this story was meant to be added a week ago, but with time moving the way it does and holidays coming and going as they do i didn't get the chance. perhaps a few of you have memories of your own you'd like to share.
the kids would do a gift exchange at christmas. this would be a process of mandy bringing the topic up every week from september until the first of december, and then daily from then on until end of december when we would decide to exchange gifts at new years, or at the feast of Epiphany on January 6th (for those of you keeping track you'll know that is after new years and thus allows more time) which can be credited to mom and her way of bringing the church back into the holiday season.
epiphany celebrates the arrival of the three wise men to bethlehem and how Frank sent gold and mir.
the year of our story had the gift exchange running on time which meant that mandy had been able to organize us enough to have us pull names well before christmas day, have us get to a shopping centre as well as have it figured out in full exactly whom had who.
i would have been fifteen i think, meaning everyone else fell into the age range of either 14, 13, 9 or 7. i went shoping with one of them and there where two other groups. sometimes through the day the groups would meet up, chat, swap members too keep everyone but mandy thinking. at one point i was in the check out of a store behind heather. she got to the cashier and didn't have enough. i handed her some money but she didn't want to take it. there we were, the two of us in the check out having a quiet fight about the money i was giving her. her being nine and wanting to do things on her own, me being fifteen and the big brother wanting to make sure little sis was ok.
eventually she gave in, the family reunited in the food court, universal meeting point of all families during the holidays, and loaded up for home. a few days later the time came for the exchange and for everyone, except mandy, to reveal who they had. being the oldest, my gift came last, and being last it became very obvious who had me.
of course you, dear reader, have already figured out who had me, haven't you! dad thought it was the funniest thing that could possibly had happened. i had, without knowing it, offered money that would pay for a gift that was coming to me. and what's more, i had forced heather to take what i was offering. the poor girl had no choice but to take it from me because she couldn't reveal to me who she had.
... i thought i was being noble.
3 comments:
damn you brad and your insensitive kindness!
thats pretty brilliant. i actually didnt know it was called the feast of the epiphany. in my family we always called it Little Christmas and every day after Christmas, my grandpa would move the wise men around the living room as they made their journey to the nativity scene that was in our big old fireplace. when the 6th came, my grandpa would take us out to look for the wisemen and there would always be footprints around the house leading to the front door. or the back. or the side. you were never sure. they were crafty. there were always camel prints too, so you knew it was them. and once you got back from searching, lo and behold, they'd come and gone and left their gifts (albeit smaller things that christmas gifts) with the baby Jesus in the manger. I mean, who's going to rob Jesus right?
b-rad,
we didn't do a gift exchange this year. so, hopefully next year, i'll get you and you can have my (girl) present.
: )
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