The Terrible Catsafterme

My 35th Christmas on earth would come to represent many things. It was the last Christmas that Carolyn and I would spend together. It was the last Christmas that I would spend with my Grandma Murphy. It was the last Christmas that I would have without a nephew. And it was the only Christmas that I would spend with my purple furniture. Although Carolyn and I were going through a lot of problems, we managed to cope with the holiday quite well, decorating extensively complete with lighted garland hanging over our sliding door blinds. As we put up the tree and I looked at her under it, I wondered if this would be our last holiday season together.

Something happened to this photo, our only proof of the Sons of the Desert snowman that we built that winter

But for these problems, I seemed extremely jovial – and fat – for the Christmas gathering at our house on Christmas Eve. I know this because Carolyn used our video recorder to tape a good portion of the evening centering  around the gift opening. From the video, I can tell what many of the gifts included, which I never would have known otherwise.

Before the holiday actually arrived, I was busy at home in my basement putting up autographed photos on the walls. Carolyn had recently painted it red and the collection of primarily black and white photos contrasted nicely with the walls. The intention was to cover the entire basement, but I only finished two walls and five years later, that is still all that is complete. I bought $1 black frames from Dollar Generals around the Dayton and Cincinnati areas, stopping often as I did holiday visits to many of my stores.

Speaking of work, we had a few Christmas gatherings of our own. I actually opted to skip the division party this year, but our operations department had a nice gathering at a fancy restaurant called the White House on Tuesday, December 13. The next week, we had another dinner at TGI Fridays, where we invited former members of our department on December 20.

My cousin Rob and his wife Amber also returned home from Germany (where Rob was stationed before going to Iraq) before the holidays and Bill & Dottie hosted a nice gathering for them at their apartment clubhouse. Carolyn & I would also go out to dinner with them at the Olive Garden and then come back to my house to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

Christmas Eve fell on a Saturday this year, so I was off work once again. The gathering took place at our home and and we had a packed house. In addition to Carolyn, Ashleigh, and me, we had Mom & Bob, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa Murphy, Bill & Dottie, Denise & Aaron, Arline, and Briana. Arline came sporting a black eye from some surgery she had had. Naturally, I gave everyone a tour of the basement I had been working hard to make fascinating.

Ashleigh, Denise, and Briana are nearly swallowed up by the array of gifts

Bill and Dad in the basement, amidst my new autograph decor

Ash and Briana looking prettied up for Christmas

We had a great dinner which probably included the standard ham and turkey sandwiches, potatoes, green beans, and dessert fare – plus the spinach dip appetizer. We arranged the couches and chairs in somewhat of a circle formation, in the areas that the ridiculous amount of gifts didn’t consume. As we ate, the calming music of Vince Guaraldi played on the stereo. After we finished the meal, Ashleigh and Briana began to dispense the gifts. Mostly out of earshot, different music was playing upstairs in the computer/massage room.

Bob and Aaron are waiting for the word go

Ashleigh and Denise join Grandma and Grandpa in the kitchen

Carolyn sleeps through her meal

Dad and Mom chat in the kitchen. Apparently the chairs were too good for them.

Aaron and Briana are two happy souls

Bill, Dottie, and Arline enjoy the pull-up coffee table

Ashleigh and Briana have finished their meal and are calmly waiting to begin tearing into the gifts

There was a good reason for all of this noise. As I said, Carolyn and I were getting along pretty well for the holiday, but there was one point that we were not in agreement about: one of Ashleigh’s gifts. Since the Fall, she had been asking for a kitten. I was not adverse to the idea, but Carolyn wholeheartedly did not want another cat. But since, I felt as if Ashleigh was going through a lot and felt depressed much of the time, I figured I’d go ahead and do it anyway.

Picking out the kitten at SICSA was a story in itself, and so was the hiding of her, and the concealing her constant mewing on Christmas Eve night – which explains the music emanating from everywhere in the house. You can read more about this kitten – who was eventually named Clementine, and almost immediately shortened to Tiny – here.

From the video and some scant remembrances, I could tell that I got the following things: From Grandma & Grandpa – Esther Price candy. From Bill & Dottie: gift card to Red Lobster (“for the seafood lover in us”). From Dad: Leaver It To Beaver Season 1 DVD, Rio Bravo DVD, From Mom: Portable DVD player, purple beach painting, Friends art print and frame. From Denise: dress shirt, Paul McCartney Chaos and Creation in the Backyard CD. From Arline: the world’s worst bird coffee mug. From Carolyn: Of Mice and Magic book, The Disney Films book, poster frame. And I’m not sure who got me what of these, but I received the four Disney Treasure sets of that year – Disney Treasures, The Chronological Donald Volume Two, The Adventures of Spin and Marty, and Elfego Baca and The Swamp Fox. And someone got me sweat pants.

