It Doesn’t Seem Like Christmas

Let me start out by saying I hope your Christmas was wonderful and that your New Year will be the best ever.

For those readers who don’t know me and my husband personally, let me tell you Christmas is really big for us. It starts out right after Thanksgiving dinner when I start decorating my first tree.

Yes, my first tree. At our home, we put up ten trees ranging from six feet to nine feet inside the house. (We don’t count trees under six foot). Since we moved in with my mother, I can only comfortably get five trees in her house and they range from six foot to seven feet in height.

By the first week in December, my house is turned into a winter wonderland. All our friends and family will joke around, but they enjoy it just as much as we do.

Well, it doesn’t feel like Christmas this year. First, my daughter Dana and her mother-in-law sent my son, Paul, and his wife, Muriel, on a Crystal cruise for eight days from Miami to Aruba. They returned two days before Christmas.

My daughter Dana, her husband, Chris, and my granddaughter, Mackenzie, left for four days before Christmas for thirty five days to cruise to Antarctica. They will tour Chile, Cape Horn, Argentina, Elephant Island, Brazil, and Grand Turk.

We decided to delay Christmas.

So, my trees didn’t go up by the first week of December. They went up four days before Christmas Eve. (We will celebrate Christmas January 31^st, when our granddaughter returns). My Christmas shopping will be done after Christmas at half-price.

We always have a Christmas Eve dinner for my husband’s side of the family, so with Paul and Muriel, a total of fifteen people were here this year. I needed to get trees up.

The entire time I was decorating my trees, my mother kept me “company.” Her gift to me this year was togetherness. It took me two days to get five trees up, with lights, ribbons, and decorations. If it had taken longer, I would have gone insane.

My days when I decorated went like this:

“Why bother, Christmas is around the corner, and you’ll just have to turn around and take it down”.
“Mom, it’s Christmas.”
“I don’t care, it’s a lot of work.”
“Mom, it’s okay, and I’m the one doing the work.”
“Well I guess it’s better than you just sitting around doing nothing.”
“Mom let’s just listen to Christmas music.”
“Oh, the tree looks beautiful with lights and ribbons. Stop now, you’ll over do it with ornaments.”
“Mom you can’t overdo ornaments”.
“Beautiful, just beautiful. What? Are you doing another tree?”
“Yes, another tree.”
“Your reason for another tree?”
“Mom, you don’t need another reason for more than one tree. Just enjoy.”
“What are all the boxes in the garage?”
“Trees.”
“How many trees?”
“Five.”
“I knew ever since you where little you had a screw loose, and why do you turn up the music so loud?”
“Because I can still hear you.”

After, I was done decorating my mom informed me she did not want anything for Christmas; at her age, she has everything.

Later in the day, she brought up what she saw in the Macy’s ad, how pretty the new styles and colors are. She also reminded me of her size. But, don’t get her anything.

Our Christmas Eve party was fun. Getting together with my husband’s family is always a big hit. Everyone with the exception of Paul and Muriel left at 11:30. They stuck around until 1:15am. (We thought they’d never leave.) We had given them a Wii for Christmas and they started playing and wouldn’t stop. I thought about chewing through the cord but didn’t want to spend the rest of the night in the emergency room.

Christmas day was very quiet. I spent it with my husband, uncle, and mom. Paul and Muriel spent Christmas at her parents’.

Christmas is for families. So our Christmas will be when we’re all together. So be sure to read about my Christmas in February. I will hopefully be posting pictures.

Happy New Year!

A quote from Bill Vaughn: An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. Pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.

One Person, Two Birthday’s, Three Names

 

During the forty years together my uncle took care of everything for my aunt. He ensured their Trust Fund was in order. Their home was paid for. Money was in the bank, even their final arrangements were made and paid for. Everything was taken care of. Now it was to be expected that my aunt would be distraught and things would be forgotten. After all, she just lost her husband, her best friend, her life as she knows it was changing. 

Our main problem was when we went to the bank. At Bank of America you now have to swipe your ATM card in order for the teller to ID you. Well my aunt couldn’t remember her pin and that’s when our problem started. 

In order to reset her pin she needed a valid ID. All she had  was an expired state of Nevada ID card. Since it was expired it was of no value. They then asked for an authorized certified copy of her birth certificate. No can do. 

Since she had a California ID ten years prior. We went to the DMV. Thirty minutes later we were called. They could fined her name in the system but couldn’t renew it because  the birth date was different and it showed the person had a middle initial. My aunt doesn’t have a middle name. So we were instructed to reapply for a new ID and for that we needed an authorized certified birth certificate.  

Well, easy enough we can go to Norwalk Registrar’s office which is about an hour and an half away sign a sworn statement to who she is and wait the three week turnaround or order by mail. 

Since only a few people can obtain an authorized copy of a birth certificate and my aunt had no ID we decided to order by mail. The turnaround is twenty working days. 

We first had to have a notary come out and notarize the request form that it was indeed the registrant ordering the birth certificate. Easy enough, we dropped it in the mail. 

Well, twenty working days was actually a month when you added in weekends and holidays. Everyday my aunt (who is not very patient) would call to tell me she still hasn’t received it. It was a long, long month. 

