Thursday, December 25, 2008

Dang Near a Post

A good friend has been checking on me the last couple of days via emails... my last reply was lengthy enough I thought I'd add a couple of pictures and call it a post. So... If you don't mind dropping into the middle of a conversation...

----------------------

...True.

Just finished cleaning up after dinner. I made a traditional big meal... rolls, turkey, mashed taters, pie... the works.

Isaac's a lot like me... he wanted a photo of the Greenleaf Men's Christmas Dinner!)

And now the kitchen is clean.

A proper metaphor does not come to mind, but there is something about her... at some point when she visits with the boys we stop and talk, and the regret she feels, the emotional storm that swirls around her, and there is something.... body language, a look in the eyes, the tenor of her voice, and we seem to be flowing into strange roles... like some Shakespearean tragedy...

Star-crossed love or such nonsense...

That is how it feels...

I can almost sense that these emotionally charged moments are the reverse of what she was doing with John... when they had to part and she come home to me... a soap operish melodrama... there must have hung in the air the horrid unfairness of life that we can't have our cake... pretty on the table... and eat it as well. That the sorrows of our hurts will shape our lives forever.

It's true, and it's crap.

She had bad things happen to her. I've had bad things happen to me. Bad things have happened to us and our kids.

It does not let us off the hook in terms of our integrity and character.

So she slips and slides along a path slick with her failures, and I am sitting on a rock letting it all wash away.

Enough.

Today was a strange Christmas for all of us.

I was up late wrapping presents, wiping and resetting my old computer to give to Isaac (I thought it hilarious I felt the need to record the event, so I made sure I included this absurd guy in the mirror). And yeah... that is three Apple computers you see there. I know, I know... But you may have learned, being an Apple user is the geek world's version of a cult (I know the secret handshake and have the white robe!). If that isn't PC enough for you, deal with it.

We filled in for her in the customary roles dictated by our traditions, and I spent a good deal of time showing Jeremiah how to cook.


It was a good meal. It was a good day.

The boys loved their gifts. Isaac finally got a computer of his own, and Jeremiah got an RC Mustang. Vrooom vrooom!

The boys have never had jacks before.

Hmmmm... this is dang near a post rather than an email.

I might as well toss it onto The Journey and throw in some pictures.

Merry Christmas, Sis!


Isaac wanted me to post for posterity the cleanest his room has ever been (Dad helped!)


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas to you all!!! Tell Isaac his room rocks!

jel said...

sounds like ya had a good one

his room is cleaner then mine !

merry christmas guys!

Lucy Stern said...

It sounds like you had a wonderful day.....I bet your Christmas dinner was good and the three of you ate till you heart was content..... Tell Issac, I love his room and he did a great job cleaning it. Ask him if he will come over and help me with mine...lol. Keep going Will, you are doing a great job with the boys.

Amrita said...

That was some dinner, you guys must have worked real hard to prepare it all.

Anonymous said...

Great with jacks! I bought jacks and marbles and pick up stix....great coordination skills.
I'd love to see how Isaac would paint his room - other than pumpkin........

Jada's Gigi said...

Looks like a wonderful day! I got J some jacks for Christmas...extra large for her little hands...which she threw up in disgust 2 minutes after starting to play! lol I'm sure I was playing jacks with regular sized jacks at 7...5 shouldn't be too early to start learning should it? The boys look great and that room is positively shining. :) you look as if you;d lost some weight too. Need to eat more of that good cooking! Merry Christmas, brother.