Denise struggles to get through this impenetrable wrapping paper

Briana shows off her new sweater. Ashleigh is casual.

Ashleigh had originally gotten the film Identity for me, but I ruined it when I picked it up myself before Christmas. She then got me Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and I joked to her when I opened it that I had already bought that one as well.

It was hard to see what everyone else got because Carolyn was filming right behind me, but I saw that I got Denise a season of Friends, and an I Love Lucy book (she acted like Mom for a second and said she ‘didn’t know’ if she already had that one). I gave Briana several DVDs that included Honeymoon in Vegas, Titanic, Funny Farm, and Spaceballs. Ashleigh got a new coat (from either Mom or Carolyn), a Friends book, and of course the kitten. Arline and the grandparents got a cookie tin from us. My Mom gave Aaron and table top beer keg, which he appeared to love. Not sure what I gave my Mom or Dad or even Carolyn.

I tried to get Carolyn to open her gifts, pulling a ‘Mom’ myself, by asking her “Do you want to take a break so you can open up some pictures?” Other than that, I was in a silly mood, overusing the word ‘fantastic’ over the course of the gift unwrapping. One of her gifts from me was a season ticket to all of the upcoming La Comedia shows in 2006.

The reveal of Tiny didn’t come until the end of the gift opening, at which time I asked Ashleigh and Briana to gather on the loveseat and surround themselves with their gifts. I then came up behind her and told her that she had ‘forgotten one’. Carolyn meant to record this, but unfortunately the camera accidentally remained on pause.

Ashleigh and Briana fawn over the new kitten, amidst their other  gifts

Mom purposely ruins this photo with her hand in Ashleigh’s mouth

Tiny, was of course, the center of attention after she made her appearance. Baby didn’t like her so well though, especially after Tiny tried to touch Baby’s nose with her paw. Carolyn was more concerned with how Baby was reacting, although she seemed to warm up quick to Tiny. We took turns operating the camera for a while, following Tiny around as she explored the basement. Ashleigh was concerned that Tiny would get bigger over the next week, at which time she would be in Florida with Briana. After Christmas they would depart on their own, fly to Naples, and meet up with Billy and Jill.

Eventually Briana commandeered the camera and filmed Tiny, then Denise, then Aaron. She commented that “Aaron’s a little calm tonight. I think he can’t wait to get home and try his new beer gizmo.” She went on to say, “And now we’re going back downstairs to see the action of the two cats: Clementine vs. Baby. Da da dum.”

Grandma and Grandpa relax after the gift opening

Bill, Dottie, Arline, and Grandma compose themselves after the melee

Christi came over to pick up the girls, bringing adorable 4-year-old Creed along with her. He opened a couple of gifts from us that included a xylophone and a toy helicopter. He referred to himself as Bubby, his nickname, making sure that the gifts were ‘Bubby’s’.

Creed aka Bubby shows up to claim his gifts

The only photo me from Christmas Eve was me with Grandpa and Grandma as they were heading out. My last picture with Grandma.

After the Christmas parties were over, Tiny becomes the apple of my eye

Irresistible

Baby is not sure about the new intruder

Unfortunately, I cannot be anywhere near as detailed about Christmas day itself, except to note that we went to Carolyn’s Mom’s house in the morning -as tradition dictated. No doubt we had the standard biscuits and gravy for breakfast and broccoli soup and cheese bread for lunch. All of Carolyn’s grandparents, parents, siblings, nieces and nephews, and sometimes aunts, uncles, and cousins (in this case, Jackie was there for sure) would pile into the living room for an afternoon of fun and camaraderie.

Christmas Day with the Gelm girls. Standing: Carolyn’s sister Rosemarie, sister-in-law Susan, sister Janette, cousin Jackie. Kneeling: her future sister-in-law Christy, her, and sister Mel.

Carolyn apparently gave up on this photo

Christy and Carolyn remain…and get funky…after the photo is done

Late that afternoon, we headed over to my Mom’s house for the Murphy Christmas gathering. Again I must mention that this was the last Christmas that we got to share with Grandma Murphy. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to track down any photos of this gathering, save the two below. Diana supplied these and says that the group photos was the last photo taken of Grandma. This was also the last year that we held our gift exchange whereby we would draw names from a hit to see who we were buying for, a practice we had been doing for as long as I can remember – at least as far back as the early 1980’s. After this, we would begin the White Elephant gift exchange only.

14-month old Tori checks out Mom’s Christmas tree

Christmas day at Mom’s house. Ed, Bev, Mom, Grandpa, Tom, and Grandma

And last but not least, I must note that this was the last pre-website Christmas that didn’t get the minute-by-minute details of successive Christmases beginning in 2006. This one just has to remain part of the memory landscape.

We will continue into 2006…

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 18th, 2010 at 6:09 am and is filed under 2000's - Late, Christmas, Family Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.