loved and might be eventually forgotten. The holiday memories should last forever.




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