Zel-kun’s Words

A time for family and friends, and a time for sappy Christmas specials on TV.  I hope that whatever you celebrate, and whatever you believe in, you all at the very least had a pleasant time with the people you care about.

Christmas was good, spent Sunday with my mother, Christmas Eve working with a stop at Zai’s parent’s for dinner, and Christmas Day with my father.  Not really much to note, it is always good seeing the family.  Unlike every other year, my father’s family did not have a big get-together.  I have mixed feelings about this.

When I was little, my grandmother would have the whole family at her house.  I would get there in the morning, and watch as the basement filled up with people.  There would be toffee bars and crackers with spray-cheese, there was probably other food, but I didn’t notice that when I was a kid.  Christmas was the perfect opportunity to eat nothing but junk-food.

There were mountains of presents, everyone there had presents to open, turning the basement living room into a blizzard of discarded wrapping paper, each present better than the last.  There was the occasional clothing present in there, but toys were always the bulk.  And then there was always the big present I waited for every year, Leggos.

Every year, my grandmother would buy me a large set of Leggos.  Airports, harbors, space-shuttles, pneumatic cranes, I built them all.  I would grab the box and seal myself in the upstairs spare room for the rest of the evening, not resting until the pile of plastic became whatever building or vehicle it was meant to be.  The cool thing about this is that the small presents always led to the big present.  The year I got the airport, I had two or three smaller presents that were planes.  The year I got the harbor, there were some leggo boats, and so forth.

It was always the perfect Christmas.

Then my grandmother passed on, it was a crushing blow to the whole family.  I never really realized it, but she was the matriarch of our family.

Aftwards, my aunt Vicky took up the reigns of having Christmas.  It was fun and she always had lots of good food.  And at this point in my life, I actually ate something more than toffee and crackers, so I was able to appreciate the food more.  There were no presents, however, only the pleasure of spending time with your family.  Christmas had evolved much like I grew up, things became more mature and sophisticated.

Well… somewhat.  There was one year when my cousin went out to buy some beer, and came back covered in blood.  Turns out he got in a fight, though I can’t remember how it started, but during the course of the scuffle, he was hit in the head with a tire iron.  Fortunately, he wasn’t injured, just a cut.  But seeing a bloody cousin is a very surreal thing to see in the middle of a Christmas party.

This year we didn’t have a party.  Instead, we opened presents at my father’s house, and spent the rest of the day there watching television.  It was nice not to have to drive around, and it ended up being a very relaxing day.  It’s sad that we didn’t get together as a family, but there’s always the next cookout.

So, wishing you a Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Chaunukah… or whatever you celebrate…

Zel-kun out.