Christmas Lists
Snow, cameras, and car rides to the grents. The smell of pine, bayberry, and cinnamon. Drunken uncles and nieces who get stoned in the garage. Finding the perfect gift to make her cry. Food I can't eat and odd presents, like the plastic holster microwave oven chicken roaster. Trying to find slippers that fit, but grooving on the oxymoronic insensibility. Wool and flannel everything and a fireplace. Heat Miser! Hearing kids scream with joy when they open their most-wanted gifts. Strategically leaving the room for a smoke at the very moment the kid who didn't get what she wanted confronts her mother. Christmas Ale! Praising the Santa sweater Grampa wears at Thanksgiving, because you are polite. Receiving a sweater "just like Grampa's" on Christmas day. Smiling until your face hurts so that you don't hit someone. Drinking eggnog that your uncle secretly spiked. Offering to help Mom with the dinner, the dishes, anything at all; hearing her tell you to sit and eat more pumpkin pie. A Christmas Story for 24 Hours! Wondering why your tongue is tingling whenever you drink the eggnog. Seeing your brother again. Forgetting about what you asked for this Christmas because you like the giving even more.