Decking the Halls
Originally posted on December 20, 2007
Eron: Laurelin- hey, be careful there! You don’t want to fall …..
Laurelin: Do not worry about me, Eron; elves are very sure-footed.
Eron: It’s not your feet I’m worried about – it’s that rickety looking table you’re standing on.
Laurelin: It is strong enough to hold me. But I need to move this table now anyway.
Eron: Let me help you down.
Eron: Um…. Well, if you have any other high places to reach, let me know. I can probably help without resorting to standing on the furniture.
Eron: This reminds me about when Grandma used to……never mind.
Laurelin: Do not stop, Eron. It sounds like a good memory. Please… share it with me.
Eron: Yeah, it is a good one. Grandma used to get this 'bee in her bonnet' about decorating for Christmas every year but we’d never know when it was coming. We’d come home from school one afternoon and the place would look like someone had waved a magic wand over it. She did the decorating all by herself – indoors and outdoors - everything except the tree. She used to joke that she couldn’t do the tree without us because she couldn’t reach high enough without climbing on the furniture…..so we always got to do the tree together, and she’d make popcorn and cocoa and…. It was always my favorite day of the whole year…..better even than opening presents on Christmas morning….
Laurelin: I am very glad you have such happy times to remember, Eron.
Eron: I remember the Christmas right after she died. I tried to carry on the tradition. Skipped my afternoon classes and came home and put up the decorations. Went out into our woods and cut a tree and got out the lights and ornaments…… and when Asher and Eli got home they were in the middle of one of their fights and didn’t even notice…..
(a short silence)
Eron: …so ever since that disaster we just order pizza for Christmas dinner, go through the motions, give each other small gifts. Stuff like that.
Laurelin: Someday you will have your own family and you will make their Christmas traditions wonderful, just like your grandmother did for you.
Eron: You know what? It does help – talking about the happy times. It makes me feel better to remember all those things Grandma used to do just because she loved us so much.
Laurelin: You spent most of your life surrounded by love. That does not change just because you have suffered a disappointment.
Eron: I know – I’ve been a real jerk about that.
Laurelin: Oh no, Eron – I did not mean…
Eron: I know, and you wouldn’t say so even if you did mean it, but I was awfully quick to judge her. Grandma must have had good reason to keep us in the dark about…. things. I bet it hurt her more than it could hurt any of us to have to do it, too.
Laurelin: I think you are right, Eron. Do you want to know what else I think?
Eron: Sure.
Laurelin: I think that from now on when I decorate here for Christmas….
Laurelin: I shall honor your sweet grandmother in my thoughts …and envy her for having the grandsons to perform the tall tasks for her.
Eron: And I’m going to hope that you find something sturdier to stand on than this old table - despite your superior elvish feet.
Eron: Thanks, Laurelin - for helping me remember that whatever her reasons were to keep her secrets, Grandma gave us the greatest gift of all - love and security.