An aMAYESing holiday it was for the Mayes family. First of all, I would like to thank god for allowing my family and I to spend the holidays together. Around this time of year things can get pretty hectic with all the traffic, gift wrapping and last minute shopping. So the approach the Mayes family takes during the holiday season is a little different from most holiday shoppers. We like to wait until after the holidays to do all of our shopping because it is cheaper for one, stores are less crowded and most importantly there is a lot less traffic.
Over the Holidays my wife and I received a visit from Willie Pile and his wife Keia (who is expecting in April). We had a chance to go out to dinner and have good conversation, but of course Willie and I talked about football while the ladies talked about babies. It is always good to spend time with family, and although he is my teammate, I have come to think of Willie as an older brother. My buddy Blitz (their dog) didn’t get a chance to come over but I did get a Christmas card with his picture.
We all know that Christmas is just not Christmas without the décor, so my family and I drove around searching for the perfect tree. All of the trees we found were either too big or too small. I decided we should get a ‘faux’ Christmas tree, but my wife insisted that we get a real one because she loved the smell of pine. Since we couldn’t come to a decision we decided that the tree could hold off until later. My wife and baby Amare decorated the inside of the house while I hung lights on the outside. This was the first time in my life I ever had Christmas lights on my home.
Not too many people know that I’m a deacon at my church. So over the Holidays I spent a lot of time with my church family. The kids in our church had their annual Christmas program, it was quit enjoyable. It’s always good to see young people in church doing something positive with their time. Later on in the week my wife’s job had a Christmas party, and boy was I glad! Since the season is over I have taken on the role of Mr. Mom, spending my days taking care of my daughter while my wife works as a school teacher. Don’t get me wrong, I love the time I spend with my daughter, but sometimes it’s just good to get out and have good conversation with adults – and not a 1-year-old. It was good to have a night out on the town without any kids. As part of my wife’s job she had a two week vacation, so every morning I get to wake up to two beautiful women – both my wife and daughter.
GETTING IN THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT
At the beginning of the holiday season I must admit that I was not in the Holiday spirit because something felt like it was missing. It has been a tradition ever since I was 10 years old to watch the movie “A Christmas Story” every year on the days leading up to Christmas and then again on Christmas Day. It is a movie about a boy and all he wants for Christmas is a BB gun. This movie always put me in the Holiday spirit and for some reason it wasn’t coming on television.
So finally one of the members of our church told me that TBS has been showing the movie all this month. I was mad but happy at the same time; mad because they have been showing it, but happy I finally got a chance to watch it. So I went home, set my TV to TBS and there it was “A Christmas Story” marathon. I ran upstairs grabbed my Christmas Story t-shirt and made up for lost time. That day I watched the movie six times, and when it was all over “The Grinch’s” (aka A. Mayes) heart got bigger. I was finally in the Holiday spirit.
THE BIG DAY
On Christmas morning, I woke to the sound of my daughter’s voice saying Da, Da, Da, Da. I got out of bed and carried her downstairs to open her gifts. She enjoyed tearing open the wrapping and playing with the boxes more than the gifts themselves, but all in all she was filled with joy. As for me, the best Christmas gift I could have ever received was the opportunity to spend that day with my family. We spent Christmas Day driving from one family member’s house to another eating and sharing laughs along the way. We returned home that night and enjoyed our time together as a family. On the days following Christmas we remained indoors watching movie after movie, eating Christmas leftovers and preparing for our first New Years Eve party.
We decided not to have the party catered or have my wife do all the cooking. Instead we thought it would be a great idea to have a potluck New Years Eve party. A potluck party would allow my wife to spend more time away from the kitchen and also allow for more of a variety of foods and flavours to choose from amongst the dishes of all our family and friends. So I will end this with Happy New Years to the Argo’s family and fans, God Bless!