A Christmas Story

The story below may or may not be based on facts. The names have been changed to protect the innocent (but not changed much!). It's a bit lengthy, so grab a cup of coffee and settle in for a story about the Rudd family's 2018 Christmas.

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It was going to be one of those magical, wondrous Christmases for the Rudds. Stan and Brenda. Brenda was a master-planner. To-do lists, calendars, timelines, meal plans and recipes were her constant companions. So it wasn’t unusual that she checked in with her daughter-in-law, Elsie, even before Thanksgiving, to find out what the Christmas plans were for that branch of the family - the branch that held Stan and Brenda’s only two grandchildren.

As it turned out, Chase and Elsie, who had a new RV, were planning to use the kids’ Christmas vacation as their “maiden voyage,” traveling around the state, from state park to state park. They would be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in west Texas with Elsie’s family and then heading back west to Stan and Brenda’’s house, in Central Texas, right after Christmas.

Brenda was glad to have that piece of information. On her calendar she marked out both December 26 and December 27 as possible days that the kids and grands would arrive. Their family Christmas would be a couple days late, but they would celebrate it in style, none the less.

A few days later, Brenda was talking with her good friend, May, about how she and Stan would be alone on Christmas Day. May laughed and said that whenever she and her husband, Randy, were alone at Christmas, they watched the well-loved movie, A Christmas Story, and then, just like Ralphie and his movie family, went out to a Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner.

And, like Brenda and Stan, May and Randy were going to be alone for Christmas, too. So the two women hatched a great plan. The two couples would spend Christmas Day together, starting in the morning with Brenda’s homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast, spending the afternoon playing games and watching A Christmas Story, and culminating in dinner out at a Chinese restaurant. 

Fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra. 

Brenda was feeling so on top of it! Her calendar was filling out nicely with the addition of these events scheduled for Christmas Day. She didn’t worry about which Chinese restaurant they’d go to, because she was sure that May and Randy had a favorite, probably in nearby Austin, since it had been their tradition for several years. But she did begin hunting for a new cinnamon roll recipe, and she scheduled a day on the calendar just to do a test bake of the top contender.

Finally December arrived, and Brenda began thinking about decorating the house for the grandkids’ visit. Maybe she would just put up the small four-foot tree this year, she mused. But Stan, who was second only to Santa Claus for preserving holiday traditions, insisted that she decorate the big tree. So up into the attic he climbed, passing down the bulky tree and the dust-coated bins containing all of the decorations to Brenda, who stood at the foot of the ladder. Stan put the tree together but left the job of fluffing out the branches and decorating to Brenda. Her to-do list allowed three days to turn their living room into a sparkly, glittery Christmas wonderland, and she took all three of them. Even though she had not wanted to put up the big tree, she had to admit that it was beautiful and inspired her with holiday cheer.

On December 6, with the tree up and all flat surfaces adorned with Christmas glee, Brenda’s to-do list told her it was time to confirm the kids’ arrival time. Thank goodness for text messaging, she thought, and then dashed off her question to Elsie: “So … do you know what day/night we should expect you to get here after leaving Pecos? Just want to be sure that we’re here for your arrival. I’m happy to say I’ve got all my shopping done and most of the gifts wrapped. Finally got the tree up and decorated, too!”

No reply that morning. No reply that afternoon. That was odd, thought Brenda.

That evening her phone rang, and the screen lit up with Chase’s name. “Hi Mom,” said Chase. “Um. I think there’s been a little bit of confusion or miscommunication about Christmas.” Brenda’s heart sank. “We aren’t coming to your house this year.”

“What?!! But you’re on my calendar! And I put up the big tree!” (That was what she thought, but she bit her tongue and carefully formed her response.) “Oh?” was all she could say. Then Chase explained that after spending Christmas with Elsie’s family, they would be heading to Dinosaur State Park for two or three days, and then on to a state park in Huntsville before going back home to Houston. Neither of those parks were close enough to Stan and Brenda’s house to spend a day with them. “I’m not sure what was said that made you think we were coming, but I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.” “Oh well,” said Brenda, “Maybe we can drive up to Dinosaur State Park one of the days you’re there and have a little family Christmas time then. Just let me know exactly which days you’ll be there.”

