CHRIST-mas.....

One has to stop and ponder what month it is when the stores start to pull out their Christmas wares in July. However, the sounds of Christmas still never seem to catch up and ring out until Thanksgiving. Without fail, the last week of November fills our cars, homes and offices with the sound of Christmas.

From the time we were knee high to a grasshopper, the yuletide lyrics and hymns stretched our vocabulary and repertoires. I can remember Whitley's version of anything "evergreen" rolled off her tongue sounding something like this..."kiss-us twee" and how she used to giggle at the animal sounds to the "Manger Song". I can remember missing both of my front teeth singing, you guessed it, "All I Want for Christmas is My 2 Front Teeth". This year I wondered if there was just one song that could possibly capture what our Christmas was like.

A front runner was "Home for the Holidays" as I spent Christmas with my family in Illinois for the first time in almost 15 years or "Grandma Got Ran Over By a Reindeer" as Whitley's Grandma (my mom) endured 2 separate surgeries on Christmas Eve., but as I reflected on all the interesting events while home, I decided a revised edition of "The 12 days of Christmas" would be more fitting. Since we started opening gifts on the 18th.....I thought our song should sound something like this:

On the first day of Christmas (Dec. 18) my true love gave to me a pair of clogs from Sweden.

On the 2nd day of Christmas my father gave to me, 2 airlines tickets and a pair of clogs from Sweden.

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 3 kisses goodbye, 2 airline tickets and a pair of clogs from Sweden.

On the 4th day of Christmas my mom bought for me 4 slices of taco pizza, 3 kisses goodbye, 2 airline tickets and a pair of clogs from Sweden.

On the 5th day of Christmas my dad gave his girls 5 minus 1 golden coins!!!!! 4 slices of taco pizza, 3 kisses goodbye, 2 airline tickets and a pair of clogs from Sweden!

On the 6th day of Christmas my mom gave to me, 6 nail biting hours while she was in surgery, 5 minus 1 golden coins!!! 4 slices of taco pizza, 3 kisses goodbye, 2 airline tickets and a pair of clogs from Sweden.

On the 7th day of Christmas my family gave to me 7 times as much as last year, 6 nail biting hours of surgery, 5 minus 1 golden coins!!! 4 slices of taco pizza, 3 kisses goodbye, 2 airline tickets and a pair of clogs from Sweden!

On the 8th day of Christmas my parents gave to us 8 different gift cards, 7 times as much as last year, 6 nail biting hours of surgery, 5 minus 1 golden coins!!! 4 slices of taco pizza, 3 kisses goodbye, 2 airline tickets and a pair of clogs from Sweden!

On the 9the day of Christmas the Grinch gave to me, 9 cancelled flights back to Denver. 8 different gift cards, 7 times as much as last year, 6 nail biting hours of surgery, 5 minus 1 golden coins! 4 slices of taco pizza, 3 kisses goodbye, 2 airline tickets and a pair of clogs from Sweden.

On the 10th day of Christmas the Grinch gave to me, 10 trips to the waste can, 9 cancelled flights back to Denver, 8 different gift cards, 7 times as much as last year, 6 nail biting hours of surgery, 5 minus one golden coins!!!! 4 slices of taco pizza, 3 kisses goodbye, 2 airline tickets and a pair of clogs from Sweden.

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to Whitley 11 hours of ski lessons, 10 trips to the waste can, 9 cancelled flights, 8 different gift cards, 7 times as much as last year,, 6 nail biting hours of surgery, 5 minus one golden coins!!!!! 4 slices of taco pizza, 3kisses goodbye, 2 airline tickets and a pair of clogs from Sweden!

On the 12 day of Christmas my true love gave to Whitley, 12 more hours of skiing!!!! 11 hours of ski lessons, 10 trips to the waste can, 9 cancelled flights, 8 different gift cards, 7 times as much as last year, 6 nail bittng hours of surgery, 5 minus one golden coins!!! 4 slices of taco pizza, 3 kisses goodbye, 2 airline tickets and a-pair-of-clo-gs-fr-om-SWEEEEEE-DENNNNNNNNNN!!!!

