Kathy and I have different memories of Santa Claus as kids ourselves. I remember a handful of Christmases where I really wanted something, waking up in the morning, and seeing
some or all of them around the fireplace. Cookies reduced to crumbles. Milk glass drained. A house that was bereft of toys and Christmas energy, after a night's sleep, had been transformed. I remember it as a magical, beneficial childhood experience.With that, we played up Santa to the hilt with Kole this year. For three or four weeks leading up, St. Nick and an army of CIA-trained elves were watching with arms folded and a tapping foot making sure he was being nice, and was not too tolerable of naughty behavior. Not sure how much it helped, but it was a useful tool every now and then to straighten him up for a bit. Really, at 3-and-1/2, Kole still wasn't sure what he wanted for Christmas beyond "toys". We still have a challenge of rotating toys he currently has, since he quickly bores of them, plus he has access to all of Karissa's toys, which he gleefully takes ownership of.
Christmas festivities began two weeks ago with my mom's family at our house. Mom and Pa Gedy, aunt Doris, Kelley and Kelly and the girls were in from Midland, newlyweds Shanna and Paul, Ben and girlfriend Stephanie. I wish there was more of this event that I could write about. Again, I'll be writing at the end of the year about a large physical transformation I've gone under this year, losing 60-plus pounds. Suffice to say, I can count the number of spirited beverages I've had since July on both hands. I have become a lighweight. So, it didn't take too many Sangria wines to promptly knock me on my kiester. I was having a great time, then things got a little foggy and the next thing I know I was being led to bed. In hindsight, there's nothing more embarrassing or idiotic than not having control of oneself. It's really not that hard. So, I feel like a jackass after all of that, but we did have a great time together. Kole got to see his cousins Riley and Reagan, which happens few and far between now, and that's what I was happiest about. They are his only cousins, and unless a small miracle happens from Kathy's brother or sister, they will be his and Karissa's only cousins. I hope their relationship together is as strong and meaningful as Kelley and I had with our cousins growing up.
We had a Chinese gift exchange, but the more interesting gift was one we collectively gave to a family in need. At Thanksgiving, everyone gave at least $20. Some gave more. The hope was to give that gift collectively to a family who probably wouldn't have a Christmas otherwise. Through our church, I was led to Austin Elementary in Grand Prairie, where I was led to our helpful angel, school counselor Tonya. She extends herself every year beyond what the GPISD is paying her to know who in her school needs help, then brokers families like ours towards them. I did the leg work with Tonya in finding a family of four kids, ages 11 to 5, three girls and a boy the youngest. The dad works two jobs. Mom is out of the picture. An aunt watches the kids wile dad works a night job. Grandpa also lives at the home but apparently isn't much help. That's the sketch I was given. The kids are all qualified for a government assistance for breakfast and lunch at the school, and all are on the receiving end of an annual coat drive that our church orchestrates each year. This was a family we were looking for and we were able to provide them with $300 in Wal-Mart gift cards, to be spent on Christmas or whatever they needed. Kathy and the kids and I went up and met the family and the dad, Roy. Everyone was thankful. It's something I hope we do every year and I hope our kids learn to appreciate.
