Christmas morning
My enlightened brother in law got Peanut
a set of cap pistols and a cheap feathered war bonnet now she and her 4 yr old
cousin have got me holed up in my office room circling as they ride up and down
the wood floors on horse sticks discharging their firearms and calling for my
surrender with assorted war whoops and blood curdling cries.
I got the dog in
here with me and we are attempting to send smoke signals with the Christmas
cigar I got in the mail,
The stick horses these rascals ride nowadays don't
come cheap as they are constructed with the built in recordings of
the clippitty –clop and whinnies.; .
I'm not sure how long I can hold
out, my pup is crossing her legs so it won't be long .
Its late
Christmas morning ;and I have circles under my eyes
. I have been at with
the little darlings since they woke me at 5:30 am and right now the
din of their war party of going up and down the hall is
sounding less like the joy of Christmas and more like Custers
crossing of the Little Big Horn ..
Reading the Chinese instructions
on putting together the vanity set at two in the morning didn't help
either
My Mrs. ,who cares not for the cee-gar smoke wants me to surrender it and
take up religion .( the 11 am Christmas service)
I say nutten
doing … until all sides lay down their arms and take baths to get ready
for pow –wow service at the great chiefs house I ain’t
budging .
We discuss the terms of surrender through
the knot hole in the door which serves as a speaker phone .The terms are
difficult ; I have to shave, give up the cigar ,and where some cheap ass
swill of an aftershave that will disguise its aroma and be ready in an
hour and a half .
Then to make matters worse I have to also wear a
dopey Christmas ties that her myopic aunt gave me Its one of those that sport a
Frosty the Snow man surrounded by red sequins. on a red field
I am
appalled . My kids have it worse .They have to wear some hideous Christmas
outfit of Mary Janes and plus fours that her aunt dreamed up from the
Birmingham edition of Red book .
She in turn has to give me “quality time “
in front of the sports TV with out interruption .
We trade our
cards like this going back and forth through the hole.
The
negotiation is tough but I seem to be getting somewhere when I
spy through the window glass more of my in-laws pulling
up the driveway and exiting their cars with arms full of
fruit cake, ribbon boxes ,and kids with what? Cap guns ..
The situation is now deteriorating rapidly. I holler to my
wife “abandon ship “and disappear down the hall wearing my ill fitting
pair of Christmas Scooby doo boxers that my daughter thought I needed , .
I
find my fuzzy blue robe and house shoes under a pile of torn ribbon and
wrapping paper and count the seconds until the bell at the front door
rings .
The bells rings and go to the door munching
the last of my Rolaids for courage .
There at the window of the door is a collection of low stout women
wearing church helmet hats looking look like they may play
linemen for the Packers .
I answer the door with a loud
Ho-Ho-Ho. Hoping by some chance that my beaver breath my wife is complaining
about all morning might scare em off .
Nothing doing ,I
barely got out the last Ho when my body was crushed with a barrage
of boxes and prickly red corsages that scourged my naked chest .
Blinded by
the Lilac perfume I am then pummeled into submission by a
lashing of mushy kisses and then backslapped into stupidity
by their overweight husbands wearing bright red suspenders and
checkered pants . .
I feel kike Ive been in a car wash
Underfoot
the crowd the kids pounced on one another l and exchanged pot shots
between our knees in a running battle around grownups with
their cap pistols.
My knees are thrown by the weight of the
women by now are doing everything humanly possible to keep from
buckling . .
The mob then suddenly breaks and spills
past me as if there had been a call for a free lunch,.
Suddenly I am
standing all alone in the hall and holding on to all the
ribbon boxes while wearing a red smear of lipstick on my
forehead .
Unable to see behind the boxes I stumble down the hall dazed
behind the crowd .
I enter the drawing room where I am not helped
with the boxes but chided by my Mrs. For getting “fresh” with her cousin while
she wipes the smear from my forehead.
The act creates a great primitive roar of laughter, to
which I keep telling myself that Christmas comes but once a year and then
watch with horror as the unwanted guests sit down and entertain
themselves by talking loudly and putting their feet up on the furniture while
draining the nut bowl of its provisions ,
In a few moments we go over by the tree we exchanges gifts and while
I can't refuse their lovely offers of hardened fruit cake I get a chance
to get even with Hi test shots of my Grappa snaps that I have
been saving for just such an occasion .
The snaps has them gasping with dyspepsia and pausing between their words
. Meanwhile the ongoing range war with the little darlings and
the cap pistols continues up and down the front stairs with the Mrs.
giving me anti- Christmas stares should I try and stop them
Frustrated I secretly declare war on the guests and plan
on their hasty departure if not their demise through their gluttony .
I
do this by offering up portions of a local delicacy called
Vinnea sausages that are highly spiced and are known to cause hemorrhoids
if not other serious ailments in that area
I announce that they are a tradition “of the house” then coyly add
that everyone has good luck “ who eats them . Try “at least one
“
The chemistry of imbibing Vinnea sausages and chasing it with Snaps has
been known to clear out all but the worse couch potatoes .
Within minuets the
guests were excusing themselves to the water closet and making gestures
with their hands either politely patting their chests or as in the
case of the men outright pounding their chests as if trying to beat back
the vile gas that was destroying their esophagus .
Within minuets
it was clearly time to go ;and as the old kitchen radio played the strains
of ” “Its Beginning to look a lot like Christmas “ our wobbly guests, despite my
protests, excused themselves ,collected their petulant children ,and
staggered out the door while I shadowed their retreat with more offers
of libation and this time Christmas Cookies with hard icing
that “were a must” . .
We made it to church in time for what I can only
describe was a Chinese fire of dashing in and out of closets and stumbling over
the Christmas wrapping paper looking for socks .
The rest of the morning was spent repenting for
what had happened
.I even wore my dopey Christmas tie like
a hair shirt and doused myself with the odious aftershave Brad
Pitt sells by sprinkling it into his underclothes to mask the smell
of my cigar
The other parishioners who seemed high on
Listerine gave me a wide berth in my pew .
The Christmas message was: “Love
thy neighbor
which I am all for….. Michael