as I raced to find my shoes.
“Jimmy! I’ve told you not to get snow all over the place when you come in from school,” Mom complain ed when she saw the mess the snow from my shoes made. “Go get a towel and mop up the puddles, please.” I hurried and cleaned up the mess, and we all hopped in the car.
Brrrr, rrrr, rrrr, rrrrrr….cachuk!
Mom’s car was an older, powder-blue, Chrysler station-wagon that never seemed to want to start when it was cold outside. Mom tried again, and it finally cranked. “Oh my God…it’s sooooo c-c-coooollllddddd in here,” Sarah complained. She always seemed to be complaining about something. Mom turned on the Christmas carols to take our minds off of the frigid car while it slowly warmed up. Then, she stepped outside to scrape the ice from the windshield. Meanwhile, I bundled up in the blanket I kept on the back seat for long trips. I got car sick very easily, so if we were going to be in the car long, I always had to nap to prevent myself from getting too nauseous. There was always a blanket and pillow waiting for me, just in case.
“Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Jingle all the waaaayyyy…” I sang as we backed out of the driveway. The car began to heat up and we started out to the first neighborhood. The first few houses didn’t have any lights on, even though their yards were decorated. We did manage to find enough houses that had their lights on to make it worth it, though. We sang along to the carols on the radio, in between our trio of “ooohhhhs” and “aaahhhs” as we saw bigger and bigger displays of lights. One house even had wooden cut outs of cartoon characters, and had re-enacted a scene from my favorite Christmas special, involving a lonely Christmas tree.
Once we left a few of the smaller neighborhoods, we made our way to the King of Neighborhoods, as I nick-named the sub-division due to the enormous sizes of the houses. I don’t know if you’d call the houses in Ashton Woods Estate mansions, but they are certainly the biggest houses I had ever seen. Each house was covered in stone, and even had a smaller attached home for their housekeepers or cooks. We weren’t what I would call poor, but we rented our home…and had an older car. Mom provided for my sister and I alright and we haven’t been on welfare. Even so, money was tight. I could never imagine living in a house as large and luxurious as the ones I was looking at. There must have been at least seven or eight bedrooms in each main house…and probably just as many bathrooms. Imagine that….not having to share a bathroom with Sarah anymore. It brought a smile to my face.
The lights and decorations on the mansions looked so elegant. It was my absolute favorite stop every year. My mom always worried that we would get arrested, because of the looks of our car. “Surely, they’ll think we’re casing the joint,” she always joked. One of the houses had a huge tree in the middle of the spacious, front yard, and they always decorated it to look like a Christmas tree, complete with the tree skirt and larger than life presents underneath. It was so big, it reminded me of the tree at the end of the How the Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon special. If I would ever become rich, I’d want to give my Mom a Christmas tree like that…with just as many presents.
We continued looking at more houses and more pretty lights, but I must have fallen asleep because I awoke to my Mom tucking me in to bed.
“Sweet dreams, Jimmy ,” she said as she kissed my forehead.
“Goodnight, Mom ,” I lazily muttered back.
BBBBBZZZZZ. BBBBBZZZZZ. BBBBBZZZZZ. BBBBBZZZZZ.
I hated my alarm clock. Connor had an iPod dock that would wake him to his favorite music. I didn’t have an iPod or cell phone…hell; we didn’t even have enough money for a generic mp3 player. I tossed my simple but effective alarm clock across the room and
“Jimmy! I’ve told you not to get snow all over the place when you come in from school,” Mom complain ed when she saw the mess the snow from my shoes made. “Go get a towel and mop up the puddles, please.” I hurried and cleaned up the mess, and we all hopped in the car.
Brrrr, rrrr, rrrr, rrrrrr….cachuk!
Mom’s car was an older, powder-blue, Chrysler station-wagon that never seemed to want to start when it was cold outside. Mom tried again, and it finally cranked. “Oh my God…it’s sooooo c-c-coooollllddddd in here,” Sarah complained. She always seemed to be complaining about something. Mom turned on the Christmas carols to take our minds off of the frigid car while it slowly warmed up. Then, she stepped outside to scrape the ice from the windshield. Meanwhile, I bundled up in the blanket I kept on the back seat for long trips. I got car sick very easily, so if we were going to be in the car long, I always had to nap to prevent myself from getting too nauseous. There was always a blanket and pillow waiting for me, just in case.
“Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Jingle all the waaaayyyy…” I sang as we backed out of the driveway. The car began to heat up and we started out to the first neighborhood. The first few houses didn’t have any lights on, even though their yards were decorated. We did manage to find enough houses that had their lights on to make it worth it, though. We sang along to the carols on the radio, in between our trio of “ooohhhhs” and “aaahhhs” as we saw bigger and bigger displays of lights. One house even had wooden cut outs of cartoon characters, and had re-enacted a scene from my favorite Christmas special, involving a lonely Christmas tree.
Once we left a few of the smaller neighborhoods, we made our way to the King of Neighborhoods, as I nick-named the sub-division due to the enormous sizes of the houses. I don’t know if you’d call the houses in Ashton Woods Estate mansions, but they are certainly the biggest houses I had ever seen. Each house was covered in stone, and even had a smaller attached home for their housekeepers or cooks. We weren’t what I would call poor, but we rented our home…and had an older car. Mom provided for my sister and I alright and we haven’t been on welfare. Even so, money was tight. I could never imagine living in a house as large and luxurious as the ones I was looking at. There must have been at least seven or eight bedrooms in each main house…and probably just as many bathrooms. Imagine that….not having to share a bathroom with Sarah anymore. It brought a smile to my face.
The lights and decorations on the mansions looked so elegant. It was my absolute favorite stop every year. My mom always worried that we would get arrested, because of the looks of our car. “Surely, they’ll think we’re casing the joint,” she always joked. One of the houses had a huge tree in the middle of the spacious, front yard, and they always decorated it to look like a Christmas tree, complete with the tree skirt and larger than life presents underneath. It was so big, it reminded me of the tree at the end of the How the Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon special. If I would ever become rich, I’d want to give my Mom a Christmas tree like that…with just as many presents.
We continued looking at more houses and more pretty lights, but I must have fallen asleep because I awoke to my Mom tucking me in to bed.
“Sweet dreams, Jimmy ,” she said as she kissed my forehead.
“Goodnight, Mom ,” I lazily muttered back.
BBBBBZZZZZ. BBBBBZZZZZ. BBBBBZZZZZ. BBBBBZZZZZ.
I hated my alarm clock. Connor had an iPod dock that would wake him to his favorite music. I didn’t have an iPod or cell phone…hell; we didn’t even have enough money for a generic mp3 player. I tossed my simple but effective alarm clock across the room and
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