{Six} Days in Utopia

Well, it was back to work for this ol' gal this week. It was rough getting up Monday after having two weeks off work and a late flight the night before. But it was a *wonderful* two weeks off...thought I'd share my 6 glorious days in utopia with you as well as a few moments from this week. Woot!

We had a wonderful Christmas in Jethro. Before the big day, I spent an entire week with my parents. One day my mom and I went to deliver bread to all the neighbors. My parents live in this beautiful little farming community. The roads have just been paved in the past year or two, and my friends and I still go floating the river and riding 4wheelers straight from my parents' house. It's wonderful!!

So you can imagine how beautiful the community is with all these little farms, mountains, and the national forest. We went to one neighbor's house, and come to find out her nephew is a really good friend of Cash's family. I couldn't believe it when she told me her nephew worked at Clayton Williams in Midland, Texas. Then she told me who he was and I about fainted. Yep...friends of the family and works with Casher. I was so excited and immediately messaged Cash. His response? "Cool."

Ugh.

So I called his sweet momma, because I knew she would be excited. And she was. Never lets me down!

Christmas was restful and so enoyable. I love watching the kids when they walk in and see what Santa brought them. Too sweet! Although...I'm afraid Braeson is starting to figure it out. He can't be that big!

The day after Christmas I dropped little BQ off with my dear friend Malia, then I headed to Northwest Arkansas to stay with my sister's family. She took me to the airport at 4 the next morning. What a trooper! I was wide awake, because I was excited. But how terrible for my sister, huh? She's a great big sis.


Addi with her new Barbie mansion the night before I left

Finally, I got to Midland about 9 on Tuesday morning. Here is where utopia starts:
Dec 27: Cash picked me up, and we dropped all my luggage off and I got to see Jetter. He used to love to see me coming, because he knew he'd get to stay inside all week. But this week turned out quite differently for him, and I'm pretty certain he could've cared less when I left. :(


We <3 each other!

We had lunch with Cash's mom at my favorite Midland restaurant: King and I. While eating his mom showed me the fortune his dad got the other day. It said something to the effect of someone in his family was going to wed soon.
I had no idea Ross was related to Cash.

After lunch I dropped Cash off at work and stole his truck for an afternoon of hanging out with Milena. She and I met in October when I was flying back from Midland. We were sitting next to each other on the plane, and she was all tears. I said, "Did you have to leave your fiance?" What she said next I have no clue. I couldn't understand a word she said. I finally got out of her that she was from Romania and was getting married next summer. Her fiance lives in Midland and is an engineer for one of the oil companies. Throughout the plane ride we struck up a friendship and ended up exchanging e-mail addresses. We have kept in touch ever since October, and she even sent me a Happy Thanksgiving message despite being in a different country. Once we found out we were going to be in Midland at the same time in December, we immediately decided to hang out.

Therefore, on Tuesday afternoon I went and picked Milena up. We went throughout town shopping. Then we got a sweet tooth and sat down at Harvest Cafe for some cheesecake. While we were there Milena invited us to her wedding this summer in Romania. IN ROMANIA!!

I picked Cash up that afternoon and was elated as I told him we were invited to Europe at the end of July. He, being a pessimist, said, "Oh, she was just being nice." So I let it go for awhile, and we went to HEB to get some grub to cook for our Christmas dinner.

Cash cooked this amazing chicken wrapped in parma ham stuffed with cheese. He had gotten a new cutting board from his parents, so he wouldn't even let me cut potatoes. So I just sat there watching him go to town on dinner. (Any takers on wanting to send him to massage therapy or manicure school??)

Dinner was delic, of course, and then we exchanged presents for our 1st Christmas. haha...that's cheesy.

We had set a limit a month or 2 ago and decided to just give presents we thought the other would really like but couldn't go over our price limit. He, being the thoughtful little sweetheart he is, gave me a duster from my favorite boutique in Midland and a set of Kate Spade greeting cards. I had told him one time that I love writing people little notes, so he remembered that and got me some for Christmas. So sweet!

