Black Friday is past and I have to say that I had an absolute blast with my sister shopping in the middle of the night. It was like being at a slumber party when you were a kid and at a certain point the exhaustion sets in and everything becomes funny. I think I laughed more in the line at Kohls where we inched our way forward for 2 hours to save, save, save than I have in months. Earlier in the day we had gone to the dog park and I had gotten something in my eye and had to take out my contact lens. So my eye was puffy and red still, I had on my glasses that are anything but stylish (I think I bought them in 1999) and I’m thankful I didn’t run into anyone I knew at the store because they would have said “man what happened to her?” I looked rather hideous but was past the point of caring in pursuit of a bargain. Now I had gone out with the intention of watching my sister buy stuff as I had already bought the gifts I needed for our family Dirty Santa Bingo game and Joe and I had already discussed not buying each other stuff and instead getting something for us like a freezer or a laptop, etc. I usually just give my kids money because I have long since given up on trying to figureout their tastes in clothes or music though Chris does do a yearly gift list that is hilarious and helpful. There was a pair of pants at Kohls that I wanted and that I could save big $ on so that was the only thing I intended to buy. I didn’t want them bad enough to stand in line for 2 hours in the middle of the night though. My nephew got in line with me and remarked that we were gonna be there forever. I said, well if your mom comes back with nothing we will just put the pants back and go home. About that time Connie rounded the corner with an armful of pillows for $3.99 I said to Eric, settle in, we are here for the long haul. And we were. The merchandisers at Kohls did a good job of placing must have items along the path to the register. By the time we got there I had picked up several items along the way that I had to have.
Reminded me of a black Friday years ago that I ventured out at 5 a.m. to Lowes to buy a fake Christmas tree that was on sale for $10. Somehow I got caught up in the spirit of shopping and started putting things into my cart that I saw other people buying reasoning that they must be good buys and I should take advantage of that. I ended up with 3 shop vacs, 4 crockpots, 2 toasters and about 10 flashlights along with my tree. I think my intended purchase ended up costing about $240 before I was done and I had to call a friend with a truck to come haul everything to my house because I couldn’t fit it all into my car. I piled it all into a closet and for several years had wedding gifts, birthday gifts, graduation gifts ready to wrap. So I did at least take advantage of my lapse of control.
I’ve had to tone down my gift giving in the last few years and gift myself instead with peace of mind that come January I won’t have a huge credit card debt to pay for getting too caught up in the Christmas spirit.
So I was thinking about gifts yesterday and trying to remember what I got last year, or the year before and it occurred to me that the gifts I remember most were probably ones that came straight from the heart and cost a whole lot less than those bargains I waited in line for on Black Friday. For example, a couple of years ago my son Andy gave me a bright yellow and polka dot blanket that he made himself (well with the help of a friend). It is on my bed even today and rates up there with the quilts my mom made me years ago. Or the calendar that Chris made me using pictures of family events for the monthly photo. Or the tile that my niece decorated with ribbon and paint that says LeeAnn loves Joe . Priceless treasures that are one of a kind. Or the handwritten note my mom left each of us, given to my dad when she was dying that we got on Christmas eve.
Mine read “ Dear LeeAnn, What a wonderful daughter you are. I am amazed at how much you are loved. Everyone loves you. God really knew what he was doing when he gave me you as a daughter. I know that I will see you again in heaven. Please take care of the family and your boys. You are a very special person, so don’t ever forget that or let anyone take that from you. Thank you so much for your wonderful boys, who I love very much. Mom.
What a priceless gift. I pull it out every year about this time and read it and the words bring tears tomy eyes and joy to my heart.
The family get togethers on Christmas eve are one of the best gifts of all. Long after the gifts are open and put away, the memories of the night stay deep in my heart, ready to pull out and re-live whenever, wherever. Like Grant, my sisters husbands first Christmas Eve with our family when he hit the piñata so hard the pole flew out of his hand, hit the ceiling lights in the barn and sent glass raining down on everyone as we ducked for cover. The video has a moment of silence when it happened and then my mom’s beautiful laugh rings out on the tape. I play it sometimes just to hear her laugh again. Or the year we did Partridge in a Pear tree and my mom kept forgetting her line which was the same thing every time. When it came to her to sing Five Golden rings she had already forgotten that that was her part. Every time Robert would nudge her after he sang (actually spoke cause he doesn’t sing) 6 geese a laying. She would look at him like “what?” and then say “oh, yea, 5 golden rings”. Maybe you had to be there but it still makes me laugh every time I think of it. Over the years we learned to keep our gifts close to us when we opened them because my dad always was in a frenzy about the wrapping paper mess, scooping up the paper and stuffing it in the trashbag before it could hit the floor. And every year we would have to go thru it to find a missing gift he scooped up in the mayhem of Christmas eve at the LaFave’s. The kids “plays” Connie used to direct have been replaced by the Puppet Show Anna and Eric and I write and perform every year. Drawing names went by the wayside years ago when all the kids were out on their own and too broke to buy gifts. Some traditions have remained, like playing the dictionary game, and the piñata, and for the past several years a Christmas Eve day paintball game. As Chris says “nothing say love like shooting paintballs at your family on Christmas eve”. LOL
When my mom lay dying 8 years ago, 2 weeks before Christmas Eve, her favorite day of the year, she told me to “keep the family together”…keep doing Christmas eve without me…Its important she said that you all remain close. And though it has been a lot different without her, the glue that held our family together, the one person that everyone would travel miles and miles and change schedules and be there for come hell or high water, we have managed to keep the Christmas Eve tradition going. Some years not everyone is there because they have in-laws and do the every other year thing. Some years the weather has caused a cancellation, one sibling rarely comes because it’s a long way to come for one night.
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