Hayter for December 17, 2023
“Tis the Season, Again”
Last Tuesday Kay and I got the idea to go to The Woodlands Mall. It had been a couple of decades since our last visit, so we decided to revisit our younger decades.
We
started at the east end of Dillard’s because that’s where the parking garage
was. It was the first we saw it, so I decided to try it out. It worked fine.
When we entered Dillard’s, Kay took a slow walk from one end of the store to
the exit at the west end. I was
pleasantly surprised that she didn’t take anything off the rack. It was
certainly not like our previous visits.
From
Dillard’s, we ended up walking from one end of the mall to the other, without
entering any store. I take that back. I never entered a store, but Kay had to
visit the store with the puppies and other critters. I never heard any monkey
noises, so they must’ve been out.
While Kay took a pet tour, I stayed over at Santa’s place. Mr. Claus looked just like he did the last time I saw him. However, in this case, there wasn’t a kid anywhere around. I felt so sorry for Santa. I thought to go sit on his lap. Thought about it for a nanosecond. The only person inside Santa Land was an elf standing by the entrance looking at a cell phone. I thought it would seem more realistic, had the elf been carving on a hockey stick.
It
was at that point, I realized that it was near noon on a Tuesday, and the
kiddos were at school. I saw a picture in the paper last week, where Santa
actually visited an elementary school. On this particular day, he was taking a
break.
I
don’t know at what age most kids manage to sit on Santa’s lap without crying. I
was 14. Actually, I never sat on Santa’s lap. Being the fifth of seven Hayter
kids, I had learned from the get-go that there was no Santa. My Christmas
wishes were always directed at Mom and Dad.
Later that week, I called two of my brothers, Larry and Dennis, just to see how things were going with them. I started off both conversations with the question, “Well, do you have your Christmas tree up yet?” They acted as if I asked if they still wore underwear briefs. Both of them told me that they hadn’t put up a tree in “I don’t know when!” I don’t know how long “I don’t know” is, but I was afraid to ask
It’s
a sign of something when you don’t care to put up a tree. I take it as a sign
that you don’t intend to have guests during the holidays. Mom put up a tree
each Christmas, which was nice because she had family over every Christmas of
her life.
I don’t think there’s anything legally wrong with a person refusing to put up a Christmas tree. People from where we went to church looked all over the scriptures to find out if we were supposed to celebrate Christmas, since no evidence pointed to Jesus being born on December 25th.
It was determined that it was religiously permitted to recognize the birth of Jesus on any day other than December 25. To do so would make others think that we thought Jesus was born on the 25th. We could buy gifts for people, but that was because of Santa Claus, not Jesus. My aunts always referred to “Christmas” as “Xmas”. Saying the word “Christmas” was sacrilege, and writing the word would win you an eternity in hell. Fortunately, we never visited Bristow, Oklahoma at Christmas.
If
it weren’t for Kay, we probably wouldn’t have a tree in our house this year. If
there is ever a Christmas in our house without a tree, it will be because Kay
ran off with Henry Cavill, aka Superman, aka, Geralt of Rivia. I
would hate the trouble of putting up, and double hate the trouble of taking it
down and then boxing up all the stuff. Fortunately, she told me that she would
never go with him… unless he asked. All I have to do is keep him out of
Conroe.
At
the moment, Kay has placed in the living room our four-foot artificial tree
atop a small table. She couldn’t find last year’s star, so I grabbed Santa’s
hat and put it on top. Kay really liked it! Her actual words were, “It’ll have
to do.”
This year, Jill is hosting Christmas at her house. Her invite was for “whoever wishes to come.” A third of the family so wishes. When Mom hosted Christmas, everyone showed up. Some even spent the night of Christmas Eve. We each provided a side dish, but Mom cooked turkey, dressing, rolls, corn, chicken & dumplings and sweet potatoes. Oh, and carrot salad with raisins in it! I never saw anyone eat that except Mom .
After lunch, Mom, the brothers and sisters, grandkids, and
some of the in-laws went outside to play two-below football. If it was raining,
we played tackle. We were quite the family. This year at Jill’s house, we’re having
hotdogs.
Next week, I hope to have another Christmas Short story for you. Till then, please order my Christmas short storybook from Amazon. It was published a couple of years back. It’s called “Christmas Storybook Stories: A Collection by Mark Hayter”. -- And, don’t pass up, “The Summer of ‘76”. It’s, like, much warmer than Christmas. – Next time.
end
No comments:
Post a Comment