Reflections on Christmas Day

On Christmas day, the kids woke us up at 6:52 am, having already spied on the tree to make sure presents had appeared as expected. Ella immediately found the wrapped drumsticks marked for Sophia. Tanya...er, Santa...had written "go downstairs for the rest" on the card, signifying that something monumental was waiting in the basement. All four of us, in our brand new PJ's and fuzzy bathrobes (Ella) and zebra footies (Sophia), raced to the basement to find a brand new drum set that had been delivered by everyone's favorite obese North Poler in the middle of the night.

Sophia on the "throne"

Strictly speaking, if you must know, the drums were actually "previously owned,"bought on Craigslist, stored for a week, then collected at 11:00 pm on Christmas Eve from our friends Jen and Kelvin's basement, packed into the back of the minivan, driven home, unpacked from the car to the basement, and set up until midnight with the help of Youtube tutorials and the quietest of trials so as to not awaken an exhausted Tanya and the sleeping kids.

And if any of you let that slip out to Sophia—at least over the next few years—you're out of the will.

I was a bit worried that Sophia would notice her gift was used, but my seven-year-old didn't seem the least bit concerned. Amid the commotion in the basement, I caught her fingering the cymbal and telling Ella, "I bet the elves had some fun playing on these before Santa brought them over." Ba-dum-pum.

Rocking Out

We opened a few gifts and played one of them, the board game "Life," until the rest of Tanya's side of the family arrived. My side of the family, of course, the we-already-celebrated-Hanukkah-a-month-ago half, was no doubt enjoying a similar type of enjoyable lazy day in the warm climes of South Florida, relishing their quality time with my sister and brother-in-law, and their two adorable daughters, minus the ornaments and "Jolly Fat Man in a Red Suit" mythology.

Our board-game "life" looked something like this: Tanya went to college to become a pilot, then married a woman; Ella became a successful veterinarian, and Sophia was a teacher with, no surprise, not much spending money. I channeled whatever sliver of arrogant jackass that lives deep inside me by becoming a neurosurgeon. I had a fun time staying in character as I earned tons of money and acted as if I was God's gift to...everything. I think I did a good job.

"Boy, Dad's really full of himself," Ella remarked.

I also had three kids, but presumably didn't see them as I spent most of my time evacuating subdural hemorrhages, golfing at my absurdly expensive country club (forget it...you can't afford it), or wearing out my mirror.

I stayed in my pajamas till lunchtime. I opened presents and smiled as others did the same. I ate breakfast till about noon. Tanya and I even got in a few rounds of Disney Pop Stars karaoke and Just Dance 2 on the Wii, while Ella played with her marionette puppets and Sophia discovered her newfound love of pounding things. We finally got off our rumps to take a walk in the sunshine.

Presents are a nice touch, I'll admit it, but Christmas is, for me, simply a nice excuse to spend a day doing a lot of nothing.

Molly, Ella and Xavier; our "life" is in the foreground

Christmas, Thanksgiving, teacher work days, Rosh Hashanah, snow days, summer vacation, spring break...honestly, they're all essentially the same to me. It's no shock to those who know me to hear me say that I'm not big on organized religion. I value the customs and rituals that bring us together, but not the outdated, dogmatic traditions that just don't feel right. What I do feel is a strong connection to love and be loved by my entire family, to watch my kids grow up content and comfortable, and to do everything I can to enjoy what time I have on this planet. I'll do whatever it takes to make that happen in the game of my life. Even if sometimes that means marching to beat of a used drum set.

Happy Holidays and have a great 2014!