Much Happier Holidays

 

Well, after two months of living "in sin" as my Mother put it things were going pretty well.  I somehow managed to be a nice polite daughter as Mother raged on how awful I was.  It really did not bother me that she said she would not come to visit if I was living with "him".  Naturally she would not call him by name as it might sound like there was some possibility that one day she would change her mind and like him.  I would miss the shopping trips tp New York and lunch at the Plaza Hotel with her, but I would not miss having to act like I was the perfect twelve-year old daughter she expected me to be.

I always hated holidays when I was growing up and all the years I was married to Dennis.  My parents were not good with the extra time off work that meant they had to spend more time together.  Holidays gave them too much time together in the house. Usually they were not speaking to each other after the first day.  Thanksgiving was always quiet as we had no big family get togethers.  A few times Uncle Tom was invited to come over for dinner which made for the only pleasant Thanksgivings we ever had.

Dennis had grown up with tons of family around for every holiday.  There were years when we went to Warner and joined in the melee but most of the time his parents came to our house.  Seems like I spent the day cooking, then cleaning up while everyone else watched television or took naps.  I was never a big fan of turkey but only liked the dressing.  That was a good thing since there is that chemical in the turkey that causes drowsiness and I certainly could not have gotten things cleaned up if I had eaten any.

Thanksgiving with Charles was a big deal.  Since Christmas was not his thing Thanksgiving had to be special.  The first year we were going together I had his daughter, Jamie and his ex-wife for dinner.  His ex=-wife, Claire, liked to point out that I could be quite attractive if I wore more make-up and nicer clothes.  It was quite humorous as she said all this while standing in front of me with more make-up than the cosmetics counter at Saks carried and so much bling on her clothes you were temporarily blinded by the sight.

But this year Wally went to his Dad's for the eekend while Charles, Jamie and I flew to New York.  Charles's oldest daughter, Brianna, lived in White Plains with her significant other, Rob, so the family was gathering at their home.  It was really a fun weekend with the announcement that Brianne and Rob who had lived together for seven years decided it was time to get married.  The wedding was to be in the spring so there was lots of talk about the wedding plans.  Charles and I managed a trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  They were having a special showing of the work of Diego Rivera, the artist who painted the twenty-seven murals depicting the history of Ford Motor Company and the Industrial Revolution at the Detroit Institute of Arts.  It was outstanding but my favorite section of the Museum was the Egyptian section with all the artifacts from the Pyramids.  Every time we went to New York Charles had to go visit the Museum which made every trip fun.... even with Claire tagging along.

When it came to Christmas Charles wondered if we were going to have a Christmas tree.  Guess he did not realize that in the Christian world the Christmas tree is one of the best parts of the holiday.  So, we went and got a tree.  He got to learn the art of putting it into a stand that was made for a much smaller tree an how much work it was to make it the most beautiful tree in the world.  Some how he did not realize the tree did not need to have a bare two-foot trunk or that he should have gotten the salesman to cut it off.  A Skill saw is difficult to use on a tree that was too big to hold still.  When Wally carried seven moving boxes in from the garage Charles did not know they were lights and decorations that would take two days to get on the tree.  Wally and I had lots of secret smiles over his learning process.

The best part of the entire holiday was Charles asking me if he should take Wally shopping for gifts for me.  I thought it was incredibly sweet as Wally never had money to go shopping unless I gave it to him.  They went one evening and both came back all smiles.  Wes arrived on Christmas Eve, so it was a fun day.

After Christmas Wally, Charles and I went skiing at Cadillac, Michigan.  They had night skiing which Wally and I tried once.  Once was enough as you could not see the moguls in the dark.  We both went flying a couple of times but did not get hurt.  This was the beginning of snowboards being used.  I was happily skiing along when suddenly, I had something hit me in the back and I went flying.  Some jerk on a snowboard hit me and then just kept going.  No more night skiing for me.

Wes stayed at Charles's house while we were gone and worked at the skating rink in Troy.  Somehow Bowser got the remains of the Pumpkin Pie and chowed down on it.  Pumpkin Pie does not seem to set well with dogs and Wes needed a lesson in how to clean dog poop from carpet.  It was a good thing Charles loved Bowser more than any of us and just felt sorry for the poor Bowser.

All in all, Christmas was the best especially since my friend Claire had a Black-Tie Christmas Party.  Charles rented a Tux and I got all dressed up and we both had a wonderful time.

Ron had cast Wally in the ice show so in January we started going to the ice rink in Birmingham to get Wally's skating up to par.  Most of the guys in the show were past the age of thirty and had been skating since they could walk.  The younger guys were all junior champions of one sort or another.  This plus all the costumes I oversaw and the ones I had to make for Wally and I were going to keep me terribly busy for the next few months.  This was going to be an interesting year with the ice show.