Christmas I
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Somewhere around 4:50, Puck was up. After some tears for being so very disappointed that it was not yet time to waken — he must have been preparing in advance for Christmas morning — he requested that Collette turn on ‘a service’ (aka ‘sermon’) while he tried to go back to sleep.
When a more appropriate time of the morning had arrived…
In the kitchen, Puck had found the holiday gift bottle of wine on the counter.
“Do you know what that is?” Collette asked him.
“Wine,” he whispered.
“Yes. And only big people drink it.”
“When I grow up, I can have some wine.”
After breakfast, Puck was busy brushing his stuffed longhorn. He then began to ‘plant’ grass around the house so that the longhorn could eat.
The first unofficial Christmas celebration of the year would now begin.
But first… it was a morning for music from The Merchant of Venice.
Then… to the Silverspoon’s.
Relevance and Kitts had been in town for two days.
Soup was on. And cornbread.
Theodore was at the office.
Kitts was shopping at The Galleria.
Curly was shortly on his way home from Nashville.
The Christmas tree, though not yet ornamented, was festooned in ice blue lights.
And Gloria was finishing up the wrapping of the gifts.
“It’s so difficult buying presents for you two when you live in two little boxes in Ohio and Texas,” she said to Relevance. “I can’t wait until you have a house. Then I’m thinking pets and babies…”
This got a laugh. Relevance was busy finishing his PhD in Austin, and Kitts had been in Columbus the past semester beginning her own PhD. So gifts that could be mutually appreciated for the time, were difficult to come by for the married couple of five and a half years.
At twelve-thirty the new mattress arrived and the old one was taken away from Izzy’s room. It was delivered by a fellow with a thick braid of dreadlocks 2/3 of the way down his back.
The topic of the basement being renovated next was a brief discussion at lunch, skirting the larger issue of Netflix and its benefits.
“Wait till we get it done up nice,” said Gloria. “Izzy says, ‘We’ll get some couches down there. And we’ll set up a whole bunch of TVs…’”
“Just set up a sports bar!” Relevance suggested.
The living room was already being transitioned with the new chocolate brown leather couches that had just been installed.
At one o’clock, OLeif and Relevance left to get the oil changed in the car, and Baby Hesed was dropped off by his mama to play for several hours. Puck was very happy to see his little friend and prepared a variety of toys for him to play with, including an old camera from his toy box.
Puck was delighted when Hesed smiled at him immediately. And two and a half hours passed very quickly together. Hesed was keen on the idea of a large Christmas tree as well, and pulled at the branches with his soft baby hands. Puck was gentle and sweet with his baby pal, and showed him as many toys as Hesed could take in, in three afternoons.
Throughout the rest of their time together, Puck eagerly assisted his Kitty by helping sprinkle sugar and Christmas sprinkles on giant pretzels sticks in white chocolate. Naturally, more of the toppings went into his mouth, than on the pretzel sticks.
Also, Gloria had saved the second box of Harry & David truffles. They were amazing. Collette’s favorite was laced in red chocolate — raspberry.
And when the boys had returned, there was a round of a new card game around the kitchen table for them with Kitts and Izzy.
When Hesed had left at 3:30, Puck immediately got busy helping Kitts grate carrots for a cake in the table stand grater. Puck was equally thrilled at this venture. Something that had been off limits to him before. And he helped, as well, by eating the carrot stubs in the process.
Izzy was out the door not long later to the movies and Old Saint Charles with friends.
Naps for Relevance and Kitts.
Collette added the box of ornaments to the tree.
Then Curly arrived at 5:30. Guitar in hand. And the family gathering was complete for the holidays.
Things commenced with the beginnings of OLeif snapping individual shots for the grand Christmas family photo, incorporating white Christmas lights set out of focus.
And as the evening drew on, the rest of the family took off for the South’s home where there was white chili, red chili, and cornbread, where they would play music together as they did on an annual basis.
In other news…
Collette found it interesting that, as much as she heard people talk about Christmas shopping and how terrible it was, she had not needed to purchase a single gift at a store that year. She had avoided the crowds and the lights and the noise and everything else, almost entirely. Courtesy of Amazon.
Back out into the night in a rather comfortable 33.4 degrees Fahrenheit. And to home for catching up with Doctor Who. And with more OLeif-induced treats: bacon cheeseburgers (Collette never got to have those anymore), curly fries, and mini cinnamon-stuffed churros.
And Collette could only hope that her baby would sleep in the following morning, later than 4:50…