Holidays

     I was born in Colorado Springs, and when I was two, my mama and me came to live with my grandparents. My dad is not in the picture, and I wouldn't change that for the world. If he had been involved, I probably wouldn't have moved to Virginia and I might not have ever known my grandparents as well. Like I had said in the last post, I really did have a wonderful childhood. It involved a lot of sports, games, fun outside, animals, and family. My grandpa loved Baseball, his team has always been the St. Louis Cardinals, so naturally I love them too. My grandma was never a huge fan of Baseball, it was boring to her. "All they do is run from base to base." Her sport, well both of them was, Basketball and Football, sometimes Tennis (depending on the player), Golf, and the Olympics (winter and summer). Basketball was something that they only enjoyed with college. To my grandma, professional was all about the money for each of the players. She was from North Carolina, so the team she rooted for was the Tar Heels. She was never upset if they lost to Duke, because her sister Resa loves them. For Football, unlike Basketball, they enjoyed college and professional. Which is something I never understood because Football players love money too. Professional was the Redskins, and college, again was the Tar Heels. And again, because of them, they are my favorite as well. 

     Another favorite memory is the holidays we all had together. I remember for Thanksgiving, I would be taken out of school, Elementary, and we would start on a long long trip to Kentucky. The drive was at least ten hours. We would usually leave early in the mornings. But I remember being taken out of school early because of our trip. Maybe for rest, I really don't remember. The trip was so long. I remember sitting in the car with my mom, Grandma, Grandpa, our dog Kayleigh and aunt Kelly. We were going to go visit my Aunt Tracy who is a doctor, with her husband, and their son, James. There was always a scare because we would go through the mountains. It was winter, so the roads had always been icy. I would talk nonstop. Remember, I was a child and had a lot of energy. I would talk so much that my Grandma, onetime said "talk to your mother, you're giving me windburn." That was always a favorite story. She always had a joke up her sleeve. When we would get there, we would sit and talk with our family. Once, or maybe a few times, there would be my uncles family, and then Aunt Resa had come once before too. As a matter of fact, my aunt Kelly onetime, was asked to make soup or heat something liquid, and it was on the stove. Kelly had stirred and stirred, and the liquid never bubbled, it never got hot. My Aunt Resa noticed that something was off, not just my aunt but the stove. Tracy would always make this soup that I loved, and we would have some sort of meat, and salad. Also, Deviled eggs.

     Our Christmases usually were spent at home. We would have a real tree, picked out by my aunt Kelly. And we would all decorate it, with Christmas music, or the TV would be on. I would go to sleep before good ol' Santa would come, and my aunt and me would listen to Harry Connick, Jr. My favorite song by him was "It must have been ol' Santa." Then it would be morning, and I would open all my wrapped packages and admire the non wrapped. Again, we would eat something wonderful, Grandma was a great cook. And the smell of Coffee was always in the air. Coffee and pine needles go well together. I remember one time too, our old dog Kayleigh, who was a half Husky, had knocked over our Christmas tree. The day would either end talking, or watching Charlie Brown's Christmas. Holidays are great.