Christmas 2012

Okay, I lied. This is really the second last post about 2012. Maybe.

Christmas Day was spent exactly how I like it - low key. Just some good quality time at home with mom, pops, grandma, and bro. We spent a good couple of hours opening up our presents one by one. Dad is always the one making a big, yummy feast every year. We popped a bottle of sparkley's (juice, that is), and for a day in a year at least... we spent it peacefully.

Anyway, I could post every single happy photo and go down the list of amazing presents we all received, and how very spoiled (and lucky) we all are, but I decided to just go with the highlight.

My bro being the one who's home most with my mom  is the one who gets to hear it all. So, apparently, mom has been talking about getting her 30+ year old sewing machine fixed. I've heard it before too but I never thought she was serious about it. Until one day, bro tells me she made calls to see how much fixing this sewing machine would cost. Now, knowing my mom... she wouldn't bother actually doing something about it if she wasn't serious. So, I made the suggestion that well, that's it. That's our Christmas present to her. We'll get it fixed.

Bro says mom thought it was too pricey. To spend over $100 to fix a 30+ year old sewing machine when that money could go towards a brand new one that would have many more functions than this one. So, we decided, that's even a better idea that we'd spend that money for it rather than her.

The thing is, why get this one fixed and not buy a new one?

This was apparently the first gift my dad bought my mom. 30+ years ago. Before I existed. It's old. It's ancient. And it's sentimental.

For Christmas Day, we didn't want to wrap the machine itself because it would just give it away right away. So, I took a photo of it - this photo, and stuck it inside a box and wrapped it up. Bro and I had our worries... what if she sees it and gets upset? Can she even sew anymore? Would it make her sad that she may not be able to sew? Then we thought... it's not about whether or not she'd ever even use it again, but just the fact that she wants it fixed. Badly.

So, come Christmas Day... most gifts were opened, with this one we saved till the end. (We got her other gifts that she absolutely loved too.) When we handed her this box, she said, "There's more?". We made her guess what it may be. Bro said "If you can guess what this is, I'll treat you out to dinner too." My mom throws her head back and laughs.

When she opened it, at first she didn't know what to make out of it. A photo? Of something that looks very familiar. Is that my sewing machine? She finally said something. "It isn't... is it?".

"Yup."

"It's fixed?".

"Yup."

"It's FIXED??".

"Yup."

"It's FIXED!!!".

"Yup."

You can see her choking back her tears. And then she goes and re-tells her story about how it was the first present ever from my dad. Before they got married. Before anything. Before the rest of their lives.

My dad said to my bro and I, "That's a pretty good gift."

I think that alone made my mom's Christmas this year. And being able to make her Christmas... made mine.
One of the best $100's spent.