As the years go by and
our family changes, we lose some, we add some, around the Christmas tree. We
have decided one of the best gifts we can give each other is the gift of more
memories and less pressure. Grandma’s house is a generation younger. Sister
makes Ma’s sausage ball recipe, but we eat them off paper plates. This year
they were zip locked to-go and enjoyed in Branson as the clan did Christmas
with the hundreds of other families in Branson, Missouri.
We stayed together
where we could wear our pj pants and play games. We dragged all our favorite
snack foods like rice krispy treats and seasoned oyster crackers to another
state and ate non-stop. We laughed with and at each other over a crazy new game
that Santa brought. We pictured those we were missing and blurted out lines we
knew they would be saying if they were there.
We do the mom and dad
thing by paying for meals and listening for things we can do to make our
children’s visit home more enjoyable. Even though our kids tower over us and
are plenty big to fix their own plate, we rush to the kitchen to do it. We try to
fill in the conversation gaps of the entire year without repeating ourselves
too much because that’s what old people do. The tree blinks back in the corner
and I blink back tears knowing time goes by too fast.
Son Caleb is in his fruit
basket years. I remember mine well. I’m talking about that stretch of my life
that most of my friends were married and had tots in tow. Pictures were made of
these little families, but I just held a fruit basket. I got into the mom scene
kinda late compared to my cohorts so I have several fruit basket pictures. It’s
a real holiday game changer when the play station Santa brings has a Fisher
Price brand. And the GAP jeans have “Baby” in front of the GAP. There is more
Carter’s labels than Carhart. The fruit basket has been upset and Christmas
will never be the same.
I loved looking at all
the new little families at Silver Dollar City. Mommies and Daddies with little babes
bundled up in strollers and wagons. Small faces grin and point mittens to the glittering
Christmas lights. Dad’s heads are topped with Santa hats and mom’s have on
shirts that promote everything from reindeer to naps. I was in line behind a
little guy at breakfast and he asked me if I could guess how old he was. (I
always guess high, it’s the only time in life you like that.) “twelve?” “Nope,”
he bragged, “Nine and a half, I’m tall for my age.”
I asked if he was going
to Silver Dollar City, and he got wide-eyed and said, “How did you know?!” and
we chatted about roller coasters and throwing up and riding with sisters until
it was time to get our biscuits.
We fly through the
holidays like Santa’s sleigh, from fruit baskets to roller coasters, to babies
in blankets, and it all goes by in the blink of an eye....that usually has a
tear attached. Enjoy the moment, and treasure the gift of the memory.
