Christmas Break

The kids are on Christmas break from school. It reminds me of when I was in school. I remember thinking December was the longest month. Then every time the weather report indicated a chance of snow I would get up out of bed multiple times during the night to glance out the window to see if I could see any snow in the glow of the street lamp. Then I would be disappointed when there was none. During the break I would want to spend time with my friends and my parents would say, "Don't you see them at school?" But it's different going to your friends house when it is all decorated for Christmas and their families are making tasty Christmas treats. Their parents were usually less grumpy too!

One Christmas in high school I remember a friend telling a story about what had happened in his house. My friends house had a wet bar in the family room. That in itself is not that uncommon, but coming from a home where we didn't drink it was pretty interesting. Well one night, the friends father had made himself some drinks, watched some TV then headed up to bed. The family awoke to a loud banging sound in the middle of the night. It seems the Christmas tree that was also in the family room had fallen over and in a less-than-clear-headed state the father opened the garage, turned on the air compressor, and brought the high-powered nail gun into the house. The banging that woke the family up was dad nailing the Christmas tree to the wall. You know, to make it sturdy. Keep it from falling.

When I heard this story, it made me thankful for my less interesting family. For the most part we slept through the night, at least during Christmas time.