Dec. 25, 2003 - 20:01 MST

THE WONDERING JEW

Spinning Down

Its been a sizeable, busy, happy Christmas Day for Heather and I. First off, up an hour earlier than usual and the hurry to do what had to be done. Then a bit of respite and coffee and back at it again. We did finish in time to shower and neaten up before our first visitor came.

Our youngest son came early to see if we needed help and found us shipshape. Later he helped put the snacks on the table. His daughter, her husband and their two babies appeared a little later. Oh, how I can see myself in their oldest, his actions and reactions mirror mine when I was young. Poor boy, a lot to learn, bruises and scrapes coming and momentary defeats -- yet enjoying life greatly. Chewing snacks and the fat, everybody snapping pictures of each other and the babies. They brought gifts and received some.

Guess I should get the word out to the kids and grandchildren -- we already have enough coffee mugs to start a coffee house, "Mismatched coffee in mismatched mugs." Shoot I'm too lazy to learn to be a barista, I have a time putting together a Mocha for myself and don't think I could wait on many customers a day. But the mugs were nice, very nice. Two with Norman Rockwell reproductions and one with a picture of an old fashioned Christmas.

We were enjoying ourselves to the max but I happened to notice what time it was. I went down to the elevator lobby in the basement, found a small grocery cart and gently wheeled it into our apartment, tucked it in an out of the way corner and resumed sipping coffee and talking. Not too long after that the littlest baby began to fuss and was changed, bottled and snugged up in his carrier. Not long after that grand daughter and her family left to do other visiting.

Our son took some of the stuff we had to take over for the feast, Heather and I loaded the grocery cart, went down and loaded it into the car and took off for another grand daughter's house for the family gathering. Five minutes late isn't all that bad and dinner was still in its formative stage, just right timing on our part, it was.

We had picked up our daughter who lives in an assisted living home and took her with us. So today we had two sons, two daughters there. Also a group of grands and great grands who were playing in the rec room down stairs so we supposedly grown ups could converse in relative peace and quiet. The only progeny of ours not present was our daughter who lives in Oregon and her family.

It was a super grand day, presents exchanged and opened. Everybody had a camera, a couple of digital, a few disposable and a good one or two -- the proceedings punctuated by flashes of camera light flashing. Good natured banter back and forth over what each of us received. I managed to get one on one with each person there today, in a quiet corner and have nice conversation that I could hear adeqately. That made my Christmas right there. But the thing that was absolutely priceless to me was to see our progeny and theirs and theirs clustering around Grandma Heather. She was in her glory.

A little different than our usual mode, Heather and I stayed and visited, each family group headed out for their homes little by little. Finally it was just us and grand daughter and her husband. With things they needed to do yet. Our offer to help was refused, gently but with the idea that grandma and I were not allowed to do any of the cleanup. It was time for us to go home.

Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas for sure is family time and occasionally a picnic in the park in the summer. Birthdays are not always celebrated on the exact day they happen, but when the working members can find a common Saturday or Sunday they are off, the celebration happens. Sometimes birthdays that occur close to each other are celebrated jointly. One of our grandsons was born on Heather's birthday -- naturally that is celebrated with a bang. Middle daughter has a birthday the 28th of December, so this coming Sunday we will see most of the same group of relatives there.

Things like this are what makes winter livable for me. Spots of euphoria amongst the cold and snowflakes, spaced just about right too.

My Mom and Dad had a word of description for me when I had a day like today, "He sure is all wound up." Good description - - I came home all wound up and happy and like a machine that just had the power shut off, I am now Spinning Down . . . . . . . . .

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