Christmas Eve, 2021

We have reached Christmas Eve of 2021 and I have to wonder where the year has gone.

Day before

I know I have thought about this day often and what it means to me. Growing up meant that I would have to be going to bed early so Santa would come and leave me stuff.

My brother

But, it meant that my brother would be spending some time with us at home.

He usually slept in my bed and I slept on the floor, and he would talk to me most of the night. I would tell him to go to sleep and he would just laugh at me. I miss those days. Spending time with my brother used to me all the time. But over time it got less and less that he would come home. I guess life just got in the way. He came home on Christmas. That was a great time.

I miss those days.

Work

As I got older and I had a job, I worked on Christmas eve until the store closed. I wasn’t able to go with my parents to pick up my brother. We closed at 6 PM, and there were people still in the store. The manager kept on announcing that we are closed, and the people kept on shopping. He announced over the intercom to come up to the registers and check out. The people still weren’t coming up.

Finally, he started to turn out the lights and he announced to leave your baskets where they are and leave the store. We want to go home and spend time with our families. I got to go around the store and show people the way out of the store and they weren’t too happy about it at all. Don’t leave your shopping until the minute people.

Over the years I have worked on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and it sucked.

I remember one time I was working on Christmas eve, it was I think 2002. I was working a call center job, I know, I know a horrible job, and it was like 6 PM my time and I was talking to a guy who was having a party in the background, I asked him why he wasn’t at the party. He said he needed to figure out what was going on with his FrontPage website.

I got it figured out in about 15 minutes and I told him to go and enjoy the night and not to worry about the small things. That took him by surprise. He asked why I said that. I did the same things years ago. Now I miss the time spent with my brother since he passed away. I would love to go back in time and change my focus and spend time with him.

I worked graveyard shifts and I always had to work every holiday if they fell on the days I was working. So it was a pain in the butt. The company provided food for the day shift and if there was food leftover, it has sat out all day. So it wasn’t that good anymore. So fun times for me.

Means to me

Over time I began to figure out what Christmas Eve means to me. It isn’t about

Worrying about the little things
Running around looking for things
Chasing the all mighty dollar
Commercialism

IT is about

Family
Spending time with loved ones
Relaxing and pondering on the year
Giving to others
Helping others

I look back at all the years that I spent with my brother and I miss those days. It got less and less over the years as was focused on other things. But those nights my brother would sit and talk to me in his special way. Was a good time for him.

I would visit him often and he always knew when I was there as he would look for me. But, I miss the times we spent on Christmas Eve talking to me and laughing at me when I told him to be quiet. I only wish I had those days back.

I missed Christmas eve with my kids due to work, I wish I had those days back.