Xmas is a’ Coming

Xmas is a’ coming, and the geese are getting fat. 

If you haven’t bought your gifts online, you’ll have to wear a mask. 

If you haven’t got a mask to wear, you’ll have to stay at home. 

If you end up with a fever too, then God bless you. 

God bless you everyone, God bless you.  

Ahhh, Christmas in 2020. Maybe everyone will get a shot of vaccine in their stockings or some help from the Wyoming Business Council. It’s a different holiday season this year – perhaps it’s best to visit Christmases past. 

One year, I talked my sister into a trip to southern California to spend Christmas with my dad. We had my two kids, her two kids and a cooler of food to save money.  

Dad sent all of the kids big puffy Bronco coats, and they arrived in time for us to pack them for the trip. We had to jump on the trunk lid to get it closed. 

On Christmas Day we were still in Wyoming. Bob saw the weather and said we should skedaddle. We made it to Evanston, got a room and scattered the kids all over the floor.  

We planned to spend the next night in Las Vegas. I mistakenly thought no one would be spending Christmas in Las Vegas. I was wrong. 

We found a cheap room next to the oldest casino with a kid’s section.  We drug the kids through it and unhappily went back to the small room where the kids scattered on the floor once more. 

We finally arrived in sunny California, where the kids lived in the pool for the next few days. My sister and I pruned the overgrown bougainvillea and helped straighten up the yard.  

Then came time to head back home without a stop in Las Vegas. I don’t believe my sister talked to me for a while after this trip, but we were all younger then. 

On another Christmas, Bob and I hosted our families for a Christmas Eve dinner. Earlier the same fall, two big bull elk had a fight on the meadow right outside of Bob’s mom’s house. One elk gored the other in the jugular, and it died.  

Bob had the game warden come out and confirm so he could keep the horns.   

On Christmas Eve, Bob and our son Jim decided they should boil down the horns and give them to Bob’s mom for Christmas. I was cooking gingerbread for the evening’s entertainment of making houses, and Bob and Jim were on the living room floor working on getting the horns clean and affixed to an old, rustic cabin door.  

I remember not getting much help for having both families come for Christmas Eve dinner, but it all worked out in the end.  I was younger then. 

One story I treasure from Bob’s mom was a Christmas Eve when her kids were little.  Jim, Bob’s dad, never went for a Christmas tree until Christmas Eve. 

There wasn’t ever much money for presents, so Jim believed this would keep the excitement down. Jo remembers having the tree, leftover branches strewn about, ornaments scattered and kids all racing around when the neighbors showed up for a nice Christmas Eve visit. It all worked out. She was younger then.  

My mom always said she did the best Christmas shopping for us late on Christmas Eve one year when we were all small. 

My dad traveled for work, and it may have been the only time she could shop, but she went out on Christmas Eve, and everything was on sale. This could have been the precursor to Black Friday. 

We are all dealing with repercussions of the pandemic this Christmas, whether it’s because we aren’t able to be with family due to travel restrictions or at the very worst, having a close relative in the hospital all alone. My hope is the New Year will be better for all.   

God bless you everyone! God bless you.   

If you haven’t got a ha’penny, then God bless you.