The Sauna Part 189

Monday morning began as we woke snuggled beneath the blankets, still caught in each other’s embrace. Zeke was still fast asleep beside Jon while Floyd was perched on my hip. Eddie was marching above Jon’s head on his pillow while Opie serenaded us for his breakfast.

“Aren’t they supposed to sing for their supper?” Jon asked, yawning as he eyed me wearily.

“I’ll feed the monsters” I offered.

“We should get up anyway” he observed as he turned to look at the clock.

It was just past eight o’clock and we still needed to get out to the store and pick up supplies for decorating the tree and I guessed that I was unlikely to find wrapping paper hidden away from last year either. I stretched and lifted Floyd off my hip and we sat up together, shaking off the languor of sleep.

Jon made the coffee and I fed and watered the beasts before making some scrambled eggs and bacon. I made a list of what we would need as we finished our breakfast and Jon admitted he hadn’t really wrapped presents himself in many years.

“Where do we need to go to get all this stuff?” he asked, having little idea where to begin.

“I usually go to the dollar store to be honest, or Wal-Mart. Although we could probably get just about everything at a drugstore, I think” I answered, laughing at his naïveté.

“I do know where there is a Wal-Mart” he admitted, wrinkling his nose and pouting.

“Well, that would be the place, love. Besides, it’ll be fun to introduce you to the finer places to shop” I teased.

We took a quick shower and hopped in the car. Jon was true to his word and he drove straight to the nearest Wal-Mart and parked. The lot was jammed with last minute shoppers and there were lines at every register. He shook his head as I found an empty cart and took over the expedition.

I headed straight for the ornaments as we wouldn’t have enough time to actually make any this year, but I figured it could be a project for next Christmas now that I knew what a pitiful state his holiday trimmings were in. I sent Jon off in search of beaded garlands and I shook my head in dismay when he returned with a handful of glitzy plastic ones.

“What’s wrong with these?” he frowned.

“They look rather cheesy” I replied.

“Babe, we’re in Wal-Mart, remember?” he answered sarcastically.

“Come with me” I demanded as I dragged him back to the garlands and pointed at the wooden beaded ones.

“Oh, I didn’t see those. What ever was I thinking?” he said in a mockingly serious tone.

I noticed another couple nearby who were watching us. I heard a small giggle and I looked over at the woman who looked at me sympathetically.

“He’s a newbie, isn’t he?” she smiled knowingly.

“Yes indeed” I agreed.

Jon and her husband exchanged bewildered glances and shrugged. I gently removed a rather distasteful decoration from Jon’s hands before he examined it further and returned it to the rack. The woman’s husband took pity on Jon and gave him a friendly nudge.

“Hey, buddy, ya need lights for the tree? I can help you with that, my wife has me trained” he offered.

Jon flashed him a grateful smile and the two went off in search of holiday illumination, immediately bonding over their shared ordeal. I chatted a bit with the woman, who’s name was Ellie, and we commiserated together over our mates’ inability to choose wisely. She and her husband, Pete, had been together for a number of years and she reassured me that husbands were educable, albeit slowly.

I had finished selecting the ornaments when Jon returned with an armful of lights. Pete was equally well-equipped and they proudly displayed their finds. Jon had several packages of colorful lights and another half dozen packages of white lights which he piled in the cart with enthusiasm.

“How’d I do?” he asked gleefully.

“Very nice” I said approvingly and Ellie tried to hide her amusement.

“Perhaps you two could find a tree stand?” I suggested and Pete jumped on the opportunity to demonstrate his expertise as Jon followed along behind him.

“Are you going to let him keep the colored lights?” Ellie asked with a smirk.

“Yeah, at least for this year. He looked so pleased with himself, and at least he’s not sulking” I rationalized and she nodded.

I found a number of large velvet bows and a few gold ones which weren’t terribly tacky and Ellie found an adorable tree skirt for me. I added an ornament box and a few other necessities as Pete returned with Jon and a tree stand. We thanked them for their help and wished them a happy holiday and Jon invited them to tonight’s show as his guests.

“I knew you looked familiar, but I just couldn’t place you. We’d love to come see the show” Ellie said as she looked at Jon more closely.

“Great! Just give them your names at the ticket window and I’ll have two front row seats waiting for you” Jon said as we waived goodbye.

“Are we almost ready, baby?” Jon asked and I knew he was anxious to get home and start decorating as we needed to be at the venue by seven.

“Almost. We just need candles and wrapping paper” I assured him as we hurried over towards stationary.

We found wrapping paper and supplies in abundance and I chose several different rolls as I explained that our family tradition involved saving used pieces of paper year after year. Jon was intrigued and I explained how it started when my dad had been laid off and wrapped all our presents in wallpaper he’d found in the neighbor’s garbage. Every year I managed to wrap one small present in what I had left of the old wallpaper just to remind us of how lucky we were nowadays. But this year I’d left the old scraps at home in Gowanda.

“Wow, Trish, that’s pretty cool. It sounds like your dad really took care of you guys even when things were tight” he observed.

“Oh Jon, I have so many happy memories from so many Christmases. I guess that’s why it’s so special to me. It was the one time a year that our family always went overboard” I remembered wistfully.

“Do you miss being with your family for the holiday?” he wondered, looking a bit remorseful.

“Yeah, I do actually. But we’ll make our own wonderful memories. And maybe some time we can go down to Florida for Christmas. It’s been years since I’ve spent the holidays with my family” I said sadly.

“Next year, darlin’. I swear, we’ll go next year or we’ll bring them up here” he promised.

We made our way to the register and waited in line to check out and as we were standing there I remembered the candles. I left Jon with the cart and hurried back to where they were and selected a number of them as I rushed back to check out. The line had moved quite a bit and I searched for Jon until I saw him waive to me.

We made it home by just after one o’clock and we got the car unloaded and Jon brought in the tree. It was rather amusing to watch as he attempted to string the lights on the tree and he finally accepted my offer to help after becoming frustrated with his own efforts. Together we managed to get the lights on and working and we stood back and admired our handiwork. I strung the garlands as he began placing the ornaments on, avoiding the lower branches as the cats kept a watchful eye on our progress. It was beginning to look like Christmas finally and I breathed a contented sigh.

“I have to admit that this was actually rather fun. I guess I’ve always missed out on this with being on the road so much” he said with a sigh.

“Just wait until we get to start wrapping the presents tomorrow!” I baited him and he groaned.

“When will we have time to make cookies? We are going to bake cookies, right?” he asked hopefully and I had to laugh.

“Yeah, babe, we can make cookies too” I assured him.

I pinned the bow on the wreath and Jon hung it on the front door and we were nearly finished. I placed a few candles in among the evergreen branches and we watched as the cats sniffed at the tree.

“You’re sure they won’t climb it?” he asked again.

“I wouldn’t bet my life on it, but I highly doubt it” I answered as I watched Opie curl up on the tree skirt.

“Okay, let’s get ready for the show” he beckoned as we hopped in the shower.