Little Christmas

A letter to my mother on her birthday

Christmas Eve 2024

Mum,

I love you.

I remember you today and always.

Thank you for so many wonderful family Christmases. I’ll never forget how you wrapped our presents perfectly and placed them under the tree in sections. Paul’s were on the left, mine were in the center, and Sean’s were on the right.

A big joke we were all in on was that Dad sometimes gifted you things that he wanted, like LeAnn Rimes’ debut CD, because he didn’t want to ask for it himself.

When I was old enough, I’d replace the lights that burned out before Dad strung them around the tree. Then we’d add our gold garland and I’d hang ornaments with you. Dad always put too much tinsel on the tree, the only decoration that didn’t come off when we threw the tree out after Little Christmas, your birthday. He secured the tree to the wall so Muffy couldn’t knock it down again by jumping into it and digging her claws into the trunk until it crashed down on our living room floor.

I remember you sitting on the couch in your blue robe on Christmas morning as you watched us open gifts while a candle burned amidst the arrangement Uncle Walt and Aunt Betty sent every year.

Sean got a CB radio, Paul got a Casio SK-1 sampling keyboard, I got Barbies, we all got the Nintendo gaming system, Sean got Donkey Kong, Paul got Tetris, I got Kirby’s Adventure, Dad got a book about Ernest Shackleton and The Endurance, and you got Chanel No. 5.

You saved all the gift bags, boxes, bows, and ribbons for future Christmases. You even saved the gift wrapping itself, unless Sean tore open the gift wrapping instead of taking more time to peel it off like the rest of us did. It saved money and was environmentally friendly. We had a kitchen trash bag by the couch where we disposed of wrapping paper that couldn’t be re-used.

Our living room was small, smaller than my bedroom now, but it was filled with joy, love, gratitude, and plenty of tinsel.

Today, January 6th, is my mother’s birthday. It’s also celebrated as “Little Christmas” and is considered the Feast of the Epiphany, which partly honors the visit of the Magi. If you look closely in this piece, you may notice representations of the three gifts the Magi gave to Jesus Christ the night he was born: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.