Mere Minutes: A Phone Call

I was in the office beginning to wrap Joseph's gifts. Joseph was in the dining room wrapping mine.

The phone rang. Joseph answered. He later told me he said Merry Chrismahanukwanzaa. The voice on the other end gave him a hard time for saying Happy Kwanzaa. And then asked to speak to me. I answered. It was the old man.

He had a Christmas Eve celebration at his house this evening. My brother and his wife. The old man and my stepmother. My grandmother. My stepgrandmother. My stepsister and niece.

In any case, he asked if I was having a party. No, I replied. Oh, well, who answered the phone, he asked. Joseph, I said. Does he celebrate Kwanzaa, he asked. No, he was probably kidding. Oh...

We talked for a bit. Then he passed me to my brother with whom I spoke for some time. Then to my niece...

The old man got back on and told me he wanted to talk to Joseph. Okay, I said rather surprised. I brought the phone into the dining room and gave it to Joseph. The old man apologized for giving Joseph a hard time. And then they proceeded to have a conversation. A longer conversation, in fact, than I had had with the old man.

The big deal? That's the first time Joseph and my father have spoken to each other in the 6.5 years I've been in Seattle.

God works mysteriously. This is why I love Christmas!!!

To you, my family
To my father and his wife,
To my mother and her husband,
To my brother and his wife,
To my Uncle Mark, Aunt Ruth, and Goddaughter Julia,
To my sister and niece
To my brother and nieces
To all of my grandparents who will never lay eyes on this blog,
To my cousins, aunts, and uncles,

To you, my friends
To Jared
To Jeff and his fiance
To Brian and Jeff
To Mike wherever he is
To Sean
To Tara and Ashley
To Drew
To Matt
To Tony
To Keren and Harry
To JB and his wife
To Elliot, Abbie, and their beautiful son
To my Buzz
To my Thrusters
To everyone with whom I enjoy talking and spending time

And of course
To Hemingway
To Macavity
To Buddy
To Cleo
And to Joseph whom I love...

I wish you all a very Happy Hannukkah!!! and Merry Christmas!!!

May God grant you happiness in all that you do.