Poop For Christmas

In 1955, when I was a mere 5 years old, I asked Santa for sawhorses for Christmas. Santa delivered. My dad actually made the small sawhorses and delivered them for Santa but that is really just splitting hairs. Santa got them for me. A few years later my brother and I got a toy set called Rig-A-Jig. I remember it not being something we asked for or had ever even heard of, but also remember it being the thing we liked the most that year. I remember both my mom and dad commenting how they wouldn’t have guessed that we would like the Rig-A-Jig set so much. By that point I knew that the rocket at The Bon Marche, which flew to the North Pole to take kids to see Santa, really wasn’t leaving the fourth floor of The Bon. Sometimes getting exactly what you asked for can be nice and sometimes surprises can be nice too.

Even as an adult some years I got things for Christmas I had asked for and some years I got things that were surprises to me. In my family, growing up, my parents asked us what we wanted. We made lists. We of course didn’t always get everything on our lists but that was how it worked at my home. When Katy and I got married I would ask her what she wanted for Christmas. That was foreign to her. In her family people tried to get things that the person, “wouldn’t have gotten for themselves.” My attitude about that was if it was something I wouldn’t get for myself at some point then it probably isn’t something I want. Through the years we have merged our styles or patterns of gift giving. After 32 years that part of our life is working well.

So what’s a better gift, something you ask for or something that is a surprise? Part of the problem with surprises is that they can be just plain poop. I don’t like surprises that are poop. I don’t like them at all!

My friend, Bill, has a son Sammy. Bill wrote me recently, “Sammy is almost potty trained. The light finally came on. He made his first #2 all by himself on Christmas day. So you can say I got poop for Christmas and I was very happy about it.” That’s a direct quote. I didn’t adjust it or embellish it. Bill got poop for Christmas and he was dang glad he did. What a nice surprise for him.

My father-in-law used to say, “The secret to being happy is to learn how to want what you have and not how to have what you want.” It’s important to be grateful for all that is right and all that is good. And it’s important to learn that sometimes we can celebrate the poop in our lives. (Thanks Bill)

It's the weekend. Please be good. Drive your car carefully. Ride with people who drive carefully. Treat yourself with respect. Spend time with people who treat you with respect. Treat other people with respect. Talk nice to yourself; you deserve it. I look foward to hearing from you or seeing you. Keep yourself whole physically and emotionally.