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Living the Life of Holly
By Holly Winter
A Past Present

“We’re going to be here for a while.” Mark announced through his reindeer eyeglasses. “We still have to open presents.”

“You’ve been here all morning, Rudolf.” The waitress joked. “I guess another few hours won’t stump my day. Where’d you get the glasses?”

“They were my mother’s. My guess is that she got them out of a catalogue. I never asked. But. She loved Christmas. So. We are here celebrating her love of the holiday on the first Christmas since her passing.”

“I want those glasses.” The waitress said. “You can’t take yourself seriously in them, can you?”

“Nope.” We all agreed.

“Yeah.” Lanie said. “But the reindeer ones fall off.

“No. They work for me.” I said.

“The trees are best.” Stella insisted.

“Maybe if you’re grounded.”

“I like the snowflakes. But. They’re kind of close to my nose.” Lanie said.

“They make you look flaky.” Cool-guy teased.

We laughed.

“I’ll hand out presents first.” I said.

I passed around copies of the booklet I had just published. I put five columns into print form with photos. “Here you go. The first publication from the Life of Holly Press.”

“Wow.” Lanie said, trying to see through her snowflakes. “Did you sign mine?”

“Um. No. Didn’t think of it. Sorry.”

“Now’s a great time.”

“Mine too.” Mark said from under his antlers.

“And mine.” Stella said, peering out from the center of the trees.

“It’ll give you something to do while we all run out to stuff the parking meters again.” Cool-guy said, jumping up. He had thought that two hours would be enough time for us to have breakfast with my friends. Um. No way.

Mark handed out gifts next.

I opened mine. A Deepok Chopra book. “Oh. Man. Thanks so much.” I hugged him and turned to Cool-guy. “I missed his talk when we went to Napa Valley.”

“You’ll have to share that.” Mark said.

“Sure. I’ll let Cool-guy read it.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Mark said. “And you know it.”

“Stella. Would you like to read it too?”

“Me. Holly. I get it when you’re done.” Mark said. “Me. Me. Me.”

I laughed. “You give me a gift, but you want it back. Hmmm.”

We passed wrapped gifts back and forth and stacked our treasures on the table and let the waitress carry away the wrapping paper. Finally it was Lanie’s turn to hand out the last gift. We knew what she had. Well. Everyone knew but Mark. Of course he wouldn’t know.

His mother passed away a few months ago. Lanie asked if she could have some of his mother’s jewelry and a piece of her clothing for ‘something.’ Mark had been too upset to ask why and handed over the articles.

Mark rubbed his hands together and laughed. “I like it when the biggest box has my name on it.”

We all smiled. I took off my Christmas sunglasses. The others followed suit.

He reached inside the box and pulled out the teddy bear.

“Oh.” He said, pulling off his reindeer glasses.

We sat quietly, allowing his feelings to sink in.

Lanie spoke first. “I have a friend who makes teddy bears from the clothing of loved ones who have passed on. I knew it would be the perfect Christmas gift for you.”

“It’s incredