I know it’s a bit early to write about Christmas, but please bear with me. We had an unusual Christmas last year. With a birthday four days after Christmas, I get used to mixing things up, and sometimes the whole story can get a bit long. This birthday happened to be a “big” one. Number 70. In my world, “happy birthday” and “merry Christmas” go hand-in-hand. So, I’m going to do my Christmas column a bit backward this year.
Next month, I’ll write more about our very different Christmas.
I’ll set the scene by telling you we spent Christmas in a resort hotel last year. My husband and I got bamboozled into it. Sometimes, the kids have a way of doing that.
So, three families were each in their own hotel rooms when Christmas morning dawned.
Four-year-old Circe was hoping Santa would bring her Christmas pajamas. She must have hoped really hard, as Santa brought all eight of us new pajamas.
I invited everyone to our room for a “cookies for breakfast” Christmas morning. When I opened our door, little Circe was amazed to see everyone in the same pajamas she was wearing.
We dug into the cookies I had made and brought from home, and when everyone was sugared up, it was time for “Grandma Games.” First, I dumped a bag of marshmallows on a hotel towel. I instructed everyone to put plastic drinking cups over their hands. Then it was a race to see who could transfer the most marshmallows from the towel to the hotel ice bucket.
Next was the singing-gargle game. Nine-year-old Axel took on his sister, Simone, 13. They each took a sip of water and were told to “sing/gargle” “Jingle Bells.” Let me tell you, it’s really difficult to do without laughing and spitting out the water. Axel won. Actually, Axel beat everyone who challenged him. (Go ahead, take a reading break and give it a try. It’s not easy, especially when there are a group of people watching you.)
I brought along some cheap, neon yellow, rubber-slingshot chickens. Yes, rubber chickens. The game began with everyone trying to stick them to the large hotel window, but devolved into Axel target practice. He caught some. Got hit by many. We missed him a lot. And, we laughed hilariously.
No one seemed to want the morning to end, but cookies for breakfast left us starving for a real lunch. We changed out of our pajamas and found a sidewalk area to eat some real food.
Now, I’m going to jump ahead a little more than 24 hours. We were going to be “back home” by the date of my actual birthday, so my daughters planned a Mom/Grandma birthday party for the next evening. The adults were going to head to a “fancy” restaurant at the resort for dinner, while the kids had pizza and movies in the hotel room.
But first, they surprised me in their hotel room with a chilled bottle of chardonnay, Sprite for the kids and enough stemmed glasses to go around. After everyone had a drink in hand, everyone said “cheers” to me and I thought that was that. But Rachael instructed everyone to say something they appreciate about me.
Simone jumped right in and said, “I’ll go first!” She drew a square in the air with both hands and said, “We could all be stranded in an EMPTY BOX, and Grandma would find a way to make it fun.” My heart melted.
Circe got a little shy and whispered, “I love you.”
My daughter, Rachael, went next. “I appreciate you being the memory keeper in our family. The older I get, the more I appreciate it.”
Daughter Tegan chimed in and said, “I appreciate you being the memory maker. You keep making new memories for our family.”
Axel finished in his own honest fashion.
“You know, you could get asked to go to someone’s room. Like for cookies. And, you think it’s going to be reaaallly borrrring. But, Grandma makes it fun using things you think are just kind of nothing.” (I guess he means marshmallows and rubber chickens.)
Those kids (the big kids and the little ones) could not have found sweeter words to give me for a perfect birthday present. Knowing they see the memories I keep, see the memories I make and see the fun we have together – fun that hardly costs a thing – was the best birthday present ever.
Stay tuned for part two next month. Who knew our very different Christmas spent in a hotel room 2,000 miles from North Dakota would have a little bit of magic and be a little bit holy.
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As Roxanne (Roxy) Henke wrote this, she wasn’t sure where she would be spending this Christmas. Wishing you blessings this Thanksgiving, a joyous holiday season and “happy birthday” if you have one soon. You can contact her at roxannehenke@gmail.com.
