The Twelfth Day of Christmas

My true love gave to me: Twelve Drummers Drumming

I actually ended up taking Friday off from work, and driving around, desperately attempting to get things done. I took care of the van, just as I promised I would, and picked up a few last minute gifts for last minute guests. I got photos developed and enlarged and all that fun stuff. Mostly, though, I spent a long, leisurely day watching the people at the mall.

I dropped Forest off at Olga's around 10 AM, and wandered down to Barnes and Noble. On the way, I saw a lady with a newborn baby who couldn't have been two days old. The new mother had the look of someone freshly released from the quiet of a hospital room into the chaos of the mall at Christmas; sort of a 'deer in headlights' effect; but in some funny way she reminded me of a Wendy of Christmas past. I remember that feeling! In my case, I'd been home with Kirstin since she was born, and hadn't had many chances to get out much. The mall at Christmas-time seemed like such a distant concept to me that even when I got there, I didn't quite understand what was going on around me. I'd been living life at a different pace, and it really *did* change me.

In Barnes and Noble, I ran into the younger sister of a member of my high school class. Her brother, "Steve" (not his real name) was one of those kids who was very bright, but not always part of one of the more favored social circles at school. I wonder whatever became of him? His sister was working, so I didn't want to bother her to ask. Steve was in several of my more advanced classes in high school, and I remember that he was always pretty much excluded whenever the class had a few moments of free time to chat. (I guess in high school it was 'hanging out'.)

One of the things that defined me as an individual coming into the world after high school was that I was always the girl who was nice to everyone, including people like Steve, who was very unpopular. The people who were termed by my classmates as the class nose-picker, the class whore, the class head-banger, the class handicapper, the class retarded person, and the newkidinschool all knew that they could talk to me, and I'd be as nice to them as to anyone else. I was sincere, too. I didn't turn around and backstab them later, and I'm actually still proud of that. That sounds strange now, but back in high school I saw cruelty like that on a daily basis.

Then again, when I was in high school, the head cheerleader, the prom queen, the male class musician (I was the female one), the jocks, and all of the rest of them were nice enough to me, too. I think I just never said or did anything that hurt anyone in school, and that made me one of those strange types of kids who fit in practically anywhere, but didn't really know anyone very well. I didn't get invited to a lot of rowdy parties (although I did go to one headbanger bash once), but I didn't particularly care. I hadn't made any effort to get close to any of the kids in my school, and didn't expect that they would think of me as anything but a casual acquaintence.

So 'Steve's' little sister led me to some interesting trains of thoughts. My ten-year high school reunion is this summer. I wonder if I will go?

After some productive shopping and wandering, I hid myself away on one of the soft benches in the center of the mall with a hot pretzel. A couple of pages into my book, a little voice popped up right in front of me.

"You have a pretzel," it said.

I looked over the top of my book, and then lowered my eyes to see the tiny child, maybe four years old, standing in front of me. She was staring at my pretzel as though it was the best thing she'd ever seen. Then I realized that she was alone.

"Where's your mom?" I asked.

"Can I habba pretzel?" She said.

I looked around, and didn't see anyone. I stood on the top of the dividing wall, and didn't see anyone frantically searching for a kid. I called out to the crowd, but everyone bustled by.

So I gave the kid my pretzel, and off to mall security we went.

"I have a dowly," she said, holding up a raggedy, dirty, well-loved doll in a pink dress.

I couldn't get her to tell me her name, and her mom's name was apparently "mommy". I dropped her off with security, who added her to their queue of two other kids waiting to be "found".

What a crazy world this is. Kids are great, though. Here she is, lost in the middle of the mall on probably the busiest day of the year, and she's telling me about her great Dowly and asking for some of my pretzel. It would be pretty neat if everyone could trust each other like that.

After that experience, I decided to be a little more generous with my time, and spent part of the afternoon wrapping gifts in the charity booth in the mall. I was so busy that the time flew by, and I was actually a few minutes late for dinner.

I'd arranged to meet Yeffy and Reagan at Houlihan's, and we were going to have a few drinks until Forest got out of work. Actually, Yeff and Reagan were pretty late getting there, too, and I spent part of that time fending off the drunken advances of the fellow at the neighboring table, and the rest of it reading my book. Happily, when they arrived, we were able to order some nice warm nachos, and it was fun to catch up. They informed me that Jeff (my ex-something) is getting married in March; which I can't really venture an opinion on, since I haven't gotten much more than a word out of him in a few months. I guess it must be a good thing, and he's to be congratulated. I hope he's happy, and that his happiness means that he'll be a little more normal around me in social situations from here on out. We know a lot of the same people, and we can't always be in different rooms at parties.

Aren't I selfish? I hear that an old friend is getting married, and all I can think of is that I hope it makes things nicer for our social circle. Yeek.

I hope he will be very very happy, and that Alex is, too. There.

Other than that, Yeff and Reagan shared their holiday plans, and after Forest joined us I enjoyed lots of great conversation on a variety of interesting topics. They are a lot of fun to hang around with.

We ended up going back to their place for an impromptu gift exchange, and I could not believe how much their kitten has grown! I think he's going to turn out to be a little bigger than Eilonwy after all. (Wow, I must really be turning into a 'cat person' at the point where I'm journalling on comparisons. ) We stayed until poor Reagan couldn't stay awake anymore (I was yawning, too) and then drove ourselves happily and groggily home. It was sort of a grown-up, holidayish, nice get-together, and a very nice way for us to start our Christmas.

