christmas actually

Christmas of 1911.  A little boy in Asheville woke early on Christmas morning and rushed the the fireplace to see what Santa had left in his stocking.  In the night his parents had filled it with two coins, three pieces of candy and a little toy fish.  But little Emmett had hung up one of his socks with a hole in the toe.  The fish fell to the floor in the night, and when he got the fireplace, Emmett's cat had chewed the fish in half.


A few years later, Emmett woke up to a snowy Christmas.  He and a friend grabbed their sleds and headed to a nearby hill.  The boys flew down the icy hill and couldn't stop before they crossed the road and slid under a bobbed wire fence.  Emmett's hand flew up to protect his face and the barbed wire sliced his right hand.  His mother dosed it with karosene and wrapped it up.  His father snapped "how are you going to keep up with the milking?"  Emmett assured his dad that he would do all his milking with one hand even if it took him twice as long.  Which that seven year old boy did twice a day until his hand healed up completely.


Those are the two Christmas memories from the last 103 years that came to Emmett's mind during his life review.  My memories from this year are easier.   A fun week with my parents and family.  A lunch party with my coworkers. A festive and Christ filled church service.  My dad, back in the role of Santa, starting Christmas Eve with little bags of our favorite candy and darling animal ornaments for the tree.  My mom's delicious enchiladas on Christmas Eve and Gfree meatballs for Christmas dinner, and the beautiful outfit she picked out for me, that I wore, eating her yummy food. I will never forget Josh's face when he got an Atlanta Hawks jersey from his auntie Jenn, or Jake's face when he opened his 3DS.  I kept cozy in the cold night by holding Steve's hand and singing our last Christmas carols in the car with the boys.  And ending Christmas with my annual viewing of Love Actually, this year with my in laws and kitty, in front of the fire place.


Love Actually opens with these words.  "Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often, it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. .. If you look for it, I've got a sneaking suspicion... love actually is all around."


Merry Christmas!