Now, if none of this makes a bit of sense to you I can explain. I really did get a new pair of 42 cm., custom made clogs from Sweden and I love them! My father and Val purchased 2 airline tix for Whit & I to fly to IL. Actually, the offer was for John too, but "Mr. Postman" initially had volunteered to work Christmas this year to give someone else the day off, and they ended up closing the plant down after all. Yes, he (John) was sad to see us go so I got 3 kisses at the airport on my sendoff to Illinois. As for the 4 slices of taco pizza...they were small slices okay! My favorite pizza is Casey's taco pizza so I love to order up a pie when I get back to the Heartland, just a much as John does when he heads to PA.

Well, the 12 Days of Christmas has that mighty crescendo of "5 golden rings", and the only thing I could think of was the 4, fifty- dollar gold coins that my dad gave to each of his girls (My step mom Val, my sisters Amanda & Hannah & myself)...so the only way to state it correctly was to say 5 minus 1 golden coins!!! (which equals 4, right?)

Okay, this song is not as complicated as the second half of our 12 days of Christmas were. Why I didn't even have enough numbers to mention the two explosive fires w/in two days of each other, in the little rural town I grew up in. The one on Christmas Eve. was equivalent to a 5-alarm fire in the city!!! An old factory that had been converted to a storage shed, which housed antique cars, tractors, boats, motor homes, etc. exploded and could be seen for over 6 miles away! Anyway, not room for that in my song, but I just had to tell ya!

Now the 6th day of Christmas was actually Christmas eve. My mom was admitted to the hospital the day I first came to visit her (which was the 22nd) when we noticed she was turning yellow an jaundiced. On top of things, she had terrible stomach pains. On Christmas eve. they finally performed 2 separate surgeries: 1-they removed 3 gallstones the size of golf balls and her gall bladder and 2- they had to place a stent because a piece had broke off and was stuck in the bile duct and pancreas. It was really sad to see her in such pain. I tried to lighten her spirits and told her Santa must be really slipping because he had mistaken her gallbladder for some naughty person's stocking of coal!

The 7th day of Christmas was really Christmas Day and my did it seem like we got 7 times as much. As we surveyed all our gifts, we counted 8 generous portioned gift cards to 8 of our favorite places;; THANK YOU!!!

The 9th day Whit & I were actually trying to return back to Colorado. Two days and 9 cancelled flights later, we made it......the scenic route via route from Peoria, IL to Dallas/Ft. Worth to Colorado Springs, CO and two hours by car back home; PHEW!!

The 10th day I literally made 1o trips to the waste can as I believe I contracted food poisoning from a pecan-coated chicken salad from TGIF that I purchased on the fly in Dallas. That was the worst meal I had ever had in my life and I don't care to ever go through that again.

The 11th day John took Whitley for the first time skiing. All the years, she did not want to go, but for some reason she was game this year. On this day they played in the snow for about 11 hours and had a great time.

I designated the 12th day of Christmas as today the 29th, as this is John's last day off from a 5-day mini-vacation. They had so much fun, they hit this slopes again, this time, with good friends Grant, and his daughter Isabella (Izzy). Aside from being 10 below in the high country and John dropping his ski on Whitley's nose while she was lying on her back in the snow (OUCH!!), they wiped off the blood, dried off the tears and weathered the cold for 12 hours of fun in a winter wonderland!

All silliness and chorusing aside, I was reminded by a kind man from Dallas who empathized with our traveling woes on Christmas day, when he said, "But despite all the delays, changes and frustrations, Christmas still happened today, didn't it?"

Without an answer required, I sighed and recounted all our blessings, all the memories made and the peace of knowing that hope began with the birth of a little boy, born in a manger, named Jesus." Yes, not even a blizzard or King Herod could stop Christmas!

We hope that your holidays were special in some way; be it in a hospital bed, or in an airport terminal or in your homes and places of worship; MERRY CHRISTMAS to each of you!