The 29th Anniversary of My Mother’s passing was more difficult at times this year than recent years. Maybe it was because this was the second year in a row of not traveling to see my family for Christmas. Still, we headed out to the Village Inn for an early morning Christmas breakfast. They sat us on the near empty side of the diner where the rising sun was blazing through the windows despite some lightweight shades. I almost wanted to move. But I just squinted a bit and noticed a couple of single diners in the booths by the kitchen. A middle-aged man wearing a Santa hat smiled at me in the distance. We settled in, and I started taking selfies with my coffee cup. ☕️
The sun kept bothering my eyes, so I put on my sunglasses for a bit. Then it dawned at me that the bright sun was a sign from Mama. The sun’s rays were fiercely bright when she left us that sunny Christmas Day. Remembering that memory, I took a picture of the sun blazing through the window at the diner.
We ordered off the senior menu to save a few bucks and get lighter portions. But the portions turned out to be very generous! 🥞My pancakes were big and fluffy, so I only ate half of one pancake plus my scrambled egg. All the while, the man with Santa hat kept catching my eye and smiling. I smiled back. 🎅🏼
I started telling Steve Christmas stories when he complimented me on my vintage Christmas pins on my coat and top. One lapel pin was a beautifully lit candle with holly at the base. I began telling Steve how Randy and I had a pact that the first one to wake up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve or the wee hours of Christmas morning would wake the other one up to head downstairs to peek at the presents. We would pretend to be just like the father in the “The Night Before Christmas” book and each carry one of Mama’s vintage candlestick holders with cream-colored candles down the stairs. The site of the Christmas tree with all the presents filled us with such excitement and happiness and Pure Magic! A Warm & Fuzzy feeling only felt at Christmas! 🎄🎁🎄🎁🎄 We would carefully move all the packages around, jiggle the contents, and try to guess what was inside then delicately put everything back the way we thought it originally looked.
Suddenly, I burst into tears sharing this story with Steve, rapidly glanced around, and hoped no one else noticed. It took me a bit to regain my composure, but dabbing my eyes, I finished my breakfast then inspected the bill. Not too bad ordering off the Senior Menu! 😛 When the server brought me my To Go box for my heaping portions, she told us the bill had been paid by the man by the back booth next to the kitchen. The same man with the Santa Hat who kept smiling at me knowingly. Once again, I burst into tears! 🙏💜🙏💜🎅🏼
But the mysterious man was no where in sight! 🎅🏼
“He has a YouTube channel,” she said. We asked the name of the channel, and she did not know.
We asked other servers if he was a regular, and no one recognized him.
My tears continued. I wanted to blurt out to them about how much this meant to me since my mother had passed on Christmas Day, but I did not want to make any of the staff sad. So instead I added that the year was tough, and his generosity was so appreciated. We took some pictures by the tree then headed outside.
A homeless man draped in a blanket immediately approached me in the parking lot ~ I handed him the box, gently adding, “Merry Christmas ~ God Bless You!” 🙏💜🙏🥞
“God Bless You, Ma’am ~ Merry Christmas,” he whispered.
🙏💜🙏🎄🎁🎅🏼🧑🏻🎄🥞🍳☕️☃️❄️
“We are the music makers,
and we are the dreamers of dreams."
-Willy Wonka
I Remember Mama
