In light of the recent tragedies getting a lot of people shaken up, I'm thinking that it's time we try to lighten up. I'm not saying to just forget this, but let's not let the actions of a few people cause us to forget what's good about the season.
To this end I'm opening up my blog to stories of our fondest and most favorite memories of Christmases past.
I'll start off.
It was the Christmas of 2004 and Kier and I were spending Christmas away from our families trying to get this trailer that her (soon to be ex-) husband had left in a state of disrepair. We needed to get it back to marketable condition so we could finally sell the darn thing.
While we were doing this, the both of us were working at Smith's Medical and we were working the 3pm-11pm shift. Living as we were from week to week we had to budget ahead for Christmas and in order to clear the funds to buy each other presents we were paying off bills off as early as we could. It was hard and the food was a bit stingy that month but we made it.
We got paid on Thursday the 23'rd (at least that was when the direct deposit hit the bank) and we had finished our shift. We went to the 24-hour Walmart in Claremont NH about an hour from where we lived in Keene.
And this is the part that makes this a fond and favorite memory. Here it is the morning before Christmas Eve and and we both grab carts and split up. We're running around the place trying to avoid each other, throwing our coats over the cart of swag to hide each other's presents from prying eyes, enjoying the amused looks of the store clerks watching out antics. We were tear-assing all over that store, hitting departments at random to throw off the scent of what we were really looking at giving to each other, hitting others with guerilla-like stealth and tactics to get what we were buying before the other could see.
Two hours and $300 later (I think we had budgeted $150 each) we finally drove home and smuggled the presents into the house where we once again split up and wrapped presents like mad. Which was really funny since we were going to open some on Christmas Eve (some 18 hours later) and the rest on Christmas Morning (26 hours later) so many would argue "Why bother?"
But that's my fondest Christmas memory. Two silly people in love running around the store like a couple of kids with Grandma's Christmas Card money in hand and the attention spans of hummingbirds on speed.
So folks, share a story in the comments section and share this to all your friends and family. Let's remind ourselves that Christmas (or whatever you celebrate - I'm open to them all) is coming and let's try to remind ourselves of happier times in an attempt to bring some joy and cheer.
How could you be so tasteless as to post something like when kids are dying? This is not a time to be celebrating! You should be think of all the poor people who are suffering instead of trying to play June Cleaver and pretend that awful stuff like this doesn't happen.
ReplyDeleteYou heartless asshole!
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DeleteWe know awful stuff happens and this was a horrible act by a crazy-man. Alex posted a happy Christmas memory in his blog. It was sweet. He was trying to do something nice and to remind us about good things in the world. It is Christmas time whether you like it or not.
DeleteALSO
You are a fucking coward chicken shit who chose to post anonymously. Be honest tell us who you are. So I can put a name to the person. So I know who to direct my hate, anger and nonchristmasy feelings towards.
YOU FUCK TARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Signed
Kier Kenlon
Okay, first off, horrific things happen every day. Murders are committed every single day (4 more gun deaths in the US just the weekend after the Newtown massacre alone). If we can never celebrate anything in the wake of a tragedy, we need to cancel Christmas this year and every year, and never do anything again but mourn. Except, you know, people can't function like that.
DeleteSecondly, endless reliving and replaying of tragic events is actually the worst thing you can do with grief. People *need* distractions to cope with tragedy.
Third, I assume that you haven't done anything entertaining or selfish since the shooting. You've been volunteering full-time at a grief counseling hotline or bringing therapy dogs to the affected kids, right? No?
Fourth, wow you're being an asshole.
Another sh*t and run by a coward hiding behind the anonymous tag. Color me surprised. What part of "I'm not saying to just forget this, but let's not let the actions of a few people cause us to forget what's good about the season." do you not comprehend? There was a horrible tragedy. Alex is trying to help others get past with warm fuzzy memories.
ReplyDeleteMy best memory is that year my mom went overboard with the baking and baked cookies...4 doz of oatmeal/raisin...4 doz of thumbprint...4 doz of chocolate chip...4 doz of peanut butter...4 doz of sugar...4 doz of the kind that come out of a cookie press...4 doz of the kind with the hershey's kiss inside...and there were several others that I can't recall. For some reason, she went crazy with the baking that year. But I didn't mind since she was a genius in the kitchen. =)
The ones that came out of the cookie press are Spritz. I need to get a new cookie press and make a batch this year.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wilton.com/idea/Classic-Spritz-Cookies
@Anonymous...It's a cowards act to hide behind "anonymous"...and I lump you with the other cowards like the ones who shoot children or shoot those trying to protect them. Don't want to be lumped with that coward?, then come out from behind your "anonymous" tag.
ReplyDeleteMost of my Christmas memories are fairly generic, opening presents Christmas morning, spending time with family, etc.
ReplyDeleteFor me the one thing that stands out looking back over my Christmases was that over a twenty-year naval career, deploying all over the Pacific Ocean, was that I was exceptionally lucky to have never missed a Christmas. The closest I came was my deployment in 1990, when we pulled in to our homeport all of a week before Christmas. In fact, the only Christmas I ever had to spend away from my wife and kids was the first one *after* I retired from the Navy, when I had moved to Maryland to take my first civilian job, and Bobbi and the kids were still in California.
@James...when my husband was in the MC, they always seemed to deploy right after Thanksgiving and seemed to get back the week before Christmas. I often wondered if this was deliberate so they didn't have to do any of the Christmas shopping or decorating. =D The only holiday he missed regularly was Easter.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little, my parents didn't want us to believe in Santa. We always knew that Santa was really them. One year when I was either 10 or 11, I wanted to make my parents believe. I bought myself a little toy puppy and put it in my stocking. I was very amused while my parents were very bewildered about where it came from, but I could not convince them that Santa was real.
ReplyDelete