The Excitement of the Holidays

We arrived in Winston Salem one cold and frosty morn. I just like the way that sounds, but it's true. We got in about 1:30 AM on October 30. For whatever reason, I had pillows and blankets in our car, possibly from spending the night at our children's condo the night before. We had told Peggy and Jonathan that we would be coming in and they were fine with it. The porch light was on, as was the heat, and there was orange juice and muffins for breakfast the next morning. Just another indication of how thoughtful these Winston Salemites are.

We walked the house in wonder one last time before going to bed, not believing it was finished and we were finally there. We decided to sleep up in the library because the floor looked so inviting. Mollie was thrilled to have us on her level. We awoke to something that we had not experienced too much in all our years of living in Florida...frost! I barely had Mollie, who was in my arms, out the door before everything on her started to tremble. She was just a black mass of shaking fur as the cold took the breath from both of us. I put her down and heard the crunch of ice as she struggled to find a place to potty. It was Halloween.

We spent the day buying essentials and I anxiously anticipated giving out candy on our first Halloween night. We looked out the window at one point and all the little trick-or-treaters were by-passing our house, even though I had every light on inside and out. We were truly lit up like a jack-0-lantern...empty on the inside, but with lots of light flowing out. I finally ran out into the driveway and yelled, "We may not have furniture, but we do have CANDY!" That's all it took; we were on the way to meeting our new neighbors.

The movers arrived bright and early the next day and all went well. I told Randy to make sure all the Christmas trees were convenient, along with all the fall decorations, because I had a plan. It involved buying a new dining room suit. It's like I told Randy when we gave Leah our old one. "I settled before because of price. We're buying for life now and I want mahogany." You do know that NC is the furniture capital of the world, right? We went to Boyles Furniture Store and I found just what I was looking for after having looked for weeks and not seeing just what I wanted. We purchased a table,10 Chippendale chairs, a china cabinet, and a sideboard, which now sits in the entry way. "By the way," I told the saleslady, "I need it by Thanksgiving," which was a week away. She looked at me as though I had just grown 2 more sets of ears. She wasn't going to make any promises, but she'd do the best she could, she told us. You see my sister, Linda, was coming with her family and grandchildren, along with my sister, Pam, and her daughter. I wanted everything to be perfect because Thanksgiving had always been in GA while my mother was alive, and this was the first time we would be getting together since her death. I wanted it to be a true THANKSGIVING.

I decorated the house for fall, and had decided that we would eat on the breakfast table and bring in a patio table if we had to, but, much to my surprise, the table and chairs came moments before everyone arrived. I had baked and planned menus in between unpacking and hanging pictures, so we were pretty much ready to entertain. I have to tell you that having my family walk through the doors reminded me of what my mother must have felt as we all gathered together at her house every Thanksgiving. It brings tears to my eyes as I write this because I had never seen it from her perspective. I was too busy anticipating family dynamics going awry and wanting to get back to my little safe-haven in Florida even before we had arrived. This was one of my first "meditations:" negative thoughts often become self-fulfilling realities; therefore I was going to see to it that everyone was going to be allowed the freedom to do what they wanted while there that would fit their personality or "bent."

I decided to put it in action right after we ate our Thanksgiving dinner. I happily declared that anyone who wanted could help decorate the Christmas tree that Randy had ready and waiting in the garage. Needless to say, the kids couldn't wait. (That didn't last long, but we had Play Mobile toys and other fun "new things" to capture their attention.) Linda had brought her monogramming machine and was busily monogramming bath towels for our bathrooms as a housewarming gift. Pam and Laurie, and Leigh, Linda's daughter, helped with the tree, and Randy stood ready to help when needed with David downstairs, who was watching a game.

I can still recall the magic that enveloped the house as the Christmas music played; the fireplace and Christmas lights added an extra warmth to the great room that was already warmed by our familial connectedness. There was a feeling of contentment. Laurie and Leigh stopped decorating at one point and went into the kitchen to make hot chocolate "concoctions" as they called them. Pam and I talked about our most favorite Christmas memories since we were closest in age, and Linda just kept on sewing. Her two grandchildren, T.J. and Erin wandered in an out and kept us entertained. I want to tell my mother that I get it now, and trust that because she now has a heavenly perspective, that she is praying for me, my sisters, our children, and grandchildren...praying that we will teach and model to them the things that are truly important in life...and that is relationships, and that we will meet others where they are rather than try to put them where we want them to be. And that's harder than it sounds. Happy 61st Birthday, Linda. I love you.