"It's Over"

Well Christmas has come and gone one more time, and this time it was here and over before I knew it. I never got the Christmas spirit per se and I didn't have the Christmas blahs too much. One day it was an average day in December and the next day it was Christmas Eve,

I didn't want or need anything this Christmas so my wife and I decided to go to the beach immediately after the kids left and call that our Christmas gift to each other. The kids, I am sure, racked their brains and finally came up with my gifts that were two CD's by "American Idol" winners, and jeans/shirt/belt for my new phase of clothing. My granddaughter Genna gave me a "Bulldogs" visor while my grandson Walker gave me a "#1 Dad" coffee mug. The latter irked my granddaughter because, as she kept telling her brother, I am not his dad. 

We spent Christmas Day eating brunch, opening presents, and then going to one of our closest friend's home for supper. Afterwards we came back home, watched a movie and then went to bed. Pretty uneventful but satisfying. 

I do have to say that it dawned on me after lunch on Christmas Day I had no one to call. We had called my wife's mother and let everyone talk with her, but I had no one to call. Now my father has been dead for over five years and my mother died when I was a teenager, so this was not a new thing this Christmas. Still it just seemed to hit me that I am now an orphan.

It is strange how you go along with your life not thinking about your status and then it hits you. Suddenly you are aware that there is no generation between you and death, no buffer so to speak. At this same time it usually hits you how fast time is passing. I remember taking my kids on trips with my father and stepmother, and now it is my wife and I taking our kids on trips with our grandchildren. We have become the older generation.

The new year looms ahead of us and I am looking forward to it. I have heard so many people say they hope that 2007 will be better than 2006. I don't know what was so bad about this year but it hit quite a few people wrong. I rather enjoyed the year. Maybe it is just that I enjoy my life so much these days.

I have survived the holidays with no visible scars and in just a few days I will be back to my normal routine. My youngest son, Sean, said to me on Christmas night, "It will soon be back to normal, Dad." He loves the everyday and I do too.

So for now it is off to the beach and then 2007. I look forward to it, I embrace it, I anticipate it. Life goes on, the days keep turning, and the blessings keep coming. Who could ask for more!
 

 

 

 

 

©2003 Jackie K. Cooper

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