Saturday was another day spent getting a few things done. I stayed at home, and cleaned up our house until Forest was cut at Olga's. After that we went out with Sean and Kristin for a while, and then made our way meanderingly home. Once there, we wrapped a few gifts, read a bit, and then I was asleep. Poor Forest wasn't so fortunate, spending half of the night wide awake and wishing he could breathe. I really hate athsma sometimes. I remember waking up on Sunday morning with a vague sense of despair, worried that he'd be too tired to have any fun on Christmas. Happily, Forest is an elf in a big way, and was too excited about things to be tired. We were up and out of the house by nine o'clock, and picked up some donuts for everyone at Olga's on the way to work. I actually had a shift at Natural Wonders (heaven forbid) and pretty much went straight there after Olga's was open.

As usual, the we were really busy, and the time passed very quickly. I spent most of it just standing at the cash register ringing up sales; and began to believe it was really Christmas Eve when every single one of my customers wore a big smile and wished me a merry Christmas after the sale was complete. There's something to be said for having a few hundred strangers showing you their goodwill and holiday cheer. I left with a very good, warm feeling.

When I got to Olga's, Forest informed me that none of their closers had showed up for their shifts, so they were going to close the dining room early. This was great for me, since it meant I had a nice quiet spot to sit and read while he finished a few things, and we were soon on our way to the Children's Christmas Eve service at church.

Forest took a power nap on the way there, and I sang Christmas carols on top of my lungs. We managed to get there just as they were beginning to sing O Come All Ye Faithful. It was great timing, I must say.

Kirstin's choir did a very nice job, but I didn't get to see much of her. Bill was there, too, and Kirstin needed to be on her way to her 4th family Christmas get-together. After the short service someone called my name from the back of the church. It was Scott Kiersey! I hadn't seen Scott since high school graduation; we'd been fast friends since my junior year when we'd discovered our mutual liking of Depeche Mode, and then I had no idea what had become of him. I'm happy to say that he was there with his daughter, Marissa, who is a kindergartner, and truly a beautiful little girl. I'm always glad to see someone from school again, and hear what they've been up to. It's amazing how many of us are working in computers; Scott is, too. It was really nice seeing him again.

After some introductions, and greetings and an exchange of email addresses, Scott took Marissa home and to bed; and we stayed around just long enough to ask my mom to have Sam save seats for us at the candlelight service, and ran for home, and the task at hand. We still had to wrap all our gifts for each other, and a couple of dozen for various family members. By some miracle, We managed to get each other exactly the same number of packages, so we were both done wrapping each other's things at about the same time. Forest came bounding down the stairs with a lot of excitement, and we decided to have some snacks and open each other's Christmas Eve gifts, even before we were done wrapping everything else!

Forest really suprised me with a beautiful red chenille sweater, which was very soft and comfortable, and well-timed, since I was just bemoaning the fact that I had no Christmas-y clothing to wear. As usual, we had read each other's minds, and I presented him with a blue chenille sweater, actually quite similar to the one he'd given me; which I had bought after seeing him drooling over it at Hudson's one day. He seemed happy, and after a short time of sheer giddiness, we started wrapping again. We were done wrapping everything (including Sean's 27 inch TV from the whole family) just barely in time to get to church. By that time we'd been wrapping, crouched on the floor, for about 4 hours. We were both incredibly stiff and sore, and the pews at church were just about torture. Happily, there were lots of occasions to stand and sing hymns, and standing was much better.

It was a lovely service. The whole church was candlelit, and the bells played a concert for a half hour before the service began. My mom's choir did a nice job, and I particularly enjoyed their Carol of the Bells, a piece often-neglected by handbell choirs for some reason, probably because of its difficulty. I love the Christmas Eve service because it's filled with music, and this year was no exception; we sang hymn after hymn. Both of my sisters and my mom were there, which makes for great fun in our little end of the balcony; Forest even indulged me by singing along on the bassline of some of the hymns. (I think he might even have quietly enjoyed it.)

Every year we have a little crisis, though, regarding communion. They always plan about a dozen carols to be sung during communion; and if you go all the way down there and to the whole 'blood and flesh of Christ' thing, you miss singing a whole lot of beautiful things that you only get to hear once a year. This year, we unanimously decided to stay in the balcony and sing though communion; we were communing with the spirit in our own way. I think we had a really lovely Coventry Carol, too. I love the harmony in that one.

By the time the service was over, and we'd sung Silent Night over our candles, it was past midnight. In the hall outside the balcony I ran into Phil Judge, another member of my high school class. I think this was the second year I saw him at that service with his folks, and it's always nice to see what he's up to, too. I graduated with a lot of really nice, interesting people.

Forest and I went home after that, and he went immediately into the tub, while I curled up under the comforter in the living room to read. I'm reading Sharon Green's Blending series, and have been enjoying it quite a bit. At first I found a few repetitions in the multiple character perspectives to be vaguely annoying; but they seem to have smoothed themselves out in the second book, and I'm really enjoying the characters and their stories. Forest is one or two books ahead of me in this series, and I'm pleased to say that there are three more books for me to gobble up before I've exhausted this particular resource! I really love a good, long, involved series. If I could subscribe to the Tad Williams Book-A-Month club I would TOTALLY do it, as long as it was once continuous story. That would be my ultimate type of story; almost a television series of a novel. Of course no sane author would try to keep a schedule like that. I'm just dreaming.

Although, I think if I were paid to do it full time, I could write that much in a month. I couldn't guarantee that there would be any quality to it at all, since I've rarely tried to write fiction; but you all know how much I love to write.

Speaking of which, this is getting pretty long, so I think I'm done!