Christmas at my house when I was a child was chaos.  Come time for presents, it was every kid for themselves.  My Dad would have gone off to whatever store was still open on Christmas Eve and bought us toys at markdown prices.  It was very smart of him and good for us.  We got things that we otherwise wouldn’t have had.  One year he bought us all books.  I still have mine.  I got Tom Sawyer.  One of my brothers for a “Combat” book.  (Combat was a TV show about WWII)  At the time, I wanted the Combat book, but now I cherish that old Tom Sawyer book as one of my particular treasures.

I’m not sure it was any different at other people’s houses, but the whole gift un-wrapping experience was chaos to me.  I would try to mitigate the chaos by going under the tree and arranging the presents by recipient.  That way, no one had to wait until the presents were sorted out, we could just all dive in.  I was overstimulated and under-caffeinated and was never as happy as I felt I should be.  When I became a parent, we had a more controlled chaos.  We opened one present at a time so everyone could participate with the one opening the gift.  Christmas morning would sometimes go into Christmas afternoon.

This year, we travelled to my daughter’s home to celebrate with them.  It is chaos in a new way.  She has two boys under 5 and they are adorable.  Christmas is best observed with kids who are young enough to appreciate the wonder of it all.  They are never ungracious about their gifts, always surprised, always knowing that “Santa” will get them what they asked for.  To them, Santa is way better than God (I am writing in broad strokes here).

My daughter made breakfast for us all, the smell of bacon and onions was almost overpowering.  For the first time I can remember, I was not left with a feeling of disappointment after the presents were opened, cause I had no expectations of gifts.  We have all that we need and more.  I got a gift box of my favorite adult beverage and my wife got a box of Lindt Truffles.  Were were both well satisfied.  These candies are not of the 100 pound box Brock’s variety of my youth.

My favorite son-in-law got me Peeps, “minion” Peeps no less.  Peeps are my favorite seasonal treat.  I have to watch how many I eat these days, but I really like Peeps.  Did I say that already?  I had some chocolate bat peeps at Halloween once, they were really good.  Last Easter, I found chocolate covered Peeps in the grocery store.  Life is good.  And, really, what’s not to like about Peeps?  They are gushy and sugary and toothy and sugary and marshmallowy and covered with sugar and sugary.  Did I mention they are covered with colored sugar?  And if the sugar falls off, you can use the next Peep to pick it up off the box or desk or keyboard.  You can also play with them if you get bored.

It is about noon and almost everyone but me is settling in for a nap, I think I’ll join them as soon as I proofread this and fix any stupid things I have written.  Happy Day, don’t eat too many Peeps.  See y’all next week.