Advent - day eleven

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 11 useless gizmos, 10 matching p.j.'s, 9 lovely tall trees, 8 elegant ornaments, 7 certain suitcases, 6 singing souls, 5 Julenissen, 4 Christmas stockings, 3 special wishes, 2 roller skates, and one very large sea kelp.

You may or may not have noticed that I was trying to have the same number of people in the photo as were in the verse - but I gave up on that today, right now!! This is Christmas in the Rock House and the baby is Erika.

My memory has nothing to do with the photo either. They are just for show!

My memory has to do with the year I got a volleyball for Christmas. As I've mentioned before, I usually didn't get what I wished for. And I really never planned on getting what I wished for. It was kind of like signing what you imagined your married name would be all over your notebook at school. Or listing all the names you were going to give your children.

One year I got a yellow sweater and a pair of beige wool pants with a matching vest
- instead of a dyed to match sweater set and skirt. It wasn't bad - I wore them anyway. And I was not offended - my folks did their best and tried hard to make us all happy.

And perhaps I should preface this with the note that I am not and never have been athletic. Not in any way, shape or form. So the year I got a volleyball - as my "main" gift - I was not only horrified - I was offended! How could anyone not know that I was not a volleyball player - me, who got A's and a C in P.E. - year after year?

I think I even said something rude like, "Who chose this?" Or, "Hasn't a mistake been made here?" And I was very close to tears. I think my mom said something like, "I thought you liked volleyball?" (What I had said was that volleyball was the one sport where I didn't quite look as bad as I did in other sports. I did not even imply that I liked to play it.)

I think I was 14 or 15. It was not a happy Christmas for me. I felt a little bit "abused" if I may use such strong language.

The ward YW volleyball team borrowed the ball once. They returned it much later in less than pristine condition. At least it got put to good use.

I have never forgotten that Christmas - even though my parents and siblings have little memory of it. Obviously I hid my pain!!

But since then, I have realized that it is not only possible, but highly probable, that anyone with more than one child could easily mix the signals their children sent them about gifts they'd like to receive. And I hope that my children have forgiven me when I have totally missed the boat on something.

Probably they were awarding double Blue Chip Stamps with the purchase of a volleyball!