I had gotten him some house shoes and a houndstooth blanket. We didn't spend much, but it was fun to see how we had been creative in trying to find a present instead of just throwing out money. Perfect way to share our first Christmas presents!

Dec 28: I spent the morning getting ready until Cash picked me up to head to the Smiling Moose for lunch. We walked in and heard someone say, "It's Cashy!" It was our friends Nick and Erin with some of their family. Always fun to run into someone you know in a town where you know hardly anyone!

After lunch I picked Milena back up and spent the afternoon at the nail salon. She mentioned again going to Romania for her wedding...but this time she said if we went she and Marius would take care of us the whole time. I was elated! I immediately started daydreaming about what a summer trip to Romania would be like. Can you even imagine? I'm so excited about the possibility!

We had decided that the four of us would all go to dinner that night, so Cash and I met the Romanians at Carino's. It's one of the only restaurants in Midland they like since their food is closest to Italian. Milena is super shy since she hasn't been in the States much and doesn't think her English is very good. But Marius...he talks as much as I do! He is hilarious!! You can tell he has picked up on southern mannerisms. He would answer the phone in his Romanian accent and say, "Hello, hello, hello! Talk to me!" I thought I was going to fall out of my chair laughing.

After dinner we went to the holiday basketball tournament that Midland High was hosting. It was a terrible game..and made me a little sad I was missing the Airedale Classic and time with my fam...but it was fun to watch basketball nonetheless. Cash said that he and Ross had talked about hanging out, so we grabbed some Starbucks and headed over to see ROSS AND BARB!


a quick pic I snapped at the basketball game...LOVE!

They had just gotten home from Hawaii where Ross had p*pped the questi*n to my sweet friend. As Ross showed Cash everything he had done to the house, Barb told me about the engagement. It sounded beautiful, and I am so happy for our two friends! It was my only time to get to see them when I was in town since they were heading out a couple days later to go skiing in Colorado. Man, it makes me wish Cash and I lived in the same town and were able to go places together.
Dec 29: Cash took the day off so we could hang out more while I was there. Ahh. I love that guy. We got around fairly early and headed to this ranch to fill up the feeders and check the game cams. Cash turned the job over to me after awhile. I swawny. You could look at the pics from the game cam and see me on top of the truck dumping corn into the feeders. Bless my little heart.


about all the work he did...while I slaved away! ;)



oh, the landscape..sometimes I do miss the hills

We met his dad for lunch. I hadn't seen him the whole time I had been there, so I was pretty pumped to see big Russ! I love Cash's family..they are so wonderful!!! That night Cash's mom cooked dinner, so we hung out over at their house for quite some time. We were all excited that Aaron and Jeanne would be in town the next day.

the lunch restaurant

Dec 30: Since Cash had paid for the Romians dinner on Wednesday evening, Marius wanted to take us to dinner too. We decided to meet up for lunch at Cafe at the Gardens (one of my favs!). It was so neat to spend time with them while I was there. Cash and Marius exchanged numbers so they could hang out more once us girls were gone. Marius can't golf, so I told him Cash could teach him...get him out of a lot of work in the summertime!
Milena always has these cute little outfits. She wears boots with nice, thick leggings and sweaters...all the time. After lunch Cash and I were at Dillard's so I decided to put a Romanian outfit together myself. I found some olive green tights and camel colored riding boots. We'll call it a Christmas present to myself.


my new "Romanian" outfit: When in Romania...

Then it was off to see two of our favorite little ones: Lena and Toby! It was so, so good to see Aaron and Jeanne. I hate living away from everyone!! We even decided to stay at Russell and Andrea's house that night, so we could wake up and have Christmas. I got to sleep in the same room with little Lena, and when she woke up I was so scared she would start screaming when she saw me. LOL. But when she did wake up, I just picked her up and she stopped crying. Love that little girl.

