Another Wet Christmas

With apologies to whoever wrote the original:

I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas
Just like the one we had last year
May your days be merry. Don't fret
Because all your Christmases are wet.

No, I didn't make fun of Christmas because I had a pleasant day. Medication and Belgian Christmas ale held the pain at bay for most of the day. Melissa put up a string of lights over the inside of our sliding glass door in addition to the tree. I'm very fond of lights hung from the ceiling despite the fact that it's a college thing. Before I met Melissa, most of my favorite Christmas memories were from college. Since our finals were pretty late in December, people got particularly festive.

After Melissa made the gesture of stringing up the lights right where I spend most of my time, I was determined to meet her at least halfway. She loves Christmas while I have a history of mocking nearly every aspect of it. WMMR and State Line Liquors each played a role in helping me stay festive. My favorite radio station eased me into the Christmas music instead of playing 100 different versions of "Jingle Bells" the day after Halloween. On Christmas Eve Day, DJ Pierre Robert had a special "Christmas Eve Spectacular." He played rock and roll Christmas music, traditional carols sung by rock bands and then continued his usual wonderful and wacky trip off the cliff. Before I knew it, I was enjoying Christmas songs by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

I woke up relatively early Christmas morning despite actually going to bed the night before. That meant I could catch the tail end of the Cord Family Christmas Special. DJ Matt Cord has brought his family into the studio on Christmas morning for 20 straight years despite losing his father a few months before Christmas of 2011. He just about broke me up when he ended the show with a long series of clips from things his dad said on the air. I guess I'm still too wounded to allow myself the chance to let my own family hurt me again.

Melissa saved me from a potential morose mood by coming downstairs just as the show ended. She broke our Christmas truce and bought me a PS3 baseball game from 2008 when the Phillies won the World Series. It has Ryan Howard on the cover and he went on the become the National League MVP as the Phillies went on to win the World Series. The games come out too early in the year to reflect anything that happened that season.

In the spirit of meeting Melissa halfway, I let her watch Christmas specials on our most reliable TV channel, Antenna TV. That's actually what the network is called. They have a cable channel, too, but they feature shows from the era of antenna TV. These shows didn't seem as hokey this time around. The good cheer was inside me somehow and I'm not talking about being drunk. The lights, the company of my wife and my cats and the rest left me in a holiday mood.

Well, this is a blog about pain so I guess I better get around to it. The serious rain didn't hit until the day after but the front moving in was making itself known. I was in severe pain but it didn't affect me as much as usual. I guess it's because we kept everything so low key and within my limitations. Eventually, I demanded TV time for my new game and that kept me well occupied but the demand was in the spirit of things. I wanted Melissa to enjoy her holiday TV but I also wanted her to see me eager to play with my new toys.

I believe there was a point when the pain was just about to overwhelm me and Melissa made me some food that wasn't leftovers from a party. Serious nourishment can do the trick of keeping the pain down where I can bear it.

The day after Christmas (aka yesterday) was a different story. With all the rain we got, I spent much of the day howling in pain. I was also tired because I had gotten out of bed when Melissa got ready for work despite getting almost no sleep. She got Christmas Day off but had to work the day before and the day after to qualify for holiday pay. That's time and a half for a day she didn't actually work so she's not complaining. Today was more of a regular day of work for her but it won't stay that way.

Her family is coming to visit starting today. I look forward to it despite the extra pain. Some things are worth the pain, after all. As Tom Petty sang, "It's Christmas all over again..."