Home for the holidays

11 days off. Christmas Eve with family in my hometown, then an hour drive back home that night.

The lowlights of my time off are shaping up to be a trip to the Liberty Bowl to watch Vandy-Cincy on Dec. 31, with KC & the Sunshine Band as halftime show, and a long-scheduled prostate exam and physical next Tuesday.

Suddenly, the prostate exam isn't look so bad.

 

HC & I and two of my three boys will be heading off to my sister's place for dinner in Burlington, about half hour drive from our place.

We're both off until January 3 so we're heading off to Elora, Ontario to spend a couple of days in the country courtesy of my brother.

 

Ever since we had kids we told out-of-town family, "You want to see us, you know where we are..."

Best decision we ever made.

 

I traveled so much in my job over the winter that I refused to travel over the holidays. We have hosted here for many years, the door is open to anyone in the fam who wants to come.

We'll have the in-laws, my mother and one of my brothers (who split up with his wife this year) and his two kids and I am sure a good time will be had by all.

 

Well, I've been working six days a week - they keep asking and I keep accepting - since Thanksgiving and that will continue through Dec. 26 before the first span of more than two days off since July. But it's all pretty good.

I'm back where I need to be, in an area that was more comfortable to me after days than the last two destinations were at any point. Last year, I had no idea what my future held, I didn't like where I was and then, for good measure, someone we had been trying to help for years dropped on the floor and his heart stopped for a while. Spent the next few days, including Christmas, in touch-and-go mode. Not a lot of fun.

So there's plenty to appreciate, by comparison, this year. People have their stuff from me, and I have one gift that was nice and completely unexpected with another unopened and waiting for the holiday. And I'm a loner anyway ... those of you who know me at just about any level will never mistake me for life of the party. Quiet and peaceful works well here.

 

I haven't been home for Christmas in three decades. Home is where I grew up; my parents live in a town my dad got transferred to six months after I got out of college.
haven't celebrated Christmas with my family since ... hell, I don't know when. I worked for years for a boss that would always take Christmas off -- I was No. 2 in seniority in the whole newsroom -- behind him. One year, I implored to take Christmas off to go home. The insufferable prick said no. He was going to take the two weeks off -- living in the same house as mommy and daddy.
I settled for Thanksgiving and that was always my Christmas since then.
I miss my parents' tree, I miss the comfort, I miss the fun. My sister moved back home with her two kids and away from my brother in law, the tinfoil hat Catholic -- the guy that tells my painfully Catholic mother she's not of the true faith. Part of me wishes I was there; my sister's presence makes me glad I;m not.
Coelestem pacem hominibus.

 

Since 1996, I've spent, I think, three Christmases with my family. (I remember two, padding it just in case.)

This year, I'm farther away than I've ever been, including the Peace Corps years. Just doesn't bother me a bit. I can read Luke 2 alone. Everyone else, for the first time in years, is going to my parents'. I'll try to Skype after work on Sunday, but I'm not counting on catching anyone.

 

So looking forward to going to mom's in the morning, or after a bit of sleep, if just for the break in routine for a few days. Back Tuesday for the resumption of the daily headache. Not sure what to expect, we haven't done the big family thing in years. Maybe fall into a food coma and end up watching a lot of "A Christmas Story" or, God help us, the NBA.

 

Mr. Rosie's back is in too poor shape for us to travel. (Thanks, idiot who ran the stop sign this summer and slammed into the side of our truck, totaling it and making his bad back even worse.)

While we may have been sentenced to a quiet Christmas this year, there's still much to be thankful for. Two totaled vehicles in four months - neither our fault - and nobody died, nobody's a vegetable, nobody's in a wheelchair.

So we're praying for safe travels for everyone, including our kids who will be making the travels today and tomorrow without us.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

 

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