Uncle Cashy and Lena Bug

Dec 31: That morning we had Christmas with the Pullins. I felt beyond blessed that they let me in on their celebration. It was fun watching everyone open their presents and get to be a part of their holiday. I even gave Aaron a special present. Remember that terrible, terrible shirt I had to wear when LSU embarrassed Arkansas? yeah...I cut that into 1,000 pieces and put a hog nose under it, wrapped it, and gave it to big bro. It might have been the best gift I have ever given. In exchange he gave me his baseball card from his time playing with the Travelers. Check it out on ebay...you could win your very own for $4. Or it may be up to $5 now. One of my students said he was going to bid on it. Hurry before you miss your big chance!
That evening the four of us went to sweet Kelli and Dean's house for a NYE partayyyy!!! The Romanians met us there. Jeanne had brought Mad Gab for us to play, but sweet sister announced she didn't want to be on my team. :'( I didn't know my accent was that bad! hahahaha!

It ended up being girls against guys, so Jeanne was stuck with me. We pretty much dominated as Kelli translated my Arkansas English to normal English. I say we dominated...I don't think the guys ever played a round. #fail

The clock struck midnight, and we pretty much were out like bandits. Blame it on the old guy *cough*Aaron*cough.

Jan 1: Cash and I got around and went to First Baptist-Midland for New Year's Day service. It was a mega church! Having gone to Methodist church the past several months, it was nice to be back in a Baptist service. It's just home, you know?

Then we took my RAZORBACK (WOOOO PIG) macaroni & cheese to lunch. Hey, ya gotta have your hog jowl somehow! ;)


the note left on my fridge since the kiddos stayed at my house while I was gone



Sadly, I had to catch a flight back that afternoon. Of course I hate leaving, but I knew I had to get back to work the next day. I was hoping for a smoothe flight back. We hit lots of turbulence and had an hour delay on the flight from DFW, but other than that we were smoothe sailing. And it was reality about 6:30 the next morning.

Jan 2: Utopia was over, but my student teacher started to school that Monday. It's been a glorious week having someone else in the room to help out the kiddos. He knows his history, and he's so excited to be there. I've loved my first week with an intern, but I've missed my Dee Ann. I got to see her for a split second in the office today and gave her the biggest hug. I'm so ready for some breakfast with that woman!



my airport find...yep, I wore that to work. HA!

Welp, I better call my Casher back. And just to make him happy, I'm going to give him a shout out. He loves when I tell him how handsome he is...Cash, you are so handsome (said in my best southern voice I can muster)!!!

Okay..I better sign off before I wake up single. haha. Love you'ins, and I hope you had a great New Year's celebration...and ate your hog jowl, black eyed peas, and cabbage! I don't want y'all scratching backwards like chickens, go forward like a hog, y'all! ;)

XOXO

Avery

25 Years of Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree

Merry Christmas early, y'all! I hope you enjoyed my first guest post as my dad recounted the WORST present he had ever received. After reliving countless memories with my family this week toppled with my Aunt Jane's Christmas letter, I have been left feeling a little nostalgic...homesick for the good ol' days.

Sitting at Mom and Dad's today, I decided to thumb through old pictures and take a trip down memory lane. Then I felt compelled to scan these bazillion pictures and share with y'all my family's many Christmases. I hope you enjoy the several decade long Christmas card I made for y'all this year!!

Back: Grandma K, Mom, Uncle David
Front: Aunt Jane, cousin Lance, Grandpa K, Sis, Dad

Thank you, Aunt Jane, for wearing the Arkansas shirt as if we were going to forget where we were living at. Sadly, this photograph was taken in 1983, 3 short years before yours truly brightened the world. My grandparents only had 2 grandkids at the time...they had no idea how much they were missing me until...


clockwise: Grandpa K, Sis, cousin Eric, me (I think-ha!)

See how I brought the family together! I was a loving little booger. What I want you to notice here is the great Christmas decor my Grandma K always had. Nothing like throwing (literally) some silver on the tree and putting out some sheep with everyone's name on them. Do you see those on the left?!


Mom, Dad, me, and Sis (the cheesy smiling one)

What would Christmas be without matching sweaters and earrings...and my sister smiling gayly at the camera? It wouldn't be. Oh, my dad, always so excited about being with us! haha 

Who is this guy?

