Holiday Reflections

I'm sitting in Fido in Hillsboro Village, having a latte and enjoying my status as a Bongo Java Belmont refugee.  Bongo, the center of my universe, has been closed for the past two and half weeks to undergo interior renovations.  I've been roaming in the mornings in search of good coffee - Frothy Monkey, Portland Brew, The Good Cup (Grassland), Fenwick's, 8th and Roast and Fido.  Truthfully, it's been kind of fun to mix things up a bit.

Slowly and sadly, Christmas 2015 is receding into my memory and joining "the ghosts of Christmases past." A little reflection is in order before I head to the office for a meeting.

• In a season filled with highlights, "Great" (Rita White) was missed.  It was our first Christmas without her and she was never far from our thoughts and hearts.  On Christmas Eve, at J.P.'s request, we went to church at St. Henry's, Great's church, where we have attended Christmas Eve Mass the last several years.  It was a fitting tribute to the matriarch of Jude's family and someone J.P. and Joe loved dearly.
• On the way home from Chad White's house, where we had a splendid time celebrating "the White family Christmas" - I overheard Joe ask J.P. the following:  "How does Santa Claus get to the mall?"  J.P. answered, "He drives his car.  I asked him last year and that's what he told me."  Jude and I could barely suppress our giggles in the front seat.
• The next morning, again as we were driving, Joe asked J.P. another pointed question.  "What kind of car does Santa Claus drive to the mall?"  J.P. responded quickly, "A Mercedes.  Just like in the commercial on T.V."  More giggles from Jude and me in the front seat.
• As always, the return of our Elf was highly anticipated by the boys.  They woke up early on December 1 in anticipation of his return and hurried downstairs to look for him.  The ritual of the boys finding the Elf made Jude and me smile every morning.

• Another family tradition was the spirited game of "hide and seek" we played at the Christmas tree lot in Green Hills, where we purchased our Christmas tree.  Always a favorite of J.P., the purchase of the Christmas tree was secondary to the 45 minutes we spent taking turns hiding amongst the frasier firs.
• Because Joe so admired our next door neighbor's inflatable snowman, I ordered a giant inflatable Santa Claus riding in a hot air balloon.  Upon its arrival, I decided it would be cool if our Elf set it up and left the boys a note about it.  One night while the boys slept, Jude assembled it and I zipped over to Edley's, where a bartender with whom I'm friendly - Kara - penned a note to the boys from the Elf.  The next morning, J.P. read the note on the mantle and the boys looked in the front yard, eyes wide with amazement that the Elf had brought our inflatable Santa Claus back from the North Pole.
• On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, the temperature in Nashville was in the mid-70's.  Nice for playing outside, certainly, but in my mind, ridiculous weather for Christmas.
• On the night of December 23, Jude and I put the boys to bed, then traipsed downstairs to the basement and put together the foosball table the boys were getting for Christmas.  Actually, Jude did most of the putting together, while I served as her assistant and played the video we found of a guy putting the same foosball table together.  Team effort.
• The day after Christmas - December 26 - when Joe got up in the morning, he was ecstatic to see that the foosball table was still downstairs, in the living room.  I was confused until he told me he thought Santa Claus was going to take it back (to the North Pole, presumably) while the boys were asleep on Christmas night.  I guess he thought it was a rental.
• Big hits for Joe this Christmas - the foosball table and "Baseball Guys."  Joe loves J.P.'s "Football Guys" (a gift long ago from former next door neighbors, Deb and Rich Lehrer) and he was really excited to get "Baseball Guys" from Santa Claus.  He's played with it non-stop since Christmas.  For J.P., the biggest hit was his "football gloves" (receiver's gloves), although they're too big for him.  He's enjoyed  his hockey stickers, too.
• For Jude's parent's 47th anniversary, we went to see the Christmas lights at Cheekwood, followed by dinner at the Pineapple Room.  The weather was great and it was an enjoyable night, for sure.  Joe enjoyed watching the trains run outside at the train exhibit and J.P. enjoyed roasting marshmallows an making smores.
• Our friends, Giles, Josephine and their sons, Hugo and Cecil, went to church with us the Sunday before Christmas.  It was J.P.'s favorite Sunday of the year, as he got to help decorate St. Patrick for Christmas.  Cecil joined him and J.P. got a kick out of showing him the ropes.  Afterwards, we went to Martin's BBQ for lunch.  A good Sunday morning.

Overall, another nice Christmas holiday that I'm sad to have behind me.  It was nice, though, to have one more year - maybe the last one - where both boys totally and completely believed in Santa Claus and the magic of Christmas.  I hope, but doubt, that we can squeeze one more Christmas in where we get a buy in from both boys.  But, that's for next December.   

