MERRY CHRISTMAS!

It's the day after Christmas and the MetroDad family is down here in sunny Palm Beach, spending the week with my parents.  Their home down here was trashed by Hurricane Wilma so the Peanut has been having a blast climbing through the rubbage.  As long as she doesn't chew on any rusted nails or lick some mold, we think she'll be ok. 

It's strange being in Florida for the holidays.  Aside from all the Christmas Palm trees, I've never been able to get over the sheer abundance of  elderly people down here.  Having grown up without any grandparents, I've always been a little mystified by the elderly.  But down here in God's Waiting Room, I have the chance to overcome my fears on a near-hourly basis.  I'm getting better (I think.)  The only thing that really freaks me out is driving behind a giant Cadillac that looks as if it's being driven by a headless person.  They really should make the elderly sit on phonebooks when they're driving. 

Anyway...being neither a traditionally normal family nor a particularly religious one, we didn't have much to do on Christmas.  I wish I could regale you with stories of going out hunting for geese, playing football in the snow with family, attending a beautiful midnight mass, or caroling with the neighbors.  But like I said, we tend not to do too much on Christmas.  Like any good Korean family, we searched out the best local steakhouse and celebrated Christmas over some fat-ass sirloins.  We contemplated going to see a late showing of "Brokeback Mountain" ('cause nothing says Christmas like a good old-fashioned gay cowboy movie) but the times didn't work out.  So we came back home, exchanged a few small presents, read for a little while and all crashed out early. 

But despite my wisecracks and our family's lack of holiday tradition, I like to think of Christmas as being more of a day when we choose to be a little more spiritual about being together as a family.  Because ever since the Peanut came into our lives, the entire family feels blessed.  Having a beautifully healthy and happy baby is like Christmas every day.  And while BossLady and I don't ever take that for granted, Christmas is the time when we really reflect on the blessings in our life.  And despite the weirdly dysfunctional nature of spending Christmas with my parents, there are some things I'm starting to realize about how we celebrate the holidays that may have been lost on me when I was younger. 

The one thing that is fairly redeeming about celebrating Christmas with my family is that it's not about presents.  I hear stories about people rebelling against the materialistic nature of the holidays but this has never been a big thing in our family.  I've mentioned before how it was fairly sad for me as a child to wake up on Christmas morning and have my folks hand me a check.  But I've gotten over it now.  We're just not a big gift-giving family.  And you know what?  Now that I'm older, I kind of like it that way.  Don't get me wrong.  As the Peanut gets older, I think it would be nice to give her the kind of Christmases that I never had...setting out cookies for Santa, putting stockings on the mantle, laying out presents under the tree and waking up early on Christmas to unwrap them.  But for now, I'm glad we can keep all the Christmas hoopla to a minimum.

Now that the Peanut is around, Christmas and the holidays are all about family.  It's about taking the time from our normal, busy lives to spend time with one another.  And though my parents can drive me absolutely bonkers, when I see the joy in their eyes from spending time with the Peanut, I know that this is the best Christmas they've ever had.   And in a way, I guess that's my Christmas present to them.  Funny how things work out.

So from all of us to all of you, I hope you're all enjoying the holidays with your family.  I hope that you're celebrating some much-cherished time together with your loved ones.  I wish you all the best in your travels and hope you get to your destinations safely.  And whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah or Kwanzaa, let's be semi-serious here for a minute and take this moment to contemplate what the holidays are really truly about...

Pigging out and 3-day weekends!

 

 

 

Comments

[lesbonstemps]

Merry Christmas, Metrodad. I laughed when I read the part about your parents giving you checks. I have to say the cash gifts are one of my favorite things about my Korean inlaws, but I can see how getting a check for Christmas would be kind of a downer for a kid. My husband couldn't care less about Christmas, but I force him to participate for our kid's sake.

[Pattie]

Merry Christmas, MD. At least someone is enjoying warmer weather right now. :) Funny, but the older I get, the more I want good ol' cash for Christmas.

BTW, thanks for the list of things to do--I'll definitely be checking them out. I meant to email you sooner, but the holidays and all...If you're back in NYC before 1/5, let me know. Maybe me, the hubby, you, and BossLady can meet up for that drink after all. Take care and travel safe!

Pattie

[Karla]

Yeah, Christmas was always a nice enough holiday, but now that I have a babbling, happy baby, it is so much better. I agree with you totally.

[enygma]

Yay! Merry (belated) Christmas! :)

[L.]

Great post! I married an Asian guy figuring I could get out of Christmas duty all together, but he turned out to be more into it than my uptight, austere Catholic family. My oldest son even asked me, "If Papa doesn`t believe in Christ, why does he celebrate Christmas?" Hub has truly embraced the pure commercial aspect of the holiday, uncorrupted by any of that religious, spiritual do-goody claptrap.

[the weirdgirl]

Merry Christmas, MD, Boss Lady and Peanut!

[not-for-profit-dad]

Enjoy the early bird specials! The MOWA and I made it to Brokeback Mountain yesterday and thought it was great, so check it out. To paraphrase Cartman, "Nothin' better than an independent movie about gay cowboys eating pudding."

[writergirl]

Peanut was climbing through the rubbage? I assume you mean rubbish or garbage, but I nevertheless got a funny mental image of Peanut climbing through old truck tires on the side of a road. Because according to the Unword dictionary, "rubbage" means:

1. (n.) Large pieces of truck tire found on the side of the road.

or ...

2. (n.) An act of vigorously rubbing a dog's belly while speaking to the dog in baby-talk.

[misfithausfrau]

"God's Waiting Room"

Bwaaaaaa!

Have a great Christmas!

[Anne Glamore]

Wow-- that is a helluva Christmas. Our Christmas is about who can outcook the others. No palm tree, no snow, and no checks.

Enjoy the weather!

[Jason]

Right on, my brother. We surprised my fam (they thought we were taking the kid and going to Hawaii), and damned if it hasn't been one of the nicest Christmases yet.

[Matthew]

Merry Christmas MD!

And, if the old people need more phonebooks in Florida, I'd be happy to send the plethora of phonebooks we seem to have accumulated over the years.

[Sassy]

It sounds like you had the best kind of Christmas I can imagine. :)

[Linda B]

Glad you had a nice Christmas.

It's true how children change how you view holidays and family. They become so much more meaningful.

[crazyvirgo]

this is BY FAR the longest christmas card i've ever received. thanks metrofamily!