We moved to Abilene on Halloween, 2001. We weren't able to get into this house and were put in a house between N. 7th and N. 8th off of Grape street in Abilene. If you're from Abilene this brings to mind drive-by shootings and drug deals. You've got the right place. There were 2 drive-by shootings across the street from us and a meth lab blew up not far from us. Good times. We were only supposed to be there until November 30. November 30, we went to close on this house and found it would be closer to January before we could get in our house.
I was SO depressed. I had no friends in this town, two small children that I wanted to love their new home, and no Christmas decorations, no extra blankets when there was snow on the ground and the heat went out. Everything was in storage. I was not happy.
I took the money that we would have spent on a tree -- yes, we still do real -- and went to Hobby Lobby. I got each child their own 2 foot Christmas tree, a strand of lights, and some things to hang on the tree. I stacked some of the boxes in our house and draped Christmas fabric over them (blankets were in storage, my sewing machine and fabric were with me. Go figure!) to put the trees on top of. Those tiny little trees shone out of the window of our sad little home in our crack-infested neighborhood.
The kids absolutely loved having their own tree. We would go drive around looking at Christmas lights. The kids, 3 and 5 at the time, would say, "How sad!! Those people only have ONE Christmas tree. I bet they wish they had 2 like us." They didn't even notice that the one Christmas tree was a 12-foot tree in the foyer of their mansion in a neighborhood that did not seem to have a meth lab in it.
We made a gingerbread house. From a box. In the past I believed you had to do it all from hand. We slapped together those pre-made walls and stuck some candy on it -- and they were so proud and simply loved it.
I would love to tell you that was my favorite Christmas ever. Nope. I still hate that we were in a horrible house provided by a horrible person who we were still legal wrangling with on December 21 when we moved into this house. I still hate that I had to cover my children with newspapers and towels more than once when the heat went out. But I still remember and appreciate the lesson I learned. The "picturebook Christmas" is rarely worth the hassle, and a happy family together and healthy at Christmas is more valuable than any trinkets I can place in my home.
Put on the hot chocolate and sing your favorite Christmas carol!
2 comments:
At that time we lived pretty close to ya'll, N. 6th and about 2 blocks east of Abilene High. Although we didn't have shootings on our street we were probably close enough to hear those on yours. I wish that I knew you then, I had plenty of blankets to share, and even a warm home for you to lay your heads when your heat was out. Makes me sad that your family had to go through that when there were so many people who would have jumped at the chance to help, myself included.
As your dad who loves you, I never even knew about some of those tribulations. You can bet I'd have been coming down I-20 in a blinding hurry if I had.
Something like that is no fun at all, but at least you have that experience to help shape the compassionate people you are.
Now, about these tear-jerkers you keep writing . . . . . .
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