Apparently, my parents just believed anyone when they said they were Santa. Look at this guy. I even made a big, black circle around his face. He looks like a D rated Santa. Well, I'm not buying it. You can if you want. Check out my sister with the same Santa below...

Sis...she doesn't even notice Santa

To get my sister to sit on Santa's lap it didn't take much. Basically, you just had to say, "He's a guy, and he'll let you sit on his lap and give him a hug." And off she was pushing down every other kid in line. No joke. She was boy crazy. But here she doesn't even notice Santa. She is obviously much more worried about her awesome "number" gloves. I remember those gloves...I believe that's how I learned how to count.

And did anyone else notice how bad that Santa was? I mean...just that he can't seem to put his right arm down. Forget all the crazy moms taking pictures of you and their children who won't be children forever and it might possibly be their last year to believe in Santa. No, don't worry about that, you terrible looking Santa. Just keep your right arm up.

Sis..always in the middle

Moving along with life we see Sis in yet the middle of another picture. You'll notice I'm in the VERY back being shunned (in my little white sweater). My sister had probably pushed me back there.

remember that pink gown

Then Christmas morning...oh yes, that's always every kid's favorite, right? I mean...for crying outloud, get the family junk over. We need some Santa up in here!

Those were probably the only 2 dolls I was ever given as my parents wished I had been a boy (I'm pretty certain anyway). What I want you to see here is Sis's pink gown. Bonus points to the person who can find it later on in life's later pictures. And while we're at it, why don't we start counting how many bad haircuts the two of us had. (Note: Mom claims that I cut my own hair at this point in life. Bahumbug!)

You can start the bad haircut counting...

Yes, I said to count the bad haircuts. Maybe I should also add...count the onesies. And...count how many Christmas trees we had that looked more like bushes than trees. We're at 1 here.

WAIT....ISN'T THAT MY DOLL?!

I take back what I said about my parents not giving me dolls. Apparently they gave me dolls and my sister stole them, as evidenced by this picture of her with our cousin Lacey. You won't believe this, but Lacey now teaches 6th grade Literacy after playing college basketball (although the chubby cheeks were very cute!). And my sister teaches 1st grade and just finished her master's degree. Who knew these two little doll thieves would be teaching tomorrow's leaders. Hide your children, hide your wives husbands!



"Hey, let's get dressed up and take Christmas pictures!"

As you can tell Christmas is a very exciting, special time for my family. We have always prided ourselves in dressing to the nines on Christmas morning. And...does anyone notice that my sister always puts her hand up in every picture? You remember that picture of her with the bad Santa? I'm fairly certain she was showing off her hand then too. crack head. (Not literally...I have to make that disclaimer that I just lied so that she does not make me eat another wasper.)

Kuykendall cousins

It's a good thing someone owned a camera in our family. It appears as if we now have concrete proof that I got my dressing ability from my precious father. I know what you're all thinking, "How did you get so lucky?" It's just comes natural to sport some bad to the bone overalls. What can I say? Another game: count how many pairs of overalls you see.


Check out the patchwork!

 It may be evident to you by now that my family didn't have a lot of money growing up. My parents always made Christmas special, that is true, but they honestly never worried about clothes and fashion. My Granny Dutton was superb at sewing though. And boy, could she patch up some jeans! I'm all about some patchwork and saving a dime...why else do you think I've learned how to sew?! But my Granny has this odd obsession with hearts. Seriously. She made me a bedspread when I was growing up...it was a big yellow and blue heart. She made my sister's the same with different colors. She obviously patched jeans with hearts. And just take a glance at the picture below. 

Can you spot the heart?

Can you spot the heart here? And I don't mean the heart and soul of laughter coming from Uncle Travis (in the red jacket). Do you see it? Yes you do! It's the pocket of my sister's jacket...that my Granny Dutton sewed! She actually sewed EVERYONE OF US a jacket JUST LIKE THIS. Every single one of us.

