Twenty-eight

THE FIRST TOPIC OF DISCUSSION over Christmas Eve dinner was which church would have the best Christmas service on Sunday morning. We finally all agreed that the Lutheran church on the edge of town, would be our choice. They had an eleven o’clock service and no one wanted to get dressed before then.

Beth’s parents, Dot and David, joined us. David borrowed a banquet table and folding chairs from the Kiwanis Club so we’d have room for everyone, including Beth’s sister, Brenda. Brenda is four years older than we are and lives in Iowa. Her boyfriend, Scott, was supposed to drive in from St. Louis Sunday afternoon. That put seventeen at our table for Christmas Eve dinner.

The big meal for us is on Christmas Eve. We don’t have a special ‘Christmas Dinner.’ Mom figured out a long time ago that she didn’t want to cook and clean on Christmas. So, Christmas meals are pretty simple and depend on the leftovers from Christmas Eve. While Bree and I were in Omaha, Mom and Dot organized everyone into teams with some cooking at Beth’s house and some at ours. Dad and Jack had charge of the boys, who had built seven snowmen in the back yard, all about two feet high since that was all the snow we had. But the boys were so proud. They’d named each snowperson after someone in their family. Drew, Damon, Daddy, Mommy, Tony, Meddy, Kate.

“Tony, can you get more snow?” Damon asked me. “We didn’t make Grandpa Saul or Grandma Deb or Gramma Lexi.”

I said maybe Santa would bring some when he came tonight.

When we all finished the ham, turkey, pot roast, macaroni and cheese, salads, vegetables, potatoes, and six pies, we cleaned up the dining room and kitchen. With all of us helping, we had more trouble keeping out of each other’s way than cleaning up. We retired to the living room and it seemed like the packages under the tree had multiplied. They took up half the living room. I asked Dad if I could borrow his recliner. I had two books and settled the boys on my lap. Wendy—wearing a little knit cap—crawled into her place behind Drew and hugged me as I began reading The Berenstain Bears Save Christmas. When that was done, I pulled out a tattered copy of The Night Before Christmas. It was Mom’s book and was old the first time she read it to me.

“Now,” I said, “you all know the presents under the Christmas tree are gifts we give each other, right?” Drew and Damon gave a nod. Melody handed me my laptop open to the screen that I’d kept active. “Well, Santa comes on Christmas Eve, like the story said. According to NORAD, he’s currently in Greenland and headed our way. That means we’d better get to bed so we’re sound asleep when he gets here.”

“But Tony,” Damon asked, “where will Santa put presents?”

“He should go to someone else’s house,” Drew said.

“Drew, that’s a wonderful idea,” I said. “But even though he goes to all the houses he can, he still has something left for you. And in our house in Nebraska, Santa leaves his gifts in our stockings.”

“In our socks?” Drew asked.

“Sort of. I think Grandma Deb has something for you.”

Mom had been scrambling. As the guest list changed, she kept disappearing into her sewing room with Lexi. Allison was the last surprise guest and Mom left cleaning the kitchen to us as she ran there once more. Now she brought out a laundry basket filled with Christmas stockings. Each one had a person’s name embroidered on it and Mom handed them out to each of our guests. Dad knew, of course, so he’d strung a clothesline across the room in front of the fireplace. When you first looked at it, you could mistake it for just another garland since it had been decorated as much as everything else in the house.

I took the boys with me and held Damon while Jack held Drew as they hung their stockings from the clothes line right in the middle. All the other positions were haphazard. When we were done, there were stockings hung all the way across the room.

“Now, you’ve got to sleep fast so it will be morning,” I said. “Get your teeth brushed and let’s get you to bed.” The boys scrambled.

I turned around and my family—my chosen family—were gathered around me to give me a kiss. Kate just lightly brushed my lips with hers and whispered, “Merry Christmas, lover.” Lissa kissed me deeply and brushed her cheek against mine. “My boys are so lucky to have two wonderful dads,” she said. Melody almost crushed my lips beneath hers. She didn’t say anything, but clung to me, holding me tightly. I knew she must be feeling the loss of her father especially hard.

What surprised me though was that Wendy was across the room cuddled with my mom and dad on the sofa. Mom was holding her and rocking her back and forth. I was so glad we brought Wendy with us.

The filling of Christmas stockings is mystic. I’ve never figured out how it works, even after I started putting things in my parents’ stockings. We never seem to run into each other. Yet, during the night, the stockings get fuller and fuller. There are always the normal things—an orange, nuts, a chocolate bar, and pack of gum. Then there are the comic gifts like an egg of Silly Putty or an interlinking puzzle made out of two bent nails. Then there are sometimes precious items. The year after Grandpa Ames died, I got a tiny framed picture in my stocking. It was of Grandpa holding me as a baby in front of the old Oliver tractor. It had been on his nightstand as long as I could remember and now it was on my dresser.

I slipped out of bed about three in the morning. It wasn’t an easy task. There were seven girls in my bed and two of them were lying pretty much on top of me. One of those girls got up with me.

“You do the ones for the old folks and the boys,” Bree whispered. “I’ll get this room taken care of.”

I nodded and we started laying out all the robes and scarves in the hallway. I’d printed nametags before we went to bed. I took Jack’s and the boys’ robes into their room first and couldn’t help but stand and stare at the sleeping kids for a minute. I had kids and it was our first Christmas together. I almost lost it.

I quickly backed out of the room and grabbed Mom and Dad’s robe and Mom’s scarf and headed for their room. I left them at the foot of their bed and backed out. Lexi was on the far end of the hall in what was now Mom’s sewing room. I just opened the door slightly and slipped the scarf and robe inside her door.

There was noise coming from the den. I thought I heard voices. I couldn’t quite make it out. I debated for a minute about what to do and decided I had to find out if he was up and talking to someone or what. I looked in and saw the TV was on playing It’s a Wonderful Life. Sam was stretched out on the sofa, snoring a little. I went in and laid his robe on the arm of the sofa. When I heard Zuzu say “an angel got his wings,” I clicked the remote and turned the TV off. I made one last stop in the living room and left gifts in the boys’ stockings and in my girlfriends’. I noticed that all the stockings looked pretty full.