I’m having a great time in D.C. repairing with la familia. They’re having an unusually warm Christmas, high 40s/low 50s, a spot of rain here and there. So much for the snow I always relish.
My mother still hasn’t fully recovered from her catastrophic illness earlier this year, so instead of hauling her to my dad’s place for Christmas, like we did last year, dad, Audrey, and I took Christmas to her in the nursing home. It all worked fine. It’s not as warm and toasty in her room as it is in my dad’s house, but we adjusted well.
Laughing and eating with my parents and sister is a joy I never take for granted. I’m keenly aware that such pleasure and comfort won’t always be available to me. My sister and I, now 35 and 40, respectively, have no kids, so the current of familial love upward to our parents is stronger than it would be if we were channeling that love down to the next gen. In some ways, it’s like an eternal childhood, but the kids have cellulite and gray hair.
OK, OK, enough with the warm and toasties. What about the gifts?
Thought you’d never ask.
My sister got some tools and gift certificates to apply toward her home makeover project. She got some cash. Best of all, she got some shoes (high five!). My dad got a Best Buy gift certificate to stoke his completely unacceptable fascination with high-tech gadgetry. I look down on his fetish…not. He also got a camera bag and a telefoto lens for his digital camera. Momma got some shoes and socks and stoles and other stuff old diabetic ladies get. Santa brought me a beautiful edition of Alex Ross’ exhaustive work for DC Comics. The complete Godfather series and Apocalypse Now on DVD. And because I have absolutely no problem buying myself Christmas presents, I also ended up with a trick pair of Born shoes and a kickass new Olympus digital camera. Everybody’s a winner!