Mom: All that snow?
Dad: Yes! And there was nothing, not a flake on the ground, when it started.
Mom: After all the kids had gone to bed.
Dad: And they woke up to see all that snow outside.
Mom: That was perfect.
Dad: A perfect Christmas morning.
Mom and Dad are sitting in the living room. The girls are asleep upstairs.
A light snow is falling outside and the remnant of a fire is glowing in the fireplace. They are wearing their PJs and are playing a game of Scrabble.
Mom: FLANK. 4,5,6,7 . . . double letter K . . . that’s plus 10 . . . 17.
Dad: OK. Let’s see. FRIGHT.
Mom: eek.
Dad: That’s 4,5,6,8,12,13 . . . double word . . . that’s 26.
Mom: OK. How about . . . BOUQUET
Dad: Uh oh.
Mom: Yep. That’s 3,4,5 . . . double letter Q . . . 25, 26,27,28 . . . triple word . . . that’s 84.
Dad: eek.
The game progresses and they eventually make it through the final stage of a Scrabble game, the stage when, in an attempt to get rid of unwanted letters, new words are added to the English language. The game board is then folded up and put away. Dad pulls out some coconut marshmallows and they roast a few over the glowing embers.
There is love there, of that there is no doubt, but it is a love of . . . trying.
Dad: It should be pretty good sledding tomorrow.
Mom: I didn’t know “fez” was a word.
Dad: Maybe we could call Sarah and Eric and have them come over with the kids.
Mom: It got you 30 points . . . at the end.
Dad:
I could make meatball omelets. Eric loves those.
Mom:
I would have been . . . prit-tee steamed . . . if it had cost me the game.
Dad:
And we could go night sledding!
Mom:
I should have challenged it.
Dad:
Do you want a couple more marshmallows?
Mom: OK.
The next morning the “sleepyhead” girls do not appear at the breakfast counter until nine o’clock. Apparently they were not so fast asleep last night as Mom and Dad had presumed, but were up playing UNO and “just talking.”
They look over at the menu sign.
Egg in a Muffin Sandwich
(with cheese & bacon)
Or
“Cinnamon Roll” Oatmeal
Choice of juice included
Toast, jelly donut optional
Ashley: Egg in a muffin and a jelly donut please.
Tammy: Ditto.
Erin: Ditto.
The meal is served up and Mom and Dad engage the girls in a little conversation by going over the possible agenda for the day. They could perhaps go to the library where there is a used book sale going on, and this generates a zero reaction. Or they could go to the “Y” and play some racket ball, and this generates a detectable positive reaction. Or they could attend the high school girls’ volleyball game later that afternoon, and this gets a solid medium reaction. Or they could have . . . Caitlin, Jen, and Willie over.
At this suggestion, the eating comes to a stop. Three heads straighten up and three sets of eyes light up. There is no need to take a vote.
The phone call is made and Aunt Sarah answers. Tammy is holding the phone and doing all the talking, but Erin and Ashley are standing right next to her. The invitation is extended . . . and accepted. “Is around noon all right?” Aunt Sarah asks. And it is.
Ho ho! Isn’t there excitement in the air now! Aunt Sarah and Uncle Eric have three children: Eleven year old Caitlin, eight year old Jen, and four year old “Little Willie” and it is usually controlled bedlam whenever the two broods get together.
The main activity for the day will, of course, be sledding. The property behind our family’s house offers the opportunity for some excellent sledding.
There is the main sledding hill . . . which has a wide sledding course that runs down the center of the hillside . . . and, to either side of this, there are offshoot sledding paths . . . paths that jut out, curve back, and then reconnect with the main slope further down the hill. From above, this sort-of looks like a person standing with their arms akimbo.
The main sledding hill has a nice downward slant that gives the sledder a long comfortable ride at a rate of speed that is fun but not too scary. To the left of the main sledding hill is a sledding path the girls call “The Zig Zag Hill.” It has six giant curved snow banks . . . three on each side . . . and here the sledder can zoom up and then shoot back down the side of the first snow bank, speed slantwise across the path to the next snow bank, zoom up and shoot down again, and then do the same thing on the third bank, and the fourth, and so on until all six snow banks have been hit. Branching off to the right of the main sledding hill is a sledding route the girls call “The Camel.” It has six small hills, or hillocks, on its path and these give the sledder an opportunity to say “Whoa!” and “Whoa!” and, well, “Whoa!”
and so on until all six hills have been hit.
Mom and Dad remember well their childhood sledding days. Indeed, some of Dad’s favorite memories are the times at the community sledding hill when he would wait for Mom . . . then all of ten years old . . . to start her trip down the hill. He would then “belly flop” onto his sled, pull along side her, grab a hold of her sled and . . . shake it. Ah . . . young love.
But they both sort-of groan at the memory of walking back up that hill so many times, and they wanted to do better for their own children. So they use the bus to cart the girls up to the top. There’s a dirt road that runs up the side of the hill and that’s what they drive on. Dad even bought some snow chains in case the going gets rough.
