my christmas
I thought this Christmas was going to be uneventful. In all honesty, I thought it was going to be one of the most un-Christmas-like Christmases I've ever had. We weren't going to have that Vegas Christmas I had been expecting, and I was having trouble feeling that Christmas feeling I used to feel every year once December came around. My sister and I figured we'd boost our spirits by decorating the house, and when we finished, I felt much better about what was to come. There were twinkling Christmas lights wrapped around our staircase, tinsel everywhere, icicle lights hanging from our ceiling beams, a lit up tree, small wooden angels with candles atop their heads, and Christmas garlands wrapped around our fireplace.
Once December 23rd came, however, we decided that mere decorations were not enough to put us into that Christmas mood. We decided that the best cure for our lack of Christmas spirit was a trip to San Francisco. My dad drove my whole family to Union Square, and we listened to Christmas music the whole way there. The tree in Union Square was beautiful, as were the myriad of decorations hung from the surrounding buildings. We took a bunch of goofy pictures in front of the tree. Our camera ran out of batteries quite quickly, so we switched to taking pictures with our camera phones. Now, all of us have one stupid picture of all four of us trying to stick our heads into one camera phone picture. Priceless.
The environment of Union Square on Christmas Eve-eve was perfect. There were carolers everywhere (quite literally,) and everyone seemed so happy. There were adorable little kids running all over the place, and couples snuggled close, listening to Christmas songs. I remember thinking, I don't recall the last time I felt this way. Every other Christmas before this one was spent mostly with family friends, but this one was just with my family. And I've never really felt this special warmth that comes when you're just spending time with your mom, your dad, and your sister. And having such a great time.
We decided to open our presents at 11pm on Christmas Eve. I remember being the last person to finish dinner at the table, and my dad telling me (once my mom had gone upstairs) that he had a surprise present for her. He had bought her a gift (which she had already discovered), but little did she know, he had a surprise gift (the "real" gift, he called it) hidden in the trunk of his car.
"Want me to get it?" he said. He had such a childishly gleeful expression on his face. I thought it was cute.
"Yeah, you should go get it and hide it before she comes back down." I said. He immediately ran out the side door, into the garden and came back with a big aqua-colored box. It had a red ribbon around it. My dad looked so proud. And I was touched. I was also amazed at the size of the box. (What could possibly be from Tiffany's and be that big?)In any case, I told him to hide it in one of the cabinets. When it came time to open the gifts, and it was my mom's turn, she opened her expected present from my dad.
"I already saw this," she said, smiling.
My dad kind of just stood there with a very pleased expression on his face.
"But that's not the real present!" He ran around to the cabinet and pulled out the aqua-colored box, grinning from ear to ear. My mom had that look on her face. One that said I-can't-believe-you-did-this-I-hope-you-didn't-spend-a-fortune-I'm-so-flattered-but-this-is-crazy-yet-I'm-happy. When she opened the present, she pulled out of the box what looked like a crystal cup.
"Is this a cup," she said smiling and kind of laughing. She pushed aside some more wrapping tissue and pulled out what looked like some sort of jar. It was a pretty jar, granted, but completely random. My dad looked so excited. He explained to her how it worked:
"See, the part you thought was a cup is actually the cap for the jar. You can also take the cap off, and use it as a candle holder. And then you can put flowers in the jar. Or you can put the cap on the jar, and put candy in the jar. Do you like it? I bought it with my extra money from lunch."(My mom actually divies out money to him to be used monthly. So he doesn't have a lot of spending money. Wierd, I know.) He looked so proud and pleased with what he had purchased for my mother. He got the most expensive thing he could get her with the money he had.
"Yeah, I like it. I like it."
My mom was looking at him with eyes filled with laughter and love and a little bit of wow-he-really-doesn't-know-how-to-buy-things. But more love than the latter. And he was so proud of his gift for her. They hugged, and while they hugged, my mom looked at me with so much laughter in her eyes. And we were both thinking the same thing. Man, he really doesn't know how to gift, but it sure is cute. And he looked so happy and pleased, smiling, hugging her, and I was so touched. And then I started to tear up, looking at them. And I thought, damn, this is love.
Once December 23rd came, however, we decided that mere decorations were not enough to put us into that Christmas mood. We decided that the best cure for our lack of Christmas spirit was a trip to San Francisco. My dad drove my whole family to Union Square, and we listened to Christmas music the whole way there. The tree in Union Square was beautiful, as were the myriad of decorations hung from the surrounding buildings. We took a bunch of goofy pictures in front of the tree. Our camera ran out of batteries quite quickly, so we switched to taking pictures with our camera phones. Now, all of us have one stupid picture of all four of us trying to stick our heads into one camera phone picture. Priceless.
The environment of Union Square on Christmas Eve-eve was perfect. There were carolers everywhere (quite literally,) and everyone seemed so happy. There were adorable little kids running all over the place, and couples snuggled close, listening to Christmas songs. I remember thinking, I don't recall the last time I felt this way. Every other Christmas before this one was spent mostly with family friends, but this one was just with my family. And I've never really felt this special warmth that comes when you're just spending time with your mom, your dad, and your sister. And having such a great time.
We decided to open our presents at 11pm on Christmas Eve. I remember being the last person to finish dinner at the table, and my dad telling me (once my mom had gone upstairs) that he had a surprise present for her. He had bought her a gift (which she had already discovered), but little did she know, he had a surprise gift (the "real" gift, he called it) hidden in the trunk of his car.
"Want me to get it?" he said. He had such a childishly gleeful expression on his face. I thought it was cute.
"Yeah, you should go get it and hide it before she comes back down." I said. He immediately ran out the side door, into the garden and came back with a big aqua-colored box. It had a red ribbon around it. My dad looked so proud. And I was touched. I was also amazed at the size of the box. (What could possibly be from Tiffany's and be that big?)In any case, I told him to hide it in one of the cabinets. When it came time to open the gifts, and it was my mom's turn, she opened her expected present from my dad.
"I already saw this," she said, smiling.
My dad kind of just stood there with a very pleased expression on his face.
"But that's not the real present!" He ran around to the cabinet and pulled out the aqua-colored box, grinning from ear to ear. My mom had that look on her face. One that said I-can't-believe-you-did-this-I-hope-you-didn't-spend-a-fortune-I'm-so-flattered-but-this-is-crazy-yet-I'm-happy. When she opened the present, she pulled out of the box what looked like a crystal cup.
"Is this a cup," she said smiling and kind of laughing. She pushed aside some more wrapping tissue and pulled out what looked like some sort of jar. It was a pretty jar, granted, but completely random. My dad looked so excited. He explained to her how it worked:
"See, the part you thought was a cup is actually the cap for the jar. You can also take the cap off, and use it as a candle holder. And then you can put flowers in the jar. Or you can put the cap on the jar, and put candy in the jar. Do you like it? I bought it with my extra money from lunch."(My mom actually divies out money to him to be used monthly. So he doesn't have a lot of spending money. Wierd, I know.) He looked so proud and pleased with what he had purchased for my mother. He got the most expensive thing he could get her with the money he had.
"Yeah, I like it. I like it."
My mom was looking at him with eyes filled with laughter and love and a little bit of wow-he-really-doesn't-know-how-to-buy-things. But more love than the latter. And he was so proud of his gift for her. They hugged, and while they hugged, my mom looked at me with so much laughter in her eyes. And we were both thinking the same thing. Man, he really doesn't know how to gift, but it sure is cute. And he looked so happy and pleased, smiling, hugging her, and I was so touched. And then I started to tear up, looking at them. And I thought, damn, this is love.