A long time ago when life was a new wonderment every day and the delight of growing up in a prosperous economy overwhelmed the senses, Christmas came into being once again. There was the huge flocked tree obtained from the local supermarket and the homemade ornaments and the bright incandescent lights that shine all night because energy is cheap and the Christian family together in December. The cold, Crisp transparent evening with bright stars set in darkness that surrounds the houses that choose to decorate for the holidays comes into being and sets the stage for the upcoming new year. Grandpa and Grandma are coming for Christmas dinner and they brought all the gifts last week and put them underneath the big flocked tree with a thousand lights. Toys and chocolates and fruit boxes and clothes and everything a child could and ever would dream of owning.
It is five o’clock and already dark and the white Ford Fairlane pulls up in front of the lighted porch on Bacon way. Grandpa and Grandma get out of the car with big smiles. Wracks and the Fonz stand in the front hallway waiting for them to enter. Louis is not a big man but he was but the two surgeries he suffered shrank him at least two inches and all that remains of his dark wavy hair is a bald head. Grandma is petite with overly fine hair with a reddish tint to it. They both wear thick woolen overcoats that define the cold weather in the coldest month of the year in California known as December. Grandpa takes the main reclining chair in the living and dining room, lights up a big Roi Tan cigar and puffs. Smoke fills the room but no one cares because dad is a smoker too. Grandma goes into the kitchen to help Norma prepare the Christmas meal and Grandpa reads the business page and studies the stock market. The Wracks and the Fonz sit in the convertible sofa opposite the big reclining chair and give Grandpa Company while swilling two Roy Rogers alcohol-less cocktails made by Dad from his convertible bar over the television set.
Amerada oil booms grandpa from behind the business page
American airlines is the one to watch he states firmly afterwards.
It’s time to eat says mom. Everyone come to the table.
The nicest piece of furniture at the Wracker house is the dining room table. It is made of black walnut with all the French artistry woven in and with two planks inserted in the convertible chassis it can sit up to ten people. Tonight it is six and the black table adorns with wedding china in white with roses and sterling silver cutlery, four pieces at each setting. Pine cones form a Christmas centerpiece and each setting has a wine and a water glass in crystal. Christmas fare is from Grandpa, he ordered specially a large eye of round roast roasted to medium rare because he felt that this was the most flavors filled cut not prime rib as most people assert. Steamed green bean drizzled in olive oil, with a touch of Garlic serves as the vegetable and exemplifies the mounds of mashed potatoes made with fresh butter. For wine there appears a bottle of Cabaret Sauvignon and the kids get a quarter glass-full for Christmas.
Everyone thanks God with the meal prayer and father raises his glass upwards and toasts to us.
Manga he says.
The food disappears and everyone has seconds and Grandma who sits on the left of the Wracks puts another helping of beef on his plate and tells him to finish it. The family gorges on the fine food and then sits back in their chairs with big smiles on their faces. Desert appears in the form of pie and vanilla ice cream. Two eight inch pies appear on the table, one blueberry the other cherry and they divide up and partition across the table. Then a decanter of fresh brewed Columbian coffee from a percolator is on the table and everyone has a cup with some fresh milk. The dinner draws to a close and Christmas is almost done. The china spaces evenly in the dishwasher and the silver ware is washed by hand and dried and put back in its own case till next year. The Wracks clears the table and does the dishes as he usually does for every holiday festivity. Each piece is hand dried and put in its place until next year’s Thanksgiving. The older Fonz disappears as is his trick every holiday but will re-appear to say good-bye to the guests. Grandfather and Grandmother sit in the living room in the French chairs around the Christmas trees and talk to the parents. The Wracks sits on the floor, plays with some toys and looks in wonder at the beauty and finality and immortality at the event as it occurs once a year. The lights glimmer and bounce off the tinsel on the tree onto the ornaments hand made over the decade. After about an hour of talk and relaxation the Grandparents announce that they are leaving. The Wracks fetches their thick woolen coats from the hall closet. The front entry is lighted and the red brick steps lead to the white Ford Fairlane with the small block v-8 that will eventually become the party truck of the Fonz. The air is cold in December and the stars scintillate brightly and seem to say that this is a day for the king of Kings. The Wrackers wave goodbye to Louis and Theresa and the white car turns in a driveway and chugs off down the street of Bacon way. The family withdraws and enters the edifice and turns off the lights in the kitchen and living room and the Wracks sits in the living room next to the tree and wonders. After a while he extinguishes the tree and goes to his bedroom. His father is smoking before going to bed and his wife has just recently quit. Christmas is done for another year.
This happened before the dark times, before the dog, before the emergency surgery and the jet plane ride home. The great learning never happened until many years in the future. Christmas is a time where believers salute the birth of the savior who gave up his life for mankind. What this means is nebulous to most but the ritual and the rite give credence and meaning to this worldly existence. The Wracks wants to thank all those who ushered him through and enabled him to achieve his senior years. Christmas is for giving, for charity, for tolerance of others and belief that a better life awaits sometime in the future. Thanks to all humanity that helped and have a truly, bounteous and merry Christmas.