Aunt Sarah, Uncle Eric and the cousins arrive a little before noon. When they enter the house the kids immediately gather into a sort of huddle . . .
where excited talk is given . . . and then is answered by more excited talk.
No one takes off their coat. A few minutes later everyone files out the back door . . . with the children leading the way . . . and boards the bus . . . where six sleds have been waiting patiently.
Mom drives. The inside of the bus looks like the inside of a ski mountain gondola . . . what with everybody wearing puffy coats, ski caps, and warm gloves . . . and when they reach the top of the hill everyone clambers out of the bus. The kids all run over to the starting spot . . . kicking up snow in front of them and dragging their sleds behind them. They get to the level piece of snow-covered ground and (no instructions are necessary at this point) sit down on their sleds and take off. Little Willie is sharing his sled with his mom, and they start off too. Mom, Dad, and Uncle Eric want to watch . . . and they do.
It is a fairly conventional first run. Everyone stays on the main sledding hill and there is no racing, no bumping of sleds, and no risk taking. That will change, of course, but for this first trip down the hill it is simply pure 24-carat fun.
There are several trips down and up the hill. Mom and Dad take turns driving the bus while Aunt Sarah and Uncle Eric take turns accompanying Willie on his sled ride down the hill. There is a large thermos of hot chocolate on the bus for anyone who needs a little warming up. Ashley asks her mom to share her sled ride “one time,” and Mom does. Tammy and Erin . . .
sensing a rare opportunity . . . pull along either side of Ashley and Mom, grab a hold of their sled and . . . shake it.
After about two hours of sledding everybody heads indoors. A meal of chicken fingers, tater tots, green bean casserole, and meatball omelets is served. The kids all choose the “tea table option” and eat in the living room . . . where memories are updated, decisions are made, and future plans are discussed . . . all in a cacophony of young voices.
The games are pulled out. The four adults opt for Risk, and Dad just knows that he will, in short order, be conquered by the other three. Ashley, Jen, and Willie choose Chutes and Ladders . . . a game that Mom and Dad secretly love. Tammy, Erin, and Caitlin “repair” to the game room where the ping pong table is set up for them, and where, later, there is talk of a “sleep over.” All three girls are in perfect agreement on the desirability of the idea, and they present a “united front” to the parents. The proposal is put up for debate, and the measure is passed without objection.
At this point a celebration of sorts begins and our family’s home is turned into a busy intersection . . . with kids coming and kids going . . . and Mom and Dad trying to direct the traffic. All six children will sleep in the girls’
room. That’s just the way it is. Dad digs out a couple of the air mattresses and inflates them. Mom makes sure the guest room is all right.
At around eight o’clock everyone bundles up again and heads outside for some night sledding . . . night sledding in the soft and friendly light of a watchful and benevolent full moon.
This time around the two toboggans are loaded onto the bus, and, as our group makes its way up the sledding hill road, it looks like . . . from the outside . . . what with the bus’ interior cabin lights on and the jolly mood everyone is in . . . like a roving Christmas caroling party is on its way to its next stop.
At the top of the hill all five girls squeeze onto the same toboggan . . .
and take off. There is laughter and squeals of delight as they . . . shush and glide . . . down the moonlit sledding hill. After a minute or so Aunt Sarah, Uncle Eric, and little Willie start off on the other toboggan. They are travelling behind the girls, not just as a matter of courtesy, but also just in case the last girl . . . the caboose of the train of five girls . . . is accidentally bounced off the back of their sled.
Dad had suggested to mom that she join Aunt Sarah, Uncle Eric, and Willie on their ride down the hill . . . not really meaning it, of course. But Mom knows . . . they have walked this path before . . . and she stays with Dad. And that bus ride back down the sledding hill road is a nice one . . .
quiet, intimate, with some warmth . . . and Mom’s hand resting on Dad’s shoulder as he drives.
They sled for about an hour and a half and then return to the warmth of the house. A snack of tomato soup and tuna melt sandwiches is enjoyed.
Dad starts a fire in the fireplace . . . a fire that will later see a bunch of marshmallows suspended over it.
It gets late, and the kids sort-of migrate up to their sleeping quarters.
Ashley lets Willie sleep in her bed while she shares an air mattress with Jen.
It was a busy and active day. The children all try to stay awake and take full advantage of this opportunity, but one-by-one they soon nod off . . . to dream dreams and recharge their little bodies.
In the morning it is church, where our ten kinfolk take up two pews.
Willie, Ashley and Jen sit between Aunt Sarah and Uncle Eric, while Tammy, Caitlin, and Erin are “book ended” by Mom and Dad. The littlest ones have coloring books to occupy them and the older kids keep their talking down to a whisper. After church everyone buses out to IHOP (the International House of Pancakes) where bites of breakfast are eaten in between sentences.
And then it is back home again, where there are byes and see yas . . . and waving to the car as it drives away.