Weekend

It’s odd how fate works. I took Thursday off to go to Fargo with Kristie, but she decided not to go, so I was left home alone while she went to work. However, this was fortuitous for my brother was ill and Dad needed someone to drive with him to Grand Forks to visit his cancer doctor. So I was able to spend the day with Dad. Given his health, any day with Dad is a gift.

I also took Friday off to go with Dad to visit his doctor, but his doctor decided to postpone his chemo treatment. With Kristie gone to work and the kids gone to school, I had the house all to myself. To get in the mood, I hooked my ipod up and put on my Christmas play list. Then I got down to some serious cleaning. I played with the dog some. Took a brief nap. Read sporadically, but it was one of those days where nothing could keep my interest for long.

Saturday was Christmas shopping -- Aeropastale, B Dalton, Macy’s, Sears, Kohls, TJ Maxx, Gordman’s, Target. And we’re only half done.

Sunday was football. Dad came over for the second half of the Vikings game and stayed for some pizza. Another gift.

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On Friday when I was cleaning and listening to my Christmas play list, I kept thinking back to how much I loved Christmas as a kid. I miss how slow time moved when I was young. Christmas vacation seemed like an entire month. I miss helping Mom put up the Christmas decorations. My favorites were the nativity set. She had an old wooden manger and ceramic figures of Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, and the three wise men, along with some sheep and other animals. I used to love them because it was like getting new action figures. It didn’t take me long to put my own twist on the original nativity set by mixing in my Star Wars figures. I’d have Darth Vader dueling it out with Joseph, Boba Fett shooting it out with the wise men, and Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kanobi protector the baby Jesus. However, I do remember Mom drawing the line when I tried to freeze baby Jesus in imitation of the scene from “The Empire Strikes Back” where Han Solo is frozen in carbonite.

There was also one night when Mom turned the lights off and sat with me in the glow of the Christmas tree and the lights around are large picture window. She put on some Christmas music and tried to get me to sing along with her. I am loathe to sing - even when I’m all alone in the car - so I just sat and listened to her and watched the lights twinkle. I imagine Frank Sinatra singing “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!” or Judy Garland singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” It’s one of my favorite memories.

Sometimes I wonder if heaven or the after life isn’t like what the protagonist of “American Beauty” finds it to be - simply reliving your life and having the opportunity to marvel at the beauty of all the little things from your life that you never had time to savor while you were alive. I could spend a century on that evening with Mom.