Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 2o14 WK o4

Wednesday, December 24, 2o14

It was interesting to see the morning. David and I were out our respective doors by 1o:15 AM. Most times we both aren't awake before noon. But today was special, being Christmas Eve and all. I was pleasantly shocked by David's declaration as we drove down Boyd St. that we were headed for the Sooner Fashion Mall. I love the mall at Christmas time. All the people scurrying around on Christmas Eve to get that last present. And the mall today didn't disappoint. So many people, young and older running around from store to store. A few people were riding to the shops on big, fluffy mechanical dogs! Big rental. The automaton was big enough for a grown person and a kid to ride on it's back . . . for 25 cents a turn. AND there was a genuine Santa Claus, real salt and pepper beard, real red suit, not that cheap, fake velvet stuff. AND for X amount of dollars you could get your kid's pic taken with him on his very realistic throne! Great fun.

We had to stop at Walmart which was even more busy than the mall. People were moody, angry, running round more like combat soldiers than jolly, holiday shoppers! I was walking up to this register and this woman pushed me out of the way to get to the groceries she had on the conveyer belt in front of me. I found myself getting "angry." It's really way easy to buy into the negative energy of other  people. BUT, no, it was Christmas Eve, Damn it! I was going to stay positive. So, I smiled at her and said, "Merry Christmas." She glared at me with devil eyes . . . and said nothing.

I wrote this Christmas time poem for a challenge on Facebook:

Christmas Time in Oklahoma

 

My sister loves the snow.

 

Disappointed she is
when Christmas rolls around

and all we get in Oklahoma
is black ice roads and a stiff wind
that makes the neighbor’s cat
curl up alongside the engine block
of my sister’s beat-up old Chevy.

 

Two cats have passed on this year

due to frigid weather and my sister’s
need to get to work early in the morning.

 

But the snow my sister loves

at Christmas time. It has a way
of making even the most dreadful day,
a day filled with cat funerals
and weeping child mourners
seem somehow cheery.
rrw 12-12-14

Thursday, December 25, 2o14
So, how was your Christmas day? Went over to David's apartment complex, Bishop's Landing and did laundry. Watched the ducks from the Duck Pond swim around in David's  pool. When a wind picked up, there was a flock of mallards that gathered on the north side of the yellowed lawn using the apartments' façade as a windbreak. 

I used to live in Bishop's Landing back in the nineties. Was nicer then. Now the managers have let it all go to hell. Lots of damage to the buildings, swimming pool . . . well, the pool hasn't been open for at least a year, hence the ducks claiming it as their own. Laundry room sucks too. No folding tables, NO hot water! What the hell, man? I think I've talked David into going to one of the laundry mats in town next time we feel like doing laundry! {smile}

So, it wasn't a "traditional" Christmas for me or David. I don't mind. Pretty much I think David feels the same. I did write a Christmas poem for this year. It has been a very "active" year's end! Disturbing a lot of it. Frightening, very frightening at times. But we are alive, are we not? Don't we experience life most when we have struggles to over come? Anyway, here's the poem:

Dreaming Christmas

I’m barefoot for some reason, yet not walking fast.

A slow, steady pace, in a bewildering state, yes,
I roam through the frost bitten streets.
Thin patches of snow litter the ground,
no sounds, no morning birds fluttering around,
or carrying on in the bare naked boughs.

 

I’m wondering and wondering as I wander along

why am I here, why’s this dream taking so long
and why am I not cold, no, not too cold at all
just pleasantly cool, cool as a breeze,
a summery breeze . . . ?

 

Then out of the sky through the chimneys’ black soot  

Kim Jong-un glides towards me on a red parachute
as Seth and Jim in their souped-up Eldorado GM
come roaring along:

 

“Hey guys,” they shout, “what’s going on?”

 

I’m thinking they must be high.

But I say nothing, and Jong-un just sighs.

A shockingly brash air-conditioner sound
breaks the awkward silence with a grand,
angry cry of a high school marching band.

 

“This will not stand!”

cries the woodwind section.

 

“This will not stand!”

moans a lone trombone.

 

“This will not stand!”

is the drum’s thunderous reaction.

 

And with a jolly “Ho, ho, ho!”

Santa himself magically appears
tossing chocolate reindeers
into the crisp winter air.

 

And for some unknown reason

I start to cry and Jong-un too
he starts to cry, and  Seth and Jimmy
and Santa and that lone trombone
start weeping Christmas song tears
as we stand here hugging each other.

 

“I’m sorry," cries Santa.

“I’m sorry,” laughs Jimmy and Seth,
“I’m sorry," I whimper under my breath,
“미안해요,” Kim Jon-un said, a catch in his throat.

 

And like that, I awoke.
I ran to the window and said to the boy on the street below,

Young man, young man is it still Christmas day?”
“No,” said the boy, “it’s the middle of May!”
rrw 12-25-14