Friday December 19th, 2014

The exercise:

Write four lines of prose about a: holiday tradition.

Max (sort of) helped me put up Christmas lights this afternoon at Kat's parents house. Mostly he took almost every opportunity presented by me being at the top of a ladder or chair or couch to run off and get into things he shouldn't be playing around with.

Still got them up though.

Ready to roll tomorrow morning for the very, absolutely certainly last market of 2014. It's been a good business year but I'm quite ready to finish it off.

Then I can start fully looking forward to family beginning to arrive on Monday.

Mine:

Staying up late on Christmas Eve to keep watch for Santa's arrival was something that started when I was five. Shawn, my brother, was seven and even back then he made sure we were well equipped in case the big man showed his face. We've progressed from the slingshots and hockey sticks we had in our youth to shotguns and tire irons, but otherwise the tradition remains the same.

I imagine our yearly vigil will continue until we're finally able to make him pay for Shawn's pink bike and my crochet kit that he left us the Christmas before our watch began.

3 comments:

Greg said...

Good luck with the market today! And I see you're cheating and responding to comments early so you can pretend you were doing them at the market too ;-)
Max sounds delightful and just like all small children at that age, so well done with getting all the decorations up despite him :) And I rather like your holiday tradition; it's one more families should have!

Holiday tradition
Santa had been tied to the cross using heavy rope until they'd run out, and then hessian sacks rolled up and tied together. His head was lolling to one side and the fake beard was slipping off, revealing the red-nosed, alcoholic visage of Pastor Paul beneath. The Bishop rather felt that the children had gotten their Christmas and Easter traditions mixed up, but then he was having a hard time feeling sorry for Pastor Paul for having gotten himself in this state in the first place. He looked over the nativity/crucifixion scene once more, then smiled beatifically at the children, and suggested that they all get inside and out of the sub-zero temperatures.

David said...

Jocelyn purchased her final gift, at 11:57 P.M. on December 24th, right under the wire. Two minutes earlier than the previous year, complying with all rules stipulating that Christmas shopping must be completed prior to said date. Jocelyn would now go home and put up the tree, hang the stockings, and festively adorn the house with Christmas cheer. She would slumber peacefully knowing that she was filled with the Christmas spirit, until her parents shrilly woke her with complaints that Santa does not come to a Jewish household.

Marc said...

Greg - yeah, Max is quite something. I think you'd get quite the kick out of him if you were to meet him.

Ouch. Were these Miss Snippet's students, by any chance? :)

David - hah, that is some solid dedication right there. Love that she's putting up the Christmas tree and decorations in the early morning hours of Christmas day.

For obvious reasons, clearly, but I just love the idea of it.