10/28/2007 - First Christmas in America
Christmas time was around the corner and I got busy shopping. My father came from Russia for his first visit after I didn’t return to Russia " he was ecstatic, finally seeing me on both feet and in charge of my family.
“Christmas is coming. What do we cook?” My dad was excited " that was his first Christmas in America.
“Oh, papa! That is two weeks away. We have plenty of time.”
“Irina and John always have their refrigerator full. I checked with your sister and she told me that we need to buy turkey, ham. I even wrote it down.”
“Papa. I know what to buy. Julia is here " she knows even better. We will be fine!”
Two days before Christmas my dad closed the refrigerator with noticeable anxiety, “Lida, when are we going to buy food for Christmas dinner?” I smiled, “Dad, there is plenty of food in America! We will never be hungry! Let’s finish Christmas shopping and then we will buy food.” My dad and I continued shopping every night after work, bringing home more and more gifts. My dad just didn’t know how easy life is in America was and made me smile again, so we shopped, like Americans say, “until we dropped.”
On Christmas night we came home after the service and decided to unwrap some of the gifts to continue next morning after breakfast. I woke up early on Christmas morning and went out of the apartment " the weather was beautiful. I was afraid that we wouldn’t be able to show white Christmas to my Dad and here it was " the first snow: fresh and frosty generously weighing pine branches down to the ground next to the side walk. I imprinted my first steps into American snow and laughed " it reminded me how we, girls, used to fall into the snow to make a butterfly imprint, spreading our arms like wings and pressing them on both sides of out bodies up and down. I also remembered how dad and I traveled in the North Ural taiga and had to walk step in step in a deep snow up to our knees and even higher, watching around for wild cats " the can be deadly in Taiga if they jump on your neck from behind. I breathed the cold air in and felt alive. “Lydia, before you drive you should warm up the car and the engine. Do not take off until it is warm.” I smiled, starting the car " “This is not a Russian car, dad! Japanese cars are not like Russian!”
I drove to the next grocery store and was surprised to see the empty parking lot. “How strange! Ah, the weather! Americans do not like to drive on the snow!” " I guessed, approaching the closed door. “How strange! May be the store is out of power?” I drove to another store " this is America: stores are on every corner. The parking lot was empty. I panicked, “Did I miss something.” The lesson was harsh " we celebrated Christmas, looking for whatever we had in my kitchen cabinets: two cans of tuna and one egg. No milk and no bread. Luckily the gas stations were opened and we had lunch across the street, standing around the tall table. “Thank you for Christmas dinner!” " my dad laughed, showing his gold tooth. My father’s optimism bit even his own disappointment and hunger. Later at home we had even more fun, laughing at me. Dad came up with his favorite saying, “A-a-a-merica!”
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Everywhere I go I notice things that need to be changed. Helping others to clean their lives, I clean mine. Life sometimes gets messy - I am in the cleaning business for life. I can't help it! Have something to clean?
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