Owing to a typical family situation, it isn’t possible for everyone to gather in one place on Christmas day. Families have branches and extensions and some broken branches. The world is a hectic place and traffic has only gotten worse.
What does all this mean? It means that I had one of my Christmases on Sunday. Three days before Christmas is quite good as I can recall having celebrated a full two weeks before the date. However, since they start playing Christmas music and decorating the mall from Halloween (or before) it wasn’t as hard as you think to get in the mood.
If you read about my problems with Canada Post, please rest assured that I got replacement gifts for almost everything that wasn’t delivered. In fact, I bought most of the same stuff at the Indigo Bookstore on a weekend that saw me get a twenty percent discount on prices that were almost as good as Amazon’s to begin with. I think we will call that a win.
I was most excited to give my gifts to my youngest nephews and niece. I bought them bottle rocket kits and a dexterity puzzle. I also grabbed some kinetic sand to replace the slime that wasn’t delivered. Probably just as good. They seemed to like it, but were somewhat more excited about the colouring books that I picked up at the dollar store.
It would be hard to pick out the Perfect Moment from all of that, but some contenders include:
- my nephew calling his dad (my brother) and “old cranky man.”
- my sister taking a sip of scotch and grimacing as it burned its way down her throat
- hearing an older nephew explain why his tattoo was a better investment than keeping his car in running shape.
- having my girlfriend with me. We had just started dating last year and I didn’t want to subject her to the chaos of family Christmas, lest I scared her off. Now, all bets are off.
- outsmarting my girlfriend by knowing the difference between lunch, supper, and dinner–and having the Oxford dictionary back me up.
- listening to my father rail against the Amazon’s of the world and how they would be the death of retail stores.
- tasting a different take on nanaimo bars–I am not too clear on it, but I think mint was involved
- giving my sister a collection of Roald Dahl books and noting that everyone had read James and the Giant Peach as well as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
- having the first turkey dinner since Canadian Thanksgiving in October
- talking hockey and Don Cherry
- wondering why my Dad’s Christmas tree looked worse than the one from the Charlie Brown Christmas
- eating on time–this is an inside family joke
An Archive of Perfect Moments 