The Haircut (HOL 55)

House of Laughter 55

At least twice a day last week, different patients have asked me, “Are you ready for Christmas?” I know it’s meant to be a casual “chit chat” type question, but what does it mean? I assume it means “Have you done all of your shopping?” Since Nancy does most of the shopping for family, this isn’t really relevant to me. I don’t think they mean “Is your heart prepared for the birth of the Christ child?”. I would be happy to answer that question, but don’t think my employer would appreciate evangelism in the exam rooms. Other than my crankiness about being bombarded with the mantra “BUY BUY BUY”, I’m having a great time with Christmas.

Nancy is a little high strung. We’ve had church parties, work parties, and school parties. We are making “Sock Monkeys” for our nephew and nieces. Nancy spent two days baking. Did I mention the 16 month old child running around the house? Sometimes you have to change his diaper two or three times a day!

Growing up, we had a saying, “If Momma aint happy, nobody is happy.” I asked Nancy what she still needed to do. She listed about a half a dozen other things she felt needed to be done by next Friday. One of the things that still had to be done was Christmas cards. I assured her that if out of town folks didn’t get a card from us, Christmas would still come. As far as a Christmas letter, anybody with internet access gets weekly updates on how we are doing.

Chances are you won’t get a card from the Craveys. We still like you, but the cards were becoming a source of stress so they were eliminated.

I must confess I’ve developed a low grade case of “Christmas Crazy” in searching for one particular toy for Isaac. I saw in the K-mart ad today a “Mega-Blocks School Bus” for about $10. Isaac loves Mega Blocks and is crazy about the school buses at his daycare, so this was perfect. We drove out to the last K-mart in Greensboro, and they didn’t have one. Later tonight we went to Ross. They didn’t have the bus either, but I did find an awesome Tupac Shakur “Makavelli” T-shirt with sequins and rhinestones in a 2T size for five bucks. (If you have ever wondered what sort of things Nancy vetoes…..the Tupac T-shirt was one of them) I’m trying not to obsess, but I do understand that type of crazy now.

Isaac got his first haircut tonight. He sat on my lap eating cookies while the hair dresser worked her magic. The girls in the store fawned all over him. He never once got upset. His mother was a little upset by how old it made him look. After his haircut, the stylist asked me if I wanted a trim. I politely declined and told her that I had a haircut two weeks ago. She suggested a "neck trim" (This sounds like a service offered by one of the "Spas" on Lee street.) She warned me that I didn't want to have a "Hairy Neck" for Christmas. She was right. I couldn't bear to face my family with two weeks worth of hair on my neck. It would pretty much ruin the holiday. Now I can go out in public without having to wear a turtleneck of scarf.

Strength and Honor
Big Matt