Merry Christmas!

I tried to write a coherent post for Christmas morning, but the rush of memories seems to defy organization. I have settled for a random listing, as they come to me...

Sausage balls for breakfast - a mixture of country sausage, cheese, and bisquick. Slightly disgusting to me now, but a delicious memory none the less.

Midnight mass - I was an altar boy, and being chosen to serve at a high holy mass was like being called up to the big leagues. Which made serving at midnight mass something akin to playing in the world series...

The Advent Wreath - it lived on the dining room table, and each evening we would light the appropriate candles before saying grace. I was a believer then, in the way children believe; no theology, no holy wars, no sectarianism. To this day, the smell of freshly extinguished candles feels like religion to me.

Christmas in California - after opening presents with family, my buddies and I would pull on our wetsuits and go to the beach. The surfing was never particularly great; it was just the idea that we almost had the beach to ourselves. I first began to associate god and nature on those chilly outings.

Christmas in North Carolina - a classic white Christmas. I was 4 or 5 I think - my sister hadn't been born, and I still believed in Santa. After midnight mass, we came home through ordinary North Carolina winter weather; freezing rain. I checked to see that my stocking was firmly attached to the mantle - with a hammer and nails I found in the basement. Adorable as this sounds, it was not a hit with my mother...
When I awoke, I rushed to the living room to find my grandmother already sitting in her rocker by the fire, sipping her coffee. She had opened the drapes on the picture window to view the fresh blanket of snow covering our front yard. I don't really recall any of the presents, but I clearly remember the dirty little snowman (there wasn't really much snow) we made in the front yard, and the snowcream (like ice cream, but made with snow) we had for desert with our Christmas dinner.

And today, Christmas in Laramie - the ground is covered with new snow, it's still snowing, and it's 17 degrees outside. Nerdy and Squid watching "The Muppet Family Christmas" on the couch, our cell phones ringing every few minutes with Merry Christmas texts, the parrots chattering in the next room, and me, sitting in the rocker composing this post. We opened the oddly inappropriate gifts our well-meaning parents sent along and ate cinnamon rolls. This is the family we made, not the families that made us - no doubt I'll write about these memories in years to come.

I hope you are making wonderful memories today as well - Merry Christmas to all!