Christmas Day

It was still dark when I turned right at the totem pole and headed up the last road to my parent's house. This road was just dirt when I was a kid and it brought back many memories of pulling on it as the final leg to my grandparent's house. From here I was just minutes away. First I passed my Uncle and Aunt's house that sits on the corner next to the highway. Than their son Rabbit and the next in line is my parents. All this land belonged to my Grandpa back in the day, after his death it was split up among the two sons and three daughters, which one daughter was my Mom.

As I turned into the driveway and my headlights swept their house I noticed there were no lights on inside. Everyone was still sleeping. I was worried coming up that everyone would be up and all the presents opened by the time I got there. The day previous I had decided to leave at midnight and drive up to get here for around six to seven, which it was six thirty now. Originally my plan had been to leave right after work at two in the afternoon and drive up, which would have put me there at around midnight. But I was too tired to risk the drive and I figured that getting up there that late, everyone was going to be sleeping and I would just go to sleep to wake up I figured that if I got some sleep and drove up there in time for the unwrapping I would feel a lot better.

The trip up had been one of constant rain and wind. I would run into a storm that would last for ten or fifteen minutes to be followed by some more rain only to run into another storm within another thirty or forty minutes. The roads I took were little highways or not even that so there were no lights on them. So it was very dark and wet, which made for an interesting drive. There was almost no traffic on the way up. I guess not many people are traveling on Christmas night.

When I pulled in the driveway I opened the door and let Buffy out, who promptly ran up the porch to the front door. Someone must have heard us arrive because I saw the door open and Buffy disppear inside. I still had two boxes of Christmas presents to bring in. And it was cold. It was below freezing when I got there.

I made my two trip in and out with the boxes. My neice Shannon was the early riser. She sat on the floor letting Buffy lick her. That was a good sign. I was worried about how Buffy was going to react with all the people in the house and everyone bound to come visit. At the moment she was busy licking Shannon while she petted her. Everyone else was still in bed. My brother was sleeping on the couch so he was waking up with me tromping in and out. I took the presents out of the boxes and spread them around the tree. By this time my Mom was up and running around welcoming me and Buffy.

My Dad was awake but still in bed. I got my first look at him since he had gotten sick. I went in the bedroom. He had the blankets pulled up around him. His head was shaved almost bald. Now my Dad has always had short hair, he was a Navy lifer, and when he retired he carried the buzzcut with him. But this was different. At first glance he looked bald. His teeth were out, he didn't sleep with them, which gives his face a hollow fallen look. At first glance I was somewhat taken back. He didn't look too good.

Within minutes everyone else was up. My brother went to wake my nephew Sean and my Mom went and got my sister up. Before you knew it we were all gathered around the Christmas tree. Past Christmas' my Dad would get down by the tree and hand out all the presents. This year he was in his chair that he vowed to burn when he got better. He looked somewhat better when he was up, but I noticed the shake in his hands and how much weight he had already lost. My brother took my Dad's place at the side of the tree and handed out presents.

Before long we had a pile of littered wrapping paper and empty boxes on the floor. Sean got his box set of punk cds, Shannon a purse that my brother had to order online, my Dad got a bunch of books, my Mom a bunch of Elvis stuff, we all got a lot of goodies. Every year I get my Mom something Elvis, this year Sean and Shannon got her some Elvis stuff too.

The trash wasn't long for the floor, my Mom cannot stand a mess. Before long she was up with some big trash bags picking up all the torn paper and discarded boxes. One of the presents my Dad got was a Popeye watch from my neice. I watched as he took it out of the packaging and noticed how much his hands shook as he tried to get it free.

After the presents were over with of course conversation turned to food. My mom made us all some breakfast and afterwards my brother went out to cook the turkey. They were going to broil it with his burner and pot outside. I crawled back to bed for a few hours, the drive had taken its toll on me.