I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

Mistletoe
Originally uploaded by currtdawg.

My Mom's side of the family all live down in South Carolina. Since Dad's side is much closer (just across the river in Indiana), we usually spend Christmas with his side. My paternal Grandfather has always been big on tradition, which included opening presents on Christmas morning at their house. Sometimes, in order to keep that tradition, we'd spend Thanksgiving down in South Carolina, just so Mom's side wouldn't feel left out. It worked out well and kept everyone happy.
In South Carolina, it's not difficult to find mistletoe. It grows in several of the hardwood trees around there, and whenever we'd spend Thanksgiving down there, we'd go out to get some. We always called it "shooting mistletoe." I don't know why, since there was never any guns or projectiles of any kind. It basically involved me and my brother climbing to the top of a big tree, breaking off little sprigs of mistletoe, and dropping it to my Dad, who was waiting below with a big garbage bag. We'd bring it back to Morganfield where my brother and I would wrap it up into individual baggies and sell it door-to-door in our neighbourhood. We didn't do it to make a lot of money or anything, but almost everyone bought some since real mistletoe wasn't easy to come by in Kentucky.
I'm not going to make it home for Christmas this year, which really isn't too big of a deal to me. I mean, it would be great to spend Christmas at home, something I haven't done in six years, and if I really wanted to and would have planned in advance and made arrangements and stuff, I probably could have. But I've spent enough time away from home to realise that anytime I get to see my family, be it Christmas or Arbor Day or Yom Kippur or whatever, it's going to be special.
That being said, I don't really do too much Christmas decorating. The only thing I've done this year is hang some fake mistletoe, which is actually more to get me kisses than in the spirit of Christmas...and it has worked. Twice.
Anyway, I'm going to get back to the kitchen. One of the genes I inherited from my mother is, in the days leading up to Christmas, the desire to bake everything in sight. Breads, cakes, cookies, fudge, etc. I'm totally drooling on the keyboard right now.