Pep's Waiting Story

Note:  Monica was one of my teachers in high school.  Bless this woman. She taught us when she was 22 (starting our freshman year) through the age of 26 (when we were seniors) and then she was off to the Peace Corps. One of our classmates nicknamed her "Pep" because of her exuberance, spunk and positive spirit.  Try as I might, I can't shake the name. We've stayed in touch over the years and now our families are dear friends. We've had the chance to watch her family grow and love spending time with them. Pep is an active blogger and she shared this story of waiting for her first son Danny to arrive. And I share her Christmas memory, as I bet many of us do.  Thanks for taking part in this, Pepper.

Anticipation...

When I was a kid one of my favorite times of year was Christmas. The day itself, but also the anticipation of what was to come. You see, in early December every year, a Sears and Roebuck catalog would arrive in the mail. It was very big and thick—hundreds of pages as I recall—and I can remember going through it page by page with my brothers and sisters.

There were guitars and drum sets and wagons and catcher’s mitts. Sears Toughskins jeans and bicycles and Candyland. A cornucopia of epicurean delights.

I would sort of glaze over and just imagine what life would be like with all of these treasures. (I sometimes have this same feeling when I look through the SkyMall magazine on airplanes).

I don’t think I became a conspicuous consumer. (Case in point, I’ve never actually bought anything from a SkyMall magazine.) We only got one or two things each anyway since there were so many of us and that was fine. And as I got older I began to really understand the “reason for the season”.

But I still love anticipation--like what we are experiencing now. Boy? Girl? Who knows? As far as I’m concerned our baby is a gift that will be like Christmas in June (or possibly May.)

Oh, and I loved Christmas Day as much as I loved dreaming about it. No matter what I got.