How had she gotten so confused, Brenda wondered. She scoured her emails and text messages to see what had been said to give her this mistaken idea. Then she found it - Elsie’s text message to her way back before Thanksgiving, the one that said they’d be heading to her house on December 26, the one that prompted her to put their visit on her calendar. Still sad about the news, but thankful that she wasn’t losing her mind, she copied and pasted that text message and sent it to Chase, as proof of her sanity.

Immediately she wished she hadn’t done that! What was she thinking? She had just thrown her daughter-in-law under the bus! That night she couldn’t sleep, worrying about her insensitivity and how it might have affected Elsie.

In the morning Brenda called her and apologized profusely and sincerely. Elsie, the sweetest daughter-in-law ever, said not to worry. “Originally,” she explained, “we were planning to come see you on the 26th, but there were no vacancies in the campgrounds near your house, so we had to change our plans. I guess I figured Chase would let you know, but he didn’t even realize I’d told you about those original plans."

So, that was all sorted out. Brenda erased the kids’ visit from her calendar and adjusted the timeline and to-do list. The to-do list needed a major overhaul - scratch the big grocery shopping, since there would be no big Christmas dinner. No need to do a lot of baking since there wouldn’t be any grandkids snacking around the clock. She was hesitant to add a trip to Dinosaur State Park to the calendar, since the dates given to her were a little vague, so she blocked out three different days … just in case.

Now the plans for Christmas Day, the Chinese restaurant plans with May and Randy, became even more important to Brenda. She began hunting for a new cinnamon roll recipe, since she had promised to provide them for their Christmas morning breakfast. After a few days scouring the internet, she found one that looked to be the ultimately decadent cinnamon bun. As prescribed by her timeline, she did a half-recipe test bake a week before Christmas. She and Stan agreed they were absolutely divine! On her timeline she noted that she would make the dough, let it rise, and shape the rolls on Christmas Eve. She would let them rise again, overnight in the refrigerator, then bake them off on Christmas morning to take to May and Randy’s. She began going through her game closet on a quest to find a couple fun games to take with them. She also pulled out their DVD collection and found A Christmas Story and put it where she wouldn’t forget it on Christmas morning. She still gave little or no thought to the Chinese restaurant plans, as she knew that May and Andy had that under control, and were probably eager to introduce some cute little Asian restaurant to Stan and her.

Just to complicate things, Stan came down with a cold a few days before Christmas. Brenda force-fed him Airborne, decongestants and vitamins, in her effort to get him well before the big day.

Finally it was Christmas Eve. Stan was feeling better, so that was good! Then came the message from May: "I just got a text from a friend, reminding me that we are 'still invited' over for Christmas lunch with them tomorrow. But I don't remember being invited in the first place! This isn't how I planned for our Christmas day to go, but Randy thinks we should go to their house for lunch on Christmas Day. We could still come over to your house in the afternoon and watch the movie or play games and then go to dinner. Or you're certainly welcome to come over here, but all the Chinese restaurants are more over your way. So sorry to have to be making a last minute change like this, but we can still have fun! Oh, and I'm not sure if I told you, but we have to be at the airport in Austin by 9:30 that night to pick up our daughter." 

Brenda was thrown for a loop in more ways than one. First off, she had to eliminate the cinnamon roll project, since they wouldn’t be together for breakfast. She was grateful that she hadn’t already started the dough. And secondly, the party was going to be at her house, not at May’s. And thirdly, it didn’t sound like May had the perfect Chinese restaurant in mind at all. Did that mean that it was up to her to find one that was open? There were only a handful of Chinese places in her small town, and she began making phone calls and doing internet searches. The only one she found that would be open on Christmas Day was a place in the neighboring community of Belton, called “Jake’s Chinese Buffet.” “Jake’s” and “Chinese” didn’t really seem to go together, thought Brenda. She’d feel better if it had been “Lee’s” or “Kim’s.” But “Jake’s?”

Christmas morning dawned. Stan and Brenda ate some breakfast - no homemade cinnamon rolls - and exchanged their Christmas gifts. Opening their presents didn’t make a dent in the pile of shiny packages still under the tree, for Chase, Elsie and the kids. But hopefully they would see them and deliver the packages on the 27th, at the campground. 

Christmas day passed very slowly, waiting for May and Randy. It was about 3:30 when they finally arrived. The four of them had fun visiting and playing a game or two. But there wasn’t time to watch A Christmas Story. Brenda made a mental note: you have to let go of your timelines and calendars. It’s OK if things don’t follow the script!