At last, it arrived. The first thing I noticed was the last name. It appeared to look like the last letter in our family name was an a instead of an i. No biggie, it was my maiden name I can talk around the spelling and since the certificate is hand written an easy mistake. 

I made an appointment for Wednesday at 10:05. My aunt said it was a little too early but she’ll get up. When I mentioned it to Dana she reminded me of Grandparents Day at the preschool so I rescheduled the appointment for Thursday at 11:00. I called my aunt and told her of the change. Now remember, I take care of my mom and my aunt lives an hour and a half away. I leave early enough to arrive thirty minutes early. 

My aunt lives in a 55+ Del Web gated community. When I arrive the guard is not in his office and I’m behind a work truck. While I’m looking ahead at the guard station I see my aunt, walker and all walking fast like a bat out hell. I roll down my window and yell her name to get her attention; she stops and looks up then keeps walking. I yell again she stops and looks up then keeps walking. I figure my voice must sound like an angel why else would she be looking up instead of around to see who’s calling her. 

I back up, give a u-turn and pick her up. She didn’t think I would make it in time so she was going to take the bus. My aunt has not taken a bus since she was a little girl. I wonder if I had not caught her in time, would it have been a hijack situation to the DMV. 

Off we go. We get there in time. I hand the clerk the completed form, and my aunt’s birth certificate. She noticed the error in the last letter of our last name but since it was hand written she didn’t pursue it. What I did not notice was her first name on the certificate it was listed as Marguarita instead of Margaret. Now that I couldn’t talk off. So the clerk said her ID would be as Margaurita . She explained my aunt would have to go to Norwalk and change her name legally. She then informed us her California ID would be in her maiden name. No can do, its bad enough her first name would be different but we needed her married name for the bank. 

We needed her marriage certificate. Off we go. We returned thirty minutes later. Completed form, birth and marriage certificate. The clerk notices a middle initial of R on the marriage certificate another problem, my aunt has no middle name. The clerk knew it was our 3^rd visit and said she would enter the name on the birth certificate Marguarita, then do an aka to Margaret, then do an aka to her married name and forget the middle initial. One person three names. 

While entering the aka’s the clerk noticed someone with the same name, different birth date. I told her that we were told that earlier but the clerk let it go. Ok this clerk tells us the person in the system has the name Margaret (not Marguarita) same last name as my aunts married name. The birth date is the same day and month but 1930 instead of 1928. 

The clerk then asks my aunt where she has lived. My aunt gives her the complete addresses for California, Arizona and Nevada. Enough info for her to conclude it was my aunt in her system, so she just renewed what was in the computer. No aka’s, no birth or marriage certificate needed. 

Sixty days for her ID not including weekends and holidays. I am sure it will be sixty long, long days. 

So there you have it one person, three names and two birthdays. 

One exhausted niece.

Press Talk and Say Hello

Today, I’ll be talking about my aunt. She reminds me of my dad. Their expressions and things they say and do make everyone around them laugh.

Well, my aunt keeps getting hang up calls. We’ve all had these types of calls and know how aggravating they can be. Our solution was Caller ID. Simple you say, please read on. 

My husband and I went to Fry’s and picked up a phone system with all the bells and whistles. The next day, we drove to her home approximately 80 miles away and installed them. I know when you’re older, it’s hard to get used to new gadgets, and since she is eighty, we thought it would be easier for her (and us) if we took our time programming the phone with different functions over the next few weeks. Fine. What we did was show her how to pick up messages on the answering machine, the address book, and to tell who’s calling on the ID screen. 

The next day, I called to see how she was doing. No answer. Called again, no answer. Later in the day, I tried one more time. Her neighbor answered. Apparently we did not program the phone to answer when the receiver was picked up. My aunt would answer, no one was on the line, and the phone will still be ringing. So I explained that she needed to press Talk and say hello.

Later that day, she was screening her calls and would call me to see who they were from. Two were from relatives, one in Canada and another in Seattle. The 800 numbers were probably telemarketers, just ignore those calls.

Next day, new problem. My aunt called to say the phone in the bedroom is beeping. I explained that I would have Paul call when he gets home in about an hour or so. Forty-five minutes later, the phone is still beeping, again Paul will call as soon as he gets in. My husband finally got home and called her back. Thinking the phone was not getting power from the plug that works the light switch, he told her to take the receiver and put it on another base to recharge.

An hour later, another call, it’s still beeping. He told her to take the batteries out of the receiver, still beeping. I told her to unplug the phone. Thirty minutes later, she reports she removed the mattress to reach the plug and guess what? The DAMN PHONE is still beeping. Just put it in the closet, we’ll be there on Sunday.

The phone is now unplugged and in the closet. My aunt goes into the room to put the mattress back on the bed, and believe it or not, SHE STILL HEARS BEEPING! She rolls over on the mattress and realizes it’s not the phone she hears, it’s the low battery warning on the smoke detector. 

An hour later, she calls again. She tried to press the reset button with a broom. The smoke detector wouldn’t go off, so she dragged in the ladder, climbed up, and pulled the smoke detector down. 

After a total of eight calls, it’s finally quiet. My husband and I sit down to relax. One more call, “when you come over on Sunday, can we fix the wires that I pulled down from the ceiling?” Yes, that’s no problem and just before I hung up, she wanted to know when she could get a cell phone.

I’m sorry, my phone’s beeping, I can’t hear you.