Merry Christmas from The Knightly News
Friday, December 25, 2009 at 12:50AM I wrote this story last year, but it constantly remains relevant since it reminds me to make the best out of all situations. I hope you enjoy it and Merry Christmas.
This story is being retold upon request from my Grandfather.
During the Christmas of 2007 I had no money. I was dead broke and had moved back in with my parents while I looked for another job and tried to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. For the previous three years or so I had worked steadily on film crews throughout Atlanta, Georgia, but I knew that was not the direction I wanted to continue with. I needed a change. Moving out of the house I shared with a couple of friends and moving back in with the parents would give me the space to find this new direction. Sadly, I had not budgeted my funds that well during the months of November and December so when Christmas came around I had no money, and could not afford to buy my family any presents. It was not the greatest time for me.
The night before Christmas comes around and my entire family is secretly wrapping presents and I am stewing on the computer playing Minesweeper. My sister came down to talk to me, and I do not know how this idea came about, but she said that I needed to do something. I needed to wrap something despite not buying anything. This was one of the greatest ideas I had ever heard. When she mentioned the idea I nonchalantly brushed it aside, knowing that it was a great idea. All I had to do was wait for everyone to fall asleep.
Once everyone fell asleep I scoured the house looking for what to wrap. Since my mother had been particularly generous with me this past year she would get two presents. I found for her a nice box of macaroni and cheese, and the television remote for the main T.V. in the house. I wanted to get her something that she would need. For my sister I found this great batch of cookies she had just made the night before. I knew she would want that. For my dad I got him the fire extinguisher of the wall. He did not need it immediately, but you never know. I took all the gifts to my room and did the worst wrapping job ever. My family proclaims that I am the worst gift wrapper they have ever seen, and I was not in the mood to let anyone down tonight. Once I finished my horrible wrapping job, which consisted of using more than one type of wrapping paper on each gift so that I could cover the spots that I missed on each gift, I placed them under the tree and went to sleep.
On Christmas morning I slept in late. I was not in a hurry, but my mother had other plans. She needed the remote control. She searched the entire house looking for that remote to no avail. She woke me up with the hopes that I had any idea where it may be. I had no idea. She looked some more and woke me up again and I still had no idea where that remote could be. By this time my sister had started wondering where her cookies were. Since I had stayed up later than everyone else in the house they knew I had to have been up to something. My sister then woke me up to enquire if I had eaten all of her cookies. This time I could honestly say that I had not. My mother and sister went back to brainstorming and then my sister remembered her idea from the night before. They then looked under the tree.
My mother woke me up with a grin of frustration on her face and a T.V. remote in hand. Christmas had started and I went up stairs to give out the presents. My sister got her box of cookies back, my father really appreciated the fire extinguisher and my mother could not believe that she got more than one present. The look on her face when she opened up that box a macaroni and cheese was priceless. They all had no idea how much they appreciated what they already had. The Christmas of 2007 was one of the better ones we had, since we did not have much, but made the best out of what we had.
Now the Christmas of 2008 was a little different. I still did not have much money, but was definitely in a better position than the previous year. I did not spend much on presents, but got everyone something. However that was not enough. I got everyone two things. One gift was a real gift and the other was fake. I got my sister some books, and a box of microwave popcorn. My mother got a scarf, a bracelet, and a box of Hamburger Helper. My father got a book and a can of Raid. (I wanted to keep with the cylindrical and exterminating theme for my father.) The day before Christmas came around and I called the house just to see what they were up to and only my sister was home. I asked where our parents were and she said they were out Christmas shopping. I told my sister that I had already bought my presents over a week ago and she responded with, "You bought presents?". I replied, "No. That's why I finished my shopping so early." She then called me a jerk.
I came over to my parents house on Christmas day with a bag of gifts. My family was in shock. I had not asked for any presents, and had barely mentioned Christmas. Based on last year they had no idea what I would do. Well, firstly I gave my sister her gifts. She opened the first gift, and to her amazement she found a box of microwave popcorn. She did not want to open her second gift. I had to give her some prodding to open her Christmas gift. When she did she found Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" book set. She was pleased. My mom then opened her gift of Hamburger Helper first, only then to love her scarf and bracelet. My dad knew his gift was a can of Raid before he even got all of the wrapping paper off. He did like the book I got him though. My dad does not read many books, but does read the newspaper everyday and I want to get him more into reading books, so I found a book I felt he would like, read the entire thing and made notes throughout with the hope that this will help keep his interest in the book. We will see if this strategy will work. Only time will tell.
In the end we had a great Christmas of 2008 with a big dinner of around ten people. That was the most we had ever had. My Grandparents came into town for New Years and this was when I retold the story to my grandfather. I think he enjoyed the story not only for its humor, but also for the realization that you must work to make the best out of what you have. On neither Christmas did anyone get much, but we all had a great time. Working to make the best out of what we had probably contributed to making the 2008 Holiday season one of the best if not the best we had ever had.
I will strive to make the best out of every situation with the belief that that will lead to better situations. Having a sense of humor does not hurt either.