I will say that dinners at Granny and Pa's were always so fun. If you weren't laughing at Uncle Travis for his jokes, you were definitely laughing at him for the way he laughed at his own jokes. And kudos to him and my dad for sporting very bright jackets. And look at little Brad in the red 49ers jersey. We were super close as kiddos...we really were. He and his wife just moved back to Ozark where he got the head coaching job for the senior high boys' basketball team. Isn't it crazy to see where people come from?!

learning the diva role from my sista!

Ohhhhpppp, don't you worry. Grandma Kuykendall never lost that silver decor for her Christmas tree. That was a staple to the house in December. What does Lance's hat say?? Does that say "Texas?" My lanta. My eyes are terrible. I think it was an omen.

We are so good looking. I know.

Okay, fine, I'll admit that I wore my heart jacket too. Do you see it back there behind me? When I was getting pictures out, I started noticing another trend. My parents apparently never made me wear pants. A little awkward, I know. But when you live in rural Arkansas, who even cares? Right?

sweet vest

 Here we see a few things. A...my sister has on an awesome vest with a blue jean shirt buttoned up to her goozel. You can thank her for always having a sense of style. B...a different house. This is the only picture I found from our rent house as our new house was being built. Darn the luck. That was one creepy house. As I recall there was a full fledge coffin upstairs. Or was that my imagination and me being scared of the dark?


awesome pants

Like I said...we didn't wear pants that often. Everyone has a misperception of Arkansas. They believe we do not wear shoes. That's absolutely fabricated. I mean, OUCH!! Can you imagine walking around these hills without shoes?! Pshtt. It's the pants we don't wear!

Did you notice?

Well, I don't know the number you're up to on the bad hair counting game...or the no pants wearing game...but do you see what I see? Yes! That's my sister's old pink nightgown. I am sporting it like it just came off the runway. I probably thought it did, because she probably lied to me and told me it did. 

someone found shorts. someone did not.

This is the exact same Christmas. I can tell by the fact that I have on the same shirt and no shorts. My sister decided to apparently put on her new "Property of Nike" Christmas t-shirt on for pictures. I had too many great presents to decide what to put on, so I guess I just left on this solitary shirt.  

check out those presents!

When I found this picture of yet the same Christmas, I had to laugh. This is the exact little Avery I remember: baseball cap, jerseys, nintendo games, windsuit outfit. I see some Charlotte Hornets, Dallas Cowboys, and Arkansas Razorbacks. "Charlotte Hornets?" you ask yourself. Yeah, I'm not quite remembering why I wanted that sweatshirt. I was a huge (HUGE) Karl Malone/Utah Jazz fan. This may be blasphemy here! ;)

The cowtown boots...yes, typical present in our country home. And the can opener...maybe I'll have my dad write another guest post on that one. My poor mother got the can opener 9 dreaded years in a row.

Grandma K and me

Okay, you can keep counting the overalls I seem to continue to find. What can I say? I was a fashionista at a very young age. I loved my Grandma Kuykendall so so so much. She's probably the single biggest reason I dug through old pictures this week. I miss her like crazy.


with Sis and Dust

Oh, my sister and Dustin and their young, puppy love. I was so excited they were getting married. He would always be hugging on my sister, and you were always thinking, "engaged people!" or "newlyweds!" Now it's 10 years later and you think, "Get the heck over it."
And I know you're completely checking out my awesome perm. Hey...I've been laughing at everyone else today. I guess it's time to laugh at myself now too. If you can't laugh at yourself, you have no right to laugh at anyone else. So I better pay my dues.