Before they knew it, it was dinner time. May said she thought Yank Sing, a large Chinese buffet, was supposed to be open. And Applebee's and Chili's advertised that they were open on Christmas, as well. They weren't Chinese places, of course, but any port in a storm, right?! Randy chauffeured them, first, to iHop, which had a line of people standing outside and shivering in the rain. That didn't seem like a great idea. Chili's was just next door. But it was closed, despite its on-line claim: "NOW OPEN." On to Applebee's - another line of rain-drenched people. Well, Yank Sing wouldn't be bad, they agreed, even though they had all pictured a sit-down restaurant rather than a buffet. But even Yank Sing turned out to be closed! That left Jake's Chinese Buffet, in Belton. Brenda and Stan had never eaten there. May said they had, a long time ago, and that she remembered it as sort of a dive. But what choice did they have?

Brenda’s hopes soared, however, when they pulled into the parking lot, saw lots of cars, a lighted sign that read, “OPEN,” and a banner proclaiming Jake’s the “Best Oriental, Best Buffet, Best Business Lunch!” Maybe this dinner, the culmination of their unusual Christmas Day, was going to be a winner, after all!

Stepping into the vestibule, Brenda noticed that an attempt had been made at decorating for Christmas. A tall, droopy, potted plant that she thought might be a dracaena, had a string of Christmas lights wound around it, turning it into Jake's version of a Christmas tree. Sad looking tinsel garlands hung from the glass panels dividing one row of empty booths from another.

A surly waitress seated them at a table and asked for their drink orders. Randy and Brenda ordered iced tea, May ordered oolong tea and Stan asked for hot green tea. The iced tea came to the table quite promptly, but the waitress told May and Stan that she had to "make the teas," and that it might be a while. The four of them went to the buffet to fill their plates while they waited for the hot teas.

The buffet looked a little sad, a little tired, a little sorry and was made up, predominantly, of various chicken offerings: General Tso’s chicken, sweet and sour chicken, orange chicken, chicken and broccoli and chicken wings. Brenda also took a piece of Mongolian beef. By the time they came back to their table, paper napkins and forks had been placed in the center of the table. Still neither of the hot teas had arrived.

Stan was the first to comment on the food. “All of these chicken dishes taste the same.” “Heavy on Chinese Five Spice,” commented Brenda, who was trying to figure out how to eat the Mongolian beef without a knife. She tried stabbing it with her fork and biting off a piece, but it was so tough that she didn’t succeed. But she didn't actually mind, because the small taste she took told her that even the beef tasted the same as all of the chicken dishes.

All four were about to give up on their plates of food when, at last, the two little metal tea pots arrived, each one with an infuser holding a tea bag. “That explains why it took so long for her to ‘make the tea,’” commented May with a wry grin.

“Well,” said Brenda, “This will be a Christmas to remember, and I, for one, have had fun today.” Everyone agreed. “I just figured that you two had a favorite Chinese place in Georgetown or Austin, based on your long-held Christmas tradition.

“Oh, no!” answered May. "That was our tradition before we moved here." Brenda noticed a puzzled look in Randy’s eyes. “What tradition?” he asked. May looked at him with chagrin. “Don’t you remember all the times we ate at Chinese restaurants on Christmas Day back in Katy? We did it because Chinese restaurants were the only ones open on Christmas! You really don’t remember?” “No,” replied Randy.

Back home, there were a few minutes to regroup and rehash their Christmas day together before Randy and May had to head to the airport in Austin. 

Two days later, Stan and Brenda made the two-hour drive, north, to Dinosaur State Park. The family enjoyed being together and exchanging gifts. Brenda went with her grandson and Elsie on a walk to the river. It was cold, so they didn’t stay outside long, but it was great to breathe some fresh air and experience a little natural wonder. 

Her granddaughter stayed back at the RV with the men, since she was running a fever and not feeling well.

Stan and Brenda spent the night at a local hotel and came back the next morning for a while. They were glad to see that their granddaughter was feeling much better. Around noon they said their final good-byes and drove back home, where a most beautiful sunset greeted them.

The next morning at breakfast, Stan sipped his coffee and pronounced this Christmas to be the most fun one he could remember. Brenda had to think on that for a while. Nothing had gone according to plan. The effort put into all of her to-do lists, calendars and timelines had been futile. And yet, she had to agree with Stan that this unbridled Christmas had taken them for a wild ride into unforeseen, new and delightful places.