I'll Be Home for Christmas

Christmas Day comes and it is unremarkable except for Scott, who has brightened the outlook considerably. No pressure to bound out of bed, or whip up a royal breakfast or open gifts at a neck-breaking pace.

I am in my jammies far too long, make lots of Merry Christmas phone calls to lots of friends and respond to lots of glad tidings on Facebook. Facebook has made the world so much smaller and eliminated the pressure to go over the river and through the woods or risk alienating friends and relatives the across the globe with one inadvertent slight.

Later in the day, I shower and szhszh once again and dress to join Charlotte and her family on their annual trek to see family tucked away in a quaint little town about 90 minutes away. I can’t find the other gift bag I know I assembled for Charlotte from my son and I am in such a good mood I am not even really all that agitated by it.

I am greeted by Charlotte’s husband, Jack. Hellos, kisses, Merry Christmases and I am handed a glass.

I am a little confused (mostly by its emptiness!) but turn to share additional hellos, kisses and Merry Christmases with each of Charlotte and Jack’s teenage boys, practically giving myself a Charlie Horse getting up on my tippy toes to kiss their freshly shaven faces way up there near the tops of their 6 foot frames.

Charlotte calls her greetings from somewhere in the clouds, evidently involved in some last minute szhszhing herself.

I touch down on the kitchen tiles once again and turn to find that my glass once empty is now full. And not just figuratively. Of course my cup runneth over. But now my beer glass is brimming as well. Lucky me.

There is a reason for this. I am a fan of warm up drinks, natch but this is something more than a pre-game belt.

Jack has saved me a story. A story that must be accompanied by a super strong, spicy beer known to the enlightened as Mad Elf. It’s that good a story.

And who might be the leading stars of the show?

Wait for it.

Mom and Bill.

I take a few swigs of Mad Elf and remember why it is so named. High alcohol content. Smooth as silk. A troublemaker’s beer.

How apropos!