Bud celebrates his 80th birthday and Christmas with nearly his entire family
I guess the older I get, it gets tougher to admit how much enjoyment I receive on Christmas and my birthday since it happens to be on Christmas Eve. I guess it is actually more fun to admit it was appreciated when I was a youngster and the excitement I always got waiting on Santa Claus and what would be under our Christmas tree.
It was certainly difficult to fall asleep with all the thoughts that ran through our young minds. All of my siblings would lay there in bed and couldn't wait until Christmas morning.
Well, fast forward to today. Guess what? I am now celebrating my 80th birthday, and I have to say, this year I received one of the best birthday presents and blessings. Since those long-passed younger days, I have grown up to being a husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Sadly, I have lost both of my parents, two sisters, and one brother, but I have gained family members with a beautiful daughter and a handsome son.
Through the years, our two children grew up and married and had families of their own, My wife and I have been blessed with 10 grandchildren and currently 12 great-grandchildren, but we expect that number to increase in the future.
As it often happens, families have a tendency to relocate. We have grandkids and great-grandkids living in Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. Our son and his family live in Salt Lake City, so as you can imagine, it makes seeing everybody rather difficult. But we use social media, emails, and cellphone to keep in touch. You can imagine the fun it is shipping Christmas gifts to those locations and hoping they arrive on time.
Well, this year, unbeknownst to me, the family wanted to surprise me. For the first time in several years, we had all our grandkids home for my birthday, and we celebrated early. Golly, it was fantastic to see them all!
Our son and his family were unable to make it, but we talked on the phone. I must admit that I was struggling hard to hold back the tears of joy. It was unbelievable how much the great-grandkids had grown. We all gathered around our house, and at one time, we counted 26 people. I realized I needed to add more rooms onto our house.
I asked the family if they ever watched any of the Ma and Pa Kettle movies where they had all the kids and lived in a farmhouse. If you are old enough to remember those movies, you will understand. After I saw the family group picture, I said we looked like the modern-day version of Ma and Pa Kettle with all their children.
We sat around and talked and recalled past Christmas gatherings, remembered several of the family members who were no longer with us, ate a great prepared meal, including venison, celebrated my 80th birthday, had ice cream and cake, and then we opened Christmas gifts and played games.
It was great to watch the little folks taking turns looking under the Christmas tree in the front room and the other tree in my den. It brought back several thousand memories of my sisters, brothers, and I when we were young. We had such a blessed time, and I was sad to see it come to an end. Golly, I just hope we can do it again.
As I have grown older, I can recall many Christmas gatherings and seeing my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins as they grew older. It seemed like it wasn't far when they passed away, and now, as the years go by, I notice it isn't quite as funny as I thought it was to hear, "This cold weather really makes my body ache."
I remember laughing when one of my grandparents’ eyeglasses were steamed over, and they couldn't see. I suddenly realized, it ain’t as funny as I thought it was, but even though Christmas might have changed somewhat as I aged, I can still enjoy Christmas through my grandkids’ and great-grandkids’ eyes, and that is super fine with me.
As I look in the mirror daily, I see what used to be a younger man, now with what used to be thick, dark brown hair that has turned white and thinning, blue eyes that are now bloodshot, more creases in my skin, and muscle tone that is no longer admirable. But when it comes to enjoying Christmas and family, I can still keep up with the best of them!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, folks!