Yes, I had a perm at one point in my early high school career. And yes, I wore the mess out of my purple letter jacket.

before the wedding

 Sometimes my brother-in-law makes me fighting mad...like when he gives wet willies or pushes me so he can hug on my sister. But crap. When I found this picture I instantly remembered why my sister married the guy. He was good looking!! Props to you, Sis. Here is 6 months before their wedding...and the attachment has only gotten worse. 

newlyweds

She was so excited to marry Dustin that year. This is 6 months after their wedding. If the kids let them now, they still are pretty much attached like this. Does it get quite annoying? Yes. Does he have on overalls too? Yes. Apparently it's part of being in our family. (Good luck, Cash! ahhahaha)

Grandma K

2003 doesn't seem that long ago, but man does it seem like eons since I have seen my grandma being goofy. I'm fairly certain this is one of the last times she really could enjoy Christmas. Have I mentioned how much I miss her?


little Addi on her first Christmas

I love being an aunt!! I don't know what happened to all the Christmas pictures from my sophomore year of high school to my junior year of college, but goodness sakes I love that child! She didn't even know what to think about Christmas that year. I'm afraid that changed...and now I scour my brain for 364 days trying to top my gift from the year before.

Brae and Addi as little tots

I know they're still little, but I can barely remember them being THIS little! Look closely (well, you don't have to look that closely), and you will notice that every present behind them is for them. Spoiled. Rotten.

Peters family

It didn't take too long for these newlyweds to pop out some cute little ones. And I suppose what they say is true about girls marrying guys like their fathers. First the overalls. Now the lack of a smile. Wow, Brother, you are just like my father.

one of our last Christmases

This picture isn't the very last Christmas with Grandma K, but it was one of them. You see how sick she got over those last few years. It barely even looks like the same grandma to me. I've had a lot of fun poking at my family throughout this post, but I guess it's time to get serious. My grandma's last Christmas was in 2009. As I was leaving their house that Christmas Eve, she grabbed me and said, "Don't ever forget me. Please." I promised her I wouldn't. How could we? She lit up our lives like no one else. I miss her every single day. I miss her taking me to the swinging bridge south of Ozark. I miss her giving me fudgecicles for dinner. I miss her making pizza and hot dogs for holiday meals. I miss her giving my grandpa the what for if any woman ever even said a polite hello. I miss her telling us something "forty-eleven" times. Sometimes I even miss the crazy grandma when she had Alzheimer's. She was the best....the very, very best.

Kuykendall's 2008

That's the latest Christmas day picture I found. You can probably guess I was getting a little lathargic from 25 years of Christmases! haha. It has been quite enjoyable to take you down memory lane for a little stroll. I love looking at who we were and what we looked like...and what presents we found most exciting. But I also like living in the here and now and enjoying this stage. I wanted to leave you with this year's Christmas card from yours truly.

I wanted to spread a little Christmas cheer all the way from the Middle East! "Milad majid" means "Merry Christmas" in Arabic, as I can guess you assumed. And it sure was incredible to be so near the birth of our Savior this past summer. Joy to the world...the whole entire world! I hope your family has a blessed Christmas season! And I want to add that my nephew just got here 5 minutes ago and has already announced, "I'm taking my pants off!" Apples don't fall too far from the Christmas tree do they?

Merry Christmas...XOXO

Avery

Most Memorable Christmas

It's true: I'm off work for 2 weeks. That. Is. Glorious.

Keeping with the Christmas spirit of giving, I chose to allow my parents to bless me with the giving of a bedroom for the next week or so. It's nice to be in a heated home AND not have to pay the electric bill!

As you know I blog often about those closest to me, and several times I've written about my dad. While he may be smart {ehhhh}, he also likes to embarrass the soup out of my sister and me. In fact at his 20 year high school reunion they made a little yearbook in which each person in that class was asked to submit a short synopsis of what they had been doing the past {2} decades. My dad actually included, "...and I've spent the last 20 years trying to convince my daughters their dad is not a dork." Yeah, he never really accomplished that goal.


Dad at turkey camp 2011

That's all in fun and games, of course. I love coming to my parents' house whether they pay for the heat or not. It's just fun to sit around with them and talk about memories. My dad can always make me laugh when he talks about his childhood. Man, what a nerd! The only problem with that is I came out just like him.


2 peas in a pod? Dad and I during a snowball fight

So it really tickled my fancy tonight when he and I were sitting in the living room watching the Broncos/Patriots game as my mom (yes, my mom) was down in her deer stand. We were anxiously awaiting her to get back and cook us dinner. And during commercials we were solving the world's political problems when a local TV channel prompted a dialogue about memorable Christmases. I had {2} ideas.

