Growing up, we didn't have a lot. I am not saying we were poor, but we definitely had times we did without. But we always had a good Christmas and knew how to do them right. Some of my favorite memories of Christmas in Smut Eye involve a hefty helping of imagination and another of fun.
On one occasion my dad assured me that he had seen reindeer tracks just out front. Upon further inspection, the sighting was confirmed and there were, in fact, reindeer tracks all over the front yard. I also remember him having to call Santa on the phone to tell him I had started questioning his existence and him talking to an elf by the name of Elroy or Leroy, which I am not sure.
We were usually out of school for about two weeks and to a girl with no aunts and uncles and only one set of living grandparents who lived right up the road, that meant lots of time to play. The vacation really began on the day of Christmas when I would call my best friend down the road and compare what we had gotten. Then we would meet up at one or the others' house and spend the night back and forth almost the entire remaining vacation. It would usually end with an amazingly extravagant (well, for kids anyway) New Year's Eve party involving handmade confetti, that we promptly would dustbuster up.
All of that may sound simple or dumb, but I have to tell you, those are where my memories live. I have read many poets who say we live the majority of our lives, comparing experiences and people and places to those same things first experienced in our childhood and fondly hold those childhood memories as better than anything we experience in adulthood. I have to agree in part. I hold those Christmas memories tightly. Those days in Smut Eye on Christmas vacation were definitely some of the best!
