While Shepherds Watched...

Originally written on December 27, 2005

I spent Christmas Eve with two sons, a daughter, two daughters-in-law, my wife, of course, and four grandchildren.

My day started early because I had to meet a friend to pick of the smoked brisket he had hauled from Tulsa so I could keep our Oklahoma Yuletime tradition alive in Utah. He has a condo in Park City where his first and second families gather for the holidays - Both he and his wife have been married twice and between them there are 14 children and a dozen braces of grandchildren. The oldest daughter in family #2 was arriving on an early flight from Rexburg thus we met in one of the parking lots at the airport.

It was great to see my old friend and his daughter. When I taught Course 16 in Sunday School, Chalice was one of my favorite kids. Now she is 21 and a stunning beauty... even after taking an Idaho redeye.

From there, Deb, Bubba and I decided to find someplace for breakfast and ended up at our favorite hole in the wall, the Star Cafe in Layton.

The Star is one of those diners where old men gather at large, tables and talk of things they never speak of at home, in front of the womenfolk. Partly because women often just don't get it but more often because they so get it and don't approve. It's the kind of place where round, weary waitresses with teeth colored by Lucky Strikes, can carry dozens of hot plates up both arms and four cups of steaming coffee and disperse it all without spilling a drop.

The food is good... truck stop good, but without the parking problems. It's not so tasty, though, to make it a destination were it not for the entertainment.

That morning, sitting behind us in a booth. two grizzled dads and their adult sons swapped lies about trout and mule deer and made profane bets on who was the best shot. To my left there was a large table with 10 men crammed around it. They were dressed for work; construction or a road crew perhaps and of varying ages from the seasoned foreman to the young gopher... who had, by the way, purple hair. In the hour we were there not one of them made any jokes about it from that table, although the fellows behind me made one or two.

Deb had Pigs in a Blanket and I had a hamburger steak with three eggs overeasy and hashbrowns. I tried to order the steak medium-rare but was told behind a wink and a grin, I couldn't get it that way because it was hamburger. It was delivered as ordered so if I get Mad Cow, you know who is to blame.

Full as ticks, Deb and I went home and she started baking her famous Hidden Mint and Hidden Peanut Butter cookies. I won't go into the recipe here but I will say they are effing good. Too effing good. Effing dangerously good whe you're a diabetic!

I made up three BBQ sauces to go with the brisket and we took a much needed nap.

At 4:00 PM we left Clearfield and drove to Provo to pick up Mary. BYUTV never sleeps, so we picked her up at the station and headed back home. She brought presents to pass and her laundry. At 8:00 PM we knocked on Sam's door and were greeting by sugar-controlled grandkids and our California son, Matt with his new wife Laura... as well as Kathy and Sam.

Sam sliced the ham as I did the same to the brisket while Deb, Mary and Kathy spread all the other food around the serving counter. There were pies, cakes, cookies, and candies of all varieties; there was potato salad, green bean cassarole, funeral spuds, Brussell's sprouts and baby lima beans (my favorite); there was egg nog and ginger ale; root beer and lemonade; there was German rye, Swedish pumpernickle, and Irish soda breads... There was, simply put, too much.

As has been our family tradition over the years, we then opened all the presents. Matt, who is the oldest of my children, asked where the tradition came from and I explained that it came from my inability to wait until Christmas morning coupled with my desire to sleep in but it really came out of necessity when we were a young family trying to decide when we could do our own Christmas when both sets of parents were unwilling to leave us alone on Christmas day.

When my kids were little, Deb would load them all in the car and take them to see all the lights on Christmas Eve while I stayed home and brought all the gifts out of their hiding places, assembling those which needed assembly. Then I would join them at a designated spot - Christmas Card Lane in Kalamazoo or Temple Square in Utah. Last Saturday we all just went downstairs into the family room. The exchange of gifts was delightful and long... We got back home around 1:00 AM and with early Church, there was no sleeping in.

I am the only tenor in our ward choir. Oh, there are four other men who sit in the tenor section, however three of them sing melody and the fourth, who sits directly to my right, sings something else. It's close to the tenor part, but always about a 1/4 pitch off the mark. But he sings it with gusto! fortunately the sopranos and altos are strong enough to make people forget about the pickles in the tenor section and the basses, although hesitant, can carry their parts. All in all, it was a good program performed as well as can be expected. The we took Mary back to Provo as she had to be back at work at 11:45 AM... BYUTV!

Sunday evening we returned to Sams for our traditional Italian meal. Mary was gone as were Matt and Laura, so it was quieter. The kids will still wired, of course, and Hunter had broken Spencer's toy Jeep simply because it was bigger than the RC car we had given Hunter. I suggested to Hunter that, if he wanted to break toys, that he reserve it for his own and Sam explained that Hunter had been given a cold shower for his actions and that Spencer's Jeep could be super-glued. But I knew better. Nobody ever super-glues broken toys and during the rare times they do, the kids never think of them the same. That Jeep will forever be the Jeep Hunter broke on Christmas day; exactly like my ukelele... the one I got for Christmas in 1963... broken by my two year-old sister on Christmas Day. So yesterday Deb and I found another Jeep at the store and delivered it to Spencer. Of course Hannah and Hunter pitched a small fit because they didn't get an extra present.

Aside from that little adventure yesterday, Deb and I stayed home where I slaughtered her is a game of Super Scrabble (A gift from Matt) and we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory followed immediately by Quigley Down Under on On-Demand. Depp was a litte freaky and I couldn't understand 80% of the lyrics, but DAMN, that little English kid is cute!

My daughter Erin sent me a bluegrass CD. I put it in the player at about 9:00 PM last night and listed to the various artists play Christmas music. The cut by Union Station was a great rendition of "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night". I dozed off in my big, leather chair wondering if I were a watchful shepherd or one of the sheep who needed watching. I went into dreamland thinking I am both.