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loot and ornaments

I woke this morning out of a disturbing dream. I'd been dreaming of an interpretive dance (about me) performed by naked video game characters. Too weird. I think I woke just to make it go away.

So I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was 10:00am.

10:00 AM???

My dad was supposed to call me! He forgot! How could he forget his oldest daughter? I scrambled out of bed and grabbed the phone.

It turns out they hadn't forgotten about me. Neither of my sisters was up yet. I got dressed and drove over.

I got my Dad a Penguins jacket (he liked), and my mom a bread machine cookbook and some Legos (she also liked.) "Santa" also got Jaws a little kitty stocking. Mom knows she's never gonna get grandkids out of me, so she has to be content with spoiling the grandcat. (Jaws likes.)

And WOW did I clean up this year! grin

• Socks. Neat ones. One pair has velociraptors all over them.
  
  
• Crock pot. Min and I sometimes get matching gifts, and we both got one of these. Maybe I'll get some stew meat this week and try it out.
  
  
• Indoor grill. Or, more specifically, George Foreman's Lean Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine. Min also got one. We are really psyched about these, because we love that infomercial. I mean, it Knocks the Fat Out! It's got a floating hinge! It's got a fat catcher, and a fat scraper! What isn't there to love about this thing?
  
  
• Vacuum cleaner. I have a vacuum cleaner, but it has seen better days. My parents bought it when I was just a lil' knee-biter, and when they bought a new one it was relegated to be the "extra" vacuum for the upstairs rooms. Then when I moved out, I inherited it. But this poor thing... It just can't deal with Jaws' hair. It chokes. It does fine on other stuff, but it just can't get up the fur. So the new vacuum is greatly appreciated.
  
  
• Star Wars figures. That is, original Star Wars figures. A few months ago I was discussing my bitterness (see sidebar) with my mother. She apologized profusely, but... Well, I love my parents, but this is one thing I just can't totally forgive them for. Anyway, she "happened" upon some Star Wars figures and got them for me. I got Luke, Darth Vader, Han Solo, Leia, C3P0, R2D2, Lando, and Chewie. None of them are in as good of shape as mine were, of course, but I still love them. I know Mom was trying to make me feel better. She succeeded.

After the excitement about presents died down, we watched Evita like Min had been whining about yesterday. It was okay. I'm glad I didn't pay money to see it in the theatre, though.

I got a bit bored during the movie and started staring at the Christmas tree. My parents had to go to a fake tree a few years ago, because my Mom's allergies couldn't handle the mold and stuff that came in with a real tree. The tree was festooned in the familiar ornaments that they put on the tree every year, and I found myself examining some of them.

Ornaments are memories in my family.

I can never understand people who buy "blah" ornaments and throw them on the tree so that the ornaments are all coordinated. You've seen those "theme" trees in the stores - all gold or silver ornaments, or everything has Santa on it. I've actually seen trees like that in people's homes.

Why?? Don't these people like to celebrate their families' histories? Every ornament on my parents' tree has a story.

There are the really old ornaments. Ancient ones that I think should be displayed all year round. A little red glass ginger house. Tiny bugles that used to play when you blew in them, but the noisemaker inside them broke before my parents were born. A glass Santa - very old. Lots of old glass balls, still in their original boxes. The price tag on one box of twenty balls says "5 cents."

There are ornaments from my parents' childhood. A paper and cotton Santa head that my Dad made in elementary school. A fig husk and cotton snow scene that my Mom made when she was little. Birds with real feathers - a rooster, an owl, a quail, two doves, and some birds sitting on nests. Elves and stars that hung on their trees when they were small.

There are ornaments from my parents' first Christmas together. They were very poor, and didn't have any money to buy ornaments. So my Mom made ornaments out of thread spools and beads. She also made snowflakes out of plastic mesh and yarn, and a bird out of flowered dress linen scraps from a dress she made. They hung on a pine branch that my Dad pulled off a tree and stood upright in a pot.

There are ornaments from my childhood. I scraped together a few dollars and bought a silly looking bear with lederhosen for my Mom when I was eight. My sister made a snowman out of cotton balls and beads. There are ornaments that have pictures of us when we were little. I was a geeky-looking kid.

There are other ornaments, too, which have special meaning to us. My Mom made Romeo and Juliet dolls for Min. She made Keats and Shelly and Byron dolls for herself.

She also made the tree toppers. There are three dolls, all dressed in long flowing white gowns. One has long auburn hair. That's Lil Sis. One has long brown hair and a fluffy muff for her hands. That's Min. One has long blonde hair and a Santa Lucia crown (pine boughs and candles). That's me.

I feel genuinely sorry for people who look at their color-coordinated trees, people who are only happy that all the decorations match. Our tree is a mish-mash of colors and materials. The tree holds the story of our family, which is something that we can't buy at a department store.

It's priceless.

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