1. I wanted to spend the next week talking about funny (and, uh, not so funny) Christmases.

2. Have my dad tell you about his most memorable Christmas in his own words.

It took me a good 30 seconds or so to convince him why he needed to do this. I think I said, "I have several guys who read my blog and would probably love to read a guy's perspective every once in a while. Plus, I'm pretty sure some of the ladies at the Bank read my blog. What better way to communicate with co-workers?"

Without further ado...meet my father "in real life"...


Oh, woops. That's not my dad. That's Jim Tressel--his evil twin! HAHA

"Avery and I were watching the local news on television when they ran a little teaser of the local media personalities talking about their most memorable Christmas ever. Avery and I just looked at each other and laughed. She has heard about my most memorable Christmas on several occasions and knew exactly what I was thinking.


We discussed Christmas memories for a few minutes and then she asked, “Dad, would you write a guest blog for me about Christmas?”

I protested that I didn’t want to do it, no one would be interested, and I didn’t even know what a blog was. Avery was undeterred. Avery is also a world class manipulator. I suspect she has no interest in this story, but if she can post a blog without any effort on her part, she is all for it. With this posting, you can also surmise that Avery’s Dad is a sucker.

When I was thirteen years old, I really, really, really wanted a motorcycle for Christmas. I knew the chances were small that I would actually get a motorcycle, but at least I could wish for one. I also knew my parents weren’t exactly rich or actually middle income for that matter. Yah, yah, yah, they loved me and I never went to bed hungry and all that other crud that people always say, but what I really wanted was a motorcycle. I wouldn’t have minded going to bed hungry a few times if that motorcycle could be a red, 175cc, Honda trail bike! I also recognized that neither of my older brothers had ever gotten a motorcycle for Christmas, but hey, they were hooligans and didn’t deserve such a nice gift.

I don’t remember a lot of the other details that Christmas morning, but I vividly remember opening presents. The first thing I noticed, there wasn’t a present under the tree large enough to be a motorcycle. Undeterred, I knew the Christmas package could contain a key and I would know the motorcycle was waiting for me outside. As usual, my brothers and I had several presents under the tree, but most of them would be clothes. You could pretty much tell the small, mushy presents were underwear or socks and the larger mushy presents were jeans or shirts, which pretty much left one present that was a surprise. I tore open that gift and boy did I get a surprise. Inside was a clapping monkey. I was stunned. I was thirteen years old, nearly grown, and I got a clapping monkey? The next time we were at school and the teacher asked the annual question of what we got for Christmas, it was the first time I proudly mentioned the clothes, every item. I may have forgotten to mention the clapping monkey.

Thirty years later, my brothers and I were at our parents’ home for Christmas along with our spouses and children and were reminiscing about Christmases past. My oldest brother brought up the Christmas that I got the clapping monkey. He commented that he couldn’t remember what he got that year, but he was just thankful that he didn’t get a clapping monkey. My other brother and I chimed in talking about that gift and how thankful he was and how appalled I was. My parents were surprised to find out our opinions of that gift. They actually thought I liked it because we played with it for years. We gently reminded them that THEY were the ones that played with it.

Dad and his dad during a recent elk sighting--trying to forget the ever famous clapping monkey

I did learn a valuable lesson from that Christmas gift long ago. Every gift I’ve received since then, I’ve appreciated; whether it’s clothes, a really cool electronic gadget, or a bag of switches. Anything (or nothing at all) is better than a clapping monkey. But I have to admit it was memorable. I received a lot of gifts as a kid growing up and I’ve forgotten most of them, but I will always remember that gift and that Christmas with my family. We lost my Mom last year after a long, hard battle with Alzheimer’s. My Mom wasn’t a lot of fun the last few years due to that terrible disease, but I’ll remember her from the Christmases of when I was a kid and when her grandkids were little. I wouldn’t have minded seeing another clapping monkey this year…but I would hope it was for my brothers."

Peace out and Merry Christmas...XOXO

Avery