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Christmas Eve
Giving presents is a talent; to know what a person wants, to know when and how to get it, to give it lovingly and well. Unless a character possesses this talent there is no moment more annihilating to ease than that in which a present is received and given.
-- Pamela Glenconner
Thursday, December 24, 1998
There is nothing so cozy as lying on the couch, looking out at the snow and watching the local storm coverage, when one doesn't have to go out for any reason! I indulged myself in this fashion this morning, while the several inches of snow that fell during the night turned to slush, then melted away.
I should have asked Jack to call me when he arrived at his parents' place, even if it was late at night. I'll presume that he got there safely, but I'm sure he had a tiring drive. If he'd followed his original plan he'd have been stuck in snow and freezing rain all the way there, and a five-hour drive would probably have lasted ten hours or more.
So I took today very easy, in part because of this dratted cold. A hot bath scented with rosemary, geranium, lavender, and other herbs of Provence was very soothing -- I added more hot water several times while soaking. Oh, and I wrapped the presents for my sister's family, doing a much neater job than other presents I'd wrapped recently. That's because I had adequate room, and they were all in neat, straight-sided boxes.
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By midafternoon the streets were merely wet, with a few patches of slush, so I had no qualms driving the mile or so to my sister M----'s house. We followed the same traditions as last Christmas Eve, walking the few blocks to church, participating in Mass with my older nephew J--- playing the part of a father of a homeless family in the Christmas pageant, then home for oyster stew.
I felt bad when I made my younger nephew cry. My sister had said that no more nuts should be cracked as she was serving up dinner, so I enforced this and took the nutcracker and bowl away from the table. B--- was so upset, he left the room and didn't come back for some minutes, weeping in the far corner of the family room. I wasn't wrong in what I did, but it was just too stressful for him, poor guy!
The only presents that are opened on Christmas Eve are the ones I'm giving, so that I can have the fun of seeing them opened. Again, I was the source of heartache for B----, since I gave each boy an arts and crafts kit, and it was too late at night to work on them right then. I must remember next year (but he'll be a year older then) to give a gift that can be played with right away! He got a kit where you mold your own super bouncing balls, and J--- got a kit to model and decorate crazy cars or rolling animals.
The family gift was a game I couldn't resist, good for all ages, I think! It's called Limbo, but not the bending over backwards under a bar version. This one has a velcro-tipped nose-thing, held on with elastic, and some wooden blocks, and a small piece of wood (the Limbo Bar) with the other part of the velcro on it. Players take turns bending down to pick up the small piece of wood, only touching the floor with their feet. You start with the Limbo Bar at the highest height, on top of all five blocks, then lower it each round until only one person can reach it. This was fun! I think you could make it easier for less-flexible adults by starting with the blocks on top of a box or stool.
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I was thinking about watching "A Christmas Carol" with George C. Scott. I have this on video, and like it very much, perhaps because I'm subconsciously connecting Scott as Scrooge, with Scott as Mr. Rochester, whom he played in a very good version of Jane Eyre. But I got caught up in a special presentation of NOVA -- three episodes about frozen or dessicated burials. Gruesome and not very seasonal, but interesting!
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