Capricorn Christmas

Eve

"If you were born on Christmas Eve, I wonder if mom and dad would have named you Eve?" My cousins were now here and the Christmas oranges and nougat were flowing. We went through this conversation every year. "Well I was born on actual Christmas and they named me Jen so I don't think they were going for a whole Christmas theme," I said peeling away a segment of my orange. "Carol!," and uncle yelled from the couch and started humming the first few bars of 'O Christmas Tree' before taking a sip of his egg nog. My sisters knew this tradition kind of drove me bananas so naturally they jumped in. Steph started listing, "Noelle, Holly, Ivy, Angel." Kerri chimed in, "Reindeer, Tinsel." Steph pointed to my cast, "Tiny Tim." Everyone had a good chuckle like watching an old comfortable sitcom.

We were sitting around heaps of discarded wrapping paper and our gifts neatly stacked in random piles around the room in our new freshly granny knitted slippers in a post present exchange coma.  Kerri, as the oldest sister, made a slight sideways nod in the direction of the stairs and it was our silent notification for the cousins to head downstairs. Our basement was a time capsule of our childhood. The next few hours would be a flurry of ping pong, legos and old video game playing, but first the music! The old cassette collection would come out and we had a set rotation: Ray Stevens, Jive Bunny and the Mix Masters, The Cocktail Soundtrack, and that one mixed tape with the Rodeo Song on it.

"How's school going?" my cousin asked me while we watched Kerri and Steph battle each other in a ping pong royale. "Good," I said nodding, "one more year after this one." We raised our glasses in a little cheers. "You seeing anyone?" Was I? Jared and I had been hanging out, but with finals and my cast and Christmas we hadn't made anything 'official'. I decided I didn't want to be that girl who gushed over a guy she wasn't even going out with so I casually said, "No nothing serious," even though I had the feeling that they were heading that way.

Jared was a few hours away at his families farm. I hadn't heard from him today because I had told him that this was our big family night, but he had promised to call on my birthday. He said he'd cal when he got a chance to talk because his family celebrated Christmas on the 25th like normal people he'd teased. I'd be getting my cast off between Christmas and New Years and the possibility for actual dates and activities were endless. I wasn't a complete wreck on my crutches, but they definitely got in the way of a budding romance in the middle of winter. I made a mental note to take my skates back so we could go skating on the outdoor rink at the Bessborough.

I was lost in my thoughts when I realized that my name was being called. The oranges and nougat weren't the only things that had been flowing and now one of my drunker cousins wanted me to challenge him at the ping pong table. "Welp, youse about to get your ass kicked," I smiled as I crutched over to the table. I leaned one crutch along the side and took my paddle. "Are you sure now? If I beat you with one leg you're never gonna hear the end of it." He bounced the ball to me, "I'll even let you serve first." The song had changed on the stereo and I heard the first few notes of my pump up song, "Kokomo. You know how I get when I hear Kokomo," and fired a rocket of a serve across the table to score my first point. I almost toppled over, but the the reaction from my sisters and cousins was exactly what I had been looking for. I went on to spectacularly lose.

Adult adult voices floated down the stairs. It was a tell tale sign that our night was coming to an end. Before long it was just me and my sisters in the basement coming down from our Christmas Eve cousin high. Steph tapped my cast, "That's gonna stink so bad when it comes off." "It already stinks," I replied to the ceiling with my head resting on the back of the couch. "Yeah it does," Kerri said in her dead pan tone. We all laughed. Our social batteries were depleted, we'd eaten too much, I'd even gotten a bit of a sheen on during my dismal ping pong game.  There was only one person left to talk to, but it would have to wait for tomorrow.