Monday, November 26, 2012

A Scrooge in the House

My mother is the sweetest person in the world until Christmas starts to come in the air.  Surprising though it may seem, Mother does not like Christmas.  While we had noticed Mom would sometimes seem a bit crankier than usual we only thought it was because we were underfoot due to our Christmas break from school.  We were adults before we were told that our sister Jill was born on Christmas Eve and therefore it was a bad time of year for her.
       All these years later Christmas is still not my mother’s favorite time of year and so it can be a real challenge to get into the spirit when she kyboshes everything.  Walking down the aisles in a store I am told that I don’t need any more ornaments, that I don’t’ need to look at tablecloths, candles, tinsel or what have you.  Christmas cards, perish the thought.  I found myself encouraging her to go look for prunes to stuff the ducks.   Don’t laugh, this really happened.  I felt like the mother with the cranky child.
       Today I put on the Christmas carols while we washed all our crystal and china and suffered through the criticism of Michael Buble’s singing (not up to Bing Crosby standard).  I found myself lurking in the family room, secretly setting out Danish elves and red table cloths while Mom had her nap.  If only there really was fairy dust that I could sprinkle in her eyes to cheer her up.
       Challenges await us at every corner but the good part is that as the day draws near and she has to start thinking about baking and cooking things start to smooth themselves out.  And then we can think about spring.

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