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We arrived at Iris, Jason, Claire, and Maya’s house after way too many hours in the car. We were hungry and grumpy, but as we walked up to the house we could hear the kids shout, “They’re here, they’re here,” over and over again. The door opened and my nieces crowded around, shouting and jumping up and down for hugs and kisses. All the frustration from driving melted away replaced with the feeling of Christmas spirit. The kids were dying to open the presents. They had already been allowed to open a couple to control the chaos. Iris got us started on some food, so Josh and I fed our faces as fast as we could so the girls could rip into their loot. When we finished, a maddened frenzy of ripping and tearing of presents ensued for a few minutes. Then the adults took turns opening their Secret Santa gifts. I was lucky enough to be Josh’s Santa, so I got to buy him ski gear. I was super excited Jason got me the camera I wanted, especially since we (by that, I mean Josh) had left the memory card to the old one at home. I didn’t even want to wait for it it to charge!

Next we ate a wonderful dinner with all the fixings; Iris really out did herself. I loved the glazed ham. Iris wisked away the plates once the nibbling and talking died down. We then headed to the fireplace to break open our stockings (we upgraded to decorated grocery bags since we had so much loot). Muff got the best gift; Mom made Muff a scrapbook of her and Rick. I got mostly scrapbook stuff, an 8gb memory card, chico bags, energy saving light bulbs, a necklace, and the list goes on. Mostly I was playing with my camera that now had a little bit of charge. After everyone tired of showing off their gifts, the girls began their ritualized attacking of Josh while the rest of us looked on in amusement (I had to rescue his glasses). The girls were finally distracted with decorating gingerbread houses that Iris made. I think they shoved more decorations in their mouth than onto the houses. Next they set up cookies and milk for the big guy. Then we read to them, tucked them in with kisses and hugs, and sent them to bed so we could talk into the night.

I found myself crying at work the other day.

Okay, maybe “crying” is a little too strong a word, as there were no noises aside from sniffles. Probably more of a “puddling up”, though one tear did break the horizon of my eyelid and start a solitary journey down my cheek before being abruptly halted by the back of my hand which, at that point, was dirty from handling boxes, leaving a bit of a smudge just under my glasses.

I didn’t really process what had come over me at the time. As you probably know, I now provide stock replenishment services on the overnight shift at Target, so my melancholy was not brought on by the stress of dealing with customers. I’ve been doing reasonably well at my job and am thankful to be employed, so it wasn’t a despondency or a feeling of despair. I feel that, setbacks aside, my life is going wonderfully and I have much to be thankful for.

keep reading “The Real Christmas”