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.