Christmas Eve 2015

It's Christmas Eve in Nashville, Tennessee, and I'm sitting on the side porch of our new house enjoying a ridiculous 66 degree evening.  Global warming?  It feels like it.

The boys are in bed, Jude just went to bed and we're all set for Christmas morning.  The big ticket item this year?  A foosball table for the boys.  It's nice to have room for one, as it fit quite nicely in the playroom upstairs.

It's our first Christmas in the new house, so it feels a little strange (to me, anyway).  Although I'm settling into our new house, I miss our old house, neighbors and neighborhood terribly, especially at this time of year.  Not to be maudlin about it, but we celebrated Christmas there a dozen times.  I know, as time goes on, I'll settle in here, establish new holiday traditions - like sitting on the side porch on Christmas Eve in 66 degree weather - and the new house will become woven into the fabric of my life like the old house was before we moved.

The boys were so excited today and this evening.  "Can you believe Christmas will be here tomorrow morning?  J.P. asked, over and over again.  The boys are so innocent and believing it makes my heart ache because I know the time is rapidly approaching when the holidays won't be that way for them and, by default, for us.  God, it's such a special thing, to share the Christmas season with young children.

So many of my friends have older children - high school and college aged children.  I envy them sometimes, because their lives seem simpler and less demanding.  They have more freedom than Jude and I do.  I worry I won't be able to enjoy my boys high school and college years the way I would like to, because I'll be an older father.  My health is always a concern, more so as I get older.  However, I wouldn't trade anything - not anything - for having the opportunity to celebrate Christmas with J.P. eight times and with Joe four times, counting tomorrow.  God has blessed me.

Merry Christmas, 2015.

Joe

I could take one thousand pictures of Joe and not get one as good as this one.  I took this one at the Children's House Winter Bazaar.  Normally, Joe doesn't like to have his picture taken.  This particular morning, for some reason, he just laughed while I took pictures of him shooting basketball.

'Tis the Season

I'm sitting in a crowded Frothy Monkey on 12th Avenue, near our house, enjoying some Justin Townes Earle on Spotify and a Bell's Two Hearted Ale, while Christmas Day hurtles toward me like a giant asteroid.  Five days away and counting.

I'm not feeling particularly "Christmas-sy," mostly because my office in a state of turmoil due to staffing issues.  Over the past 18 months we have lost at least three staff or employees, two longtime valued members of our team.  It's another post for another day, but suffice to say my theory that you treat staff and employees well and they will reciprocate is way, way off base.  The reality is that to anyone other than Mark, Chas and me, it's just another job, no different, special or better than any other job.  Perhaps that's a bit cynical, but it feels like the truth at the moment.    

J.P. finished up his fall basketball (First Presbyterian Church) league yesterday.  His team lost to a team of Oak Hill boys in a close game for the only blemish on an otherwise perfect fall season.  Truthfully, it was good for his team to lose a game, I think, as they had rolled over all of their other opponents.  The teams were evenly matched and it was fun watching them go at it.  J.P.'s team led until midway through the fourth quarter, when players on the Oak Hill team hit three tough shots in a row.  I think the final was 26-22.

I was proud of J.P., because he was matched up against a taller, older and better player throughout the game.  He scored two or three buckets on J.P. and pushed him around in the lane a bit, but J.P. held  his own.  He played tough, which made me proud.

The highlight of the game, for me, was when Wes (our tallest player) posted his defender up, clapped his hands and demanded the ball.  Of course, our guards didn't throw it to him, but I loved the play for a couple of reasons.  First, Wes is probably the most good natured, laid back player on the team.  For him to clap his hands and demand the ball was a big, big step.  Second, the post up was strong, and it showed me he is learning how to use his body to screen a defender off and get the ball in scoring position.  I love moments like that in  youth sports.

I found myself getting a little more fired up than usual.  At one point, I shouted at J.P. to move his feet on defense and he actually replied, "I am!"  Notwithstanding the fact that he wasn't moving his feet, it made me wonder if, at times, I am a little too demonstrative at games.  Generally, we talk about two or three things for him to work on during games and I try to leave it at that.  It's virtually impossible for me, but I think during the winter season, I'm going to try to watch his games without cheering (loudly), instructing from the sideline, etc.  We'll see how that goes.

After the game, almost the entire team (and parents) went to Edley's on 12th Avenue for brunch.  Great boys, great families.  Jude and I are so lucky to have fallen into this circle of friends - for us and for J.P.  I hope it works the same way with Joe.