Last night was my favorite Coutré family holiday tradition. We turn off all the lights and my dad lies on the living room floor and reads us "The Polar Express" by the light of the Christmas tree. We've done this for as long as I can remember. When we were younger, we'd climb on his back and look at the pictures over his shoulders. Lorraine,15, still tried, but it didn't last long. We all sprawled around on the carpet and listened as he read the tale with animated voices. As tradition, we scolded him every time he tried to ad-lib parts — we know it too well for such trickery.
And this morning as a sign we're getting old, we showered and ate breakfast — my dad's crêpes —before touching a single present. I wasn't even awake before 9 a.m. My sisters and I used to perch on the top stair and wait until 7 a.m. when we were finally allowed to jump on the snoring lumps in my parents' bed.
But we eventually settled into our customary spots on the living room — Carolyn and dad on the couch, mumsie in her "red throne," and Lorraine and I on the floor in a nest of blankets.
This year's gifts had a bit of a theme.
Thank you all! And for all of my other wonderful gifts.
Finally, my dear parents also got me a digital film and slide converter! I'm spending the rest of the day going through all of my mom's slides of her trip to Europe in 1982.
I am in a fort of slide boxes, the converter and my mom's Pana-Vue automatic. One at a time, I am converting each of the hundreds of 2x2 slides to a .jpg file. I'll post some later.
I want to retake as many pictures as I can in the spring. I think it would be a fun project, and as I've said in a previous post, I like having extra things to do.
And of course, "A Christmas Story" is on.
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