Christmas Eve 2012: "Fleece Navidad"
It’s late afternoon on Christmas Eve, just about the time my brother John would get in his pickup and drive into Wiggins to do his thoughtful Christmas shopping at the hardware store. It is one of those traditions that gets better in the memory as the years pass. He was way ahead of his time – now we are all supposed to think global and shop local. John got half of that right. I think after the hardware store, his thoughts only got about as global as Johnson’s Super, which should have just been called the Wiggins Grocery Store: somehow “super” just didn’t fit. There John would pick up his Gatorade, Sprite, M&M’s and Hostess Donettes. He often times would explain how this combination of groceries satisifed all the food groups in what ever pyramidal form they took in his logic. I am missing John tonight.
It’s partly because of the “make a gift for the person you drew” blues I am experiencing. Last year it was Sam, with the duct tape, in the bedroom at 2 a.m. that I was facing as I tried to piece together the wallet that even the five year old girl on YouTube had no trouble making. When it is so simple that a child can do it, all I have to do is consider all the electronic devices I see youngsters using that I don’t know the name of, don’t know their capabilities, don’t know how to use and have no desire to learn, to know that it still could be well beyond me. The wallet got made and he uses it – a supreme act of heroic charity. Then I drew Sam’s name again this year. Not talented am I, but I do sometimes beat the odds. His mom once again found out in her sneaky way what he wanted. She crept up behind him and said, “Sam, what do you want your person to make for you this year?” Taken totally by surprise, he blurted out his heart’s desire, “Mom, all I want for Christmas is a fleece blanket to wrap up in when I am using the electronic devices that some people in this house have no idea how to use.” Seconds later I had the information in hand.
Now I had to apply originality to the gift. Sam likes the Broncos, the Broncos are doing good because of some guy named Manning and now some other guy named Knowshawn (not sure of his spelling and I haven’t time to look it up) and Four Wise Men who, I think, include John Elway. What I know about Knowshawn is that he hurdles over people and is a bench warmer turned starter. Manning has something like three broken necks but people have more confidence in him than Tebow and Denver might win the Super Bowl because at least one of the Wise Men did and can help others do it too. So, with all this knowledge stored in my all natural, non-electronic brain, I came up with the idea of the fleece blanket being the Orange and Blue of the Broncos. So here’s the status of the production. Today sisters Barb and Wendy went out and bought the fleece – I think it was not from a hardware store and they went out a little earlier than John’s runs into Wiggins. The orange and blue material was in a big bag when she brought it home, and it is in a big bag now, untouched by he who must learn how to and then make a fleece blanket. I’m told it’s so easy a child could do it, so what is the worry or the hurry? My fingers still feel the tingle of nimbleness from creating the duct tape wallet last year at this time, or a few hours later, so now I just apply them to the much more welcoming fleece and a blanket should appear almost out of nowhere.
I think it’s time to turn to John and ask for a little help. After all, anyone who could fit Sprite and Donettes at the top of the food pyramid with nothing below, has to know what to do with some fleece. OK John, it’s Christmas Eve and Pete needs a present.
Merry Christmas, John. And Merry Christmas to all of you. And we’ll know in a few hours how Sam’s Christmas is turning out.
Jezu, ufam Tobie.