So around 4a.m. I got out of bed and un-hid the hidden. As soon as I finished and got back into bed, I heard steps again. Oh well, it's Christmas! I think we were all up before 7. As soon as I got the coffee ready the kids dug into their stockings. They all had a pair of slippers in them, how about that? Santa is such a practical guy!
After all the presents were unwrapped I made breakfast and we all got ready for a rare Christmas day road trip. But before we left, we buried Erwin in the backyard.
A little after noon we were on the road to my mom's. It's about a two hour drive door to door. Renee pulled up at the same time we did and I was so glad to see her. Inside, my mom was busy cooking dinner for us all. It was delicious! Prime rib perfectly cooked with green beans, mashed potatoes, and other wonderful things. We drank good wine and laughed a lot.
Shawn had brought in a very large wrapped box for my parents. My mom didn't like it because she also had a gift for Shawn and it was a box of golf balls. That big box made her nervous. It was a fire pit, a really nice gift. Even though it was raining wildly, it was decided that we needed to put it together and build a Christmas fire outside. Jim, Shawn, and Tony put it together while Jimmy and Renee ran off to the store to get a Duraflame. Before long we had a small flame and because it just wasn't big enough, a few more logs were added. Someone decided that turning on the fan directly above the fire was a good idea and in a flash we had a giant bonfire! It was ridiculously and dangerously roaring under the awning.
What happened next was not panic, but hysterics. I was documenting with my camera what I hoped would not turn into a tragedy as everyone had an opinion about how to deal with the crisis. In the end the hose and the shovel were enlisted to solve the urgent problem, Jimmy burned a few fingers but no one was seriously hurt.
We all sat around the newly manageable fire, listening to the rain and talking, relieved that the chaos of the inferno was only a memory. My mom hugged Shawn and thanked him for the memorable gift and that was that. We stayed up and watched a movie before calling it another Christmas.
December 26
We made breakfast in the morning. Then we watched the second half of Close Encounters of the Third Kind before packing up and heading for Sacramento. My parents went too and we had lunch at Chevy's on Garden Highway. After watching another group celebrate a birthday, Emily had the idea to tell them that it was Tony's birthday [week] so we did that too! We said thank you and goodbye to my folks and made a beeline for home.
At mass that night Father Salvador talked about gifts. Somewhere in his homily he said, "other peoples kindness to us is a gift from God." I truly believe this, and I have felt it so strongly this month in all kinds of places and in all kinds of ways.
That's it for my December story, the last week of the month wasn't noteworthy at all, extremely mudane and wonderful[-y chaotic].
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