Tis was not the Season To Be Greedy for my two son in the four years between the two marriages. Nevertheless, we would visit various Santa’s at different malls and various events. One year, we met Santa who knew American Sign Language at a GLAD event. This is the Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness, Inc. (GLAD). A few days later, we went to a Christmas Party at my younger son’s day care center. This Santa spoke Spanish because the center has quite a few Hispanic children. My oldest son pulled the beard off the Santa at the Park’s community center. My son received a lecture in stead of a present and I made him go apologize to Santa. There were a few gifts under the tree but the experiences for the boys that were priceless.

 

The following year, I connected with the man who would eventually be my second husband. We were both officers in Parents Without Partners (PWP) in charge of the Santa Suit. They needed a Santa for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) . I was volunteered because I had the suit. This Santa was a mime who communicated in Sign Language to a certain young man, "There will be consequences if he pulled off Santa’s Beard."

Poor Grumpy, my soon to be second husband, was very much the traditionalist. I would take his son and my boys shopping. They would pick out their presents, wrap them and laugh when Grumpy admonished the boys not to open the presents until Christmas.

 

It was a major league headache dealing with where the kids spent the holiday on Christmas. I finally suggested that we let the boys open presents on Yule and sent them to the other parents for the official holiday. On Christmas Day, Grumpy and I went out to a Chinese Restaurant.

In later years, I’ve volunteered to work on Christmas. There was all that marvelous overtime for an after Christmas Celebration. My second marriage eventually went South. Now I have a dubious love connection with a Texas Trucker who is on the road for the holiday. There will be a celebration later in the week when he gets back to Texas.

.If I had my way, the Holiday Feast would be stir fried vegetables and tofu with Indonesian sauce. Sushi with Wasabi would be delightful but I suspect that certain Texans would say that Sushi can be found at a bait shop.

The Trucker’s daughter suggested that I acquire a turkey at Wally World because the Brookshire Turkeys are outrageously priced. Financial Challenges are a reality this year.

 

I asked my co-worker ( associate is the politically correct term according to my new employer) about the company policy on shopping during the lunch break. She assured me that it’s perfectly fine to do whatever I want within reason during my own time. So I went on a quest for the perfect after x-mas turkey.

The Turkeys were also outrageously priced. I calculated the taxes and determined that I had enough funds to purchase a chicken sized turkey. .I am glad that my Cold Footed Trucker buddy likes Ham better than turkey.     I was quite surprised to learn at the check stand that Texas does not tax Turkeys. I speculate if certain Texas politicians who were kicked upstairs to the federal level are also exempt from taxes. They are turkeys too.

 

Nevertheless, I am glad that my dubious love connection likes ham better than turkey. My employer is making me take Christmas off. I am home alone, doing housework, playing on the computer and enjoying the solitude. My financial realities suck swampwater until I get my first paycheck My boys will all be receiving presents by Old Christmas which is January 7^th. They are all young men living in different states and used to the way I do the holidays with the joys of After Christmas Sales.