Next was Kathy's family on Christmas Eve - Grandma, Uncle Dewayne, Aunt Dawnell and her husband John. We again had everyone at our house, ordered pizzas, exchanged gifts and played Taboo. Mostly it was watching Kole and Karissa open and enjoy their gifts. Dwayne got Kole a Hot Wheels race track, one that electronically can keep the car going on a conti
nuous loop, over and over and over again. At one point Kole was standing, holding his tinkle gear, doing a small dance. We asked him if he had to go pee-pee. Yes, he had to pee-pee. We told him to go pee-pee in the potty. He then expressed concern for leaving his racetrack and didn't want Karissa interfering with it. We assured him that we would keep Karissa away and he could safely vacate his track and not have to worry about it. Kole still showed hesitation at leaving. Then, he lowered his pants and underwear to his ankles, still standing at the track behind our sofa in the living room. He then inched away from the track, then turned it into a full sprint - or as fast as 3-year-old legs can go with pants and underwear shackling his ankles. He disappeared into the loo, reappeared 17 seconds later, and was on a desperate sprint back to the track - where he then, and only then, was able to safely pull up his pants and resume watching his Hot Wheels go round and around. Karissa was given great toys, but had just as much fun in the trash, walking through and throwing around the bits and scraps of wrapping and tissue paper.Taboo was boys against girls and the boys won. We all had a great time together, but it was Christmas Eve and we had kept Kole from napping so he may crash on the night we were expecting Santa. It kinda backfired. Kole was punchy by 9:00, tired to the point of being a little delirious. We got Karissa off to bed and she was asleep in no time. God bless her. With all the challenges that Kole can be surrounding sleep, Karissa snoozes away almost on command and stays in good spirit through the day. Kole got then put out the chocolate chip cookies and milk for Santa. We moved our fireplace guard. Karissa
can't have access to the fireplace or else she'll try to eat the lava rocks. So, we keep a piece of cardboard duct-taped to it. That was removed on Christmas eve night, and you could tell Kole was still a bit curious about everything but excited. I'll attach the picture here of our attempted pose of Kole and Karissa in front of Santa's cookies and milk. Karissa was not prepared to understand that cookies just sitting out on a table were not for her, and pushing them further away from her just to take a picture was as good as eating it in front of her face with a smile. She burst into tears and made several failed attempts to scramble onto the table for the cookies.It took Kole a while to cooperate and fall asleep, but Kathy and I eventually got the presents out and set up. It's something I'll have a fond memory of. It's the first time I've been a part of something like this for our kids, and knowing my memories of Christmas, it was especially eventful. This year, Santa brought gifts for all of us. Wrapped Christmas presents weren't going to last very long under the tree any earlier because of Karissa's easy access and stealthy curiosity, so the tree was bare underneath up until this point. In fact, because of the same curious little girl, the tree itself sort of had a noticeable equator where the main decorations were in the northern hemisphere, while the southern hemisphere was sans the glass balls and decorative ornaments. Christmas will be an evolving process, but this year all the presents came on Christmas eve when the kids hit the hay, all wrapped.
On Christmas morning, we got Kole up around 7:15. He walked to the living room bleary-eyed and stumbling. But, he quickly caught the enormity of the scene. His first reaction was to look around, left and right for Santa. We had to inform him that Santa had already left and was now safely back at the North Pole. Kole continued to take in the sight of the presents. And his eyes kept going back to the plate of cookies, now a plate of crumbs and milk glass empty. He smiled and contained his bewilderment. It was official: Santa Claus is not some harmful lie. It's a great theater of make believe, it's traditional and cultural, and it's fun for the parents too. Soon enough, Karissa was awaken and she joined the fun. Presents were opened and a litter box of wrapping paper was quickly established in the floor. Later in the day we went to my dad and Kay's, where Alison and Mike and his kids plus Kay's niece and husband were there. A traditional turkey dinner was served and there was seemingly a desert for every side dish. The kids destroyed presents and we all had a great time. But that, like so much of Christmas Day, seems like a sad anticlimactic ending to at least a two, sometimes a three, often a four-week build up. I was fortunate that going back to Thanksgiving, I saw all of my family and first cousins with the exception of cousin Jason, a missionary doctor in the African country of Mali.
Without singling out any one gift, everyone got something they wanted for Christmas, and then some. We got and we gave, we spent quality time with loved ones, we snapped more pictures than a Japanese tourist, we helped a family in need, we watched "Elf" no fewer than 10 times (that's not sarcastic), we acknowledged Christmas as a celebration of Christ's birth, we ate like we were on vacation and some of us drank like a college kid at Spring Break. It was a very, very Merry Christmas for the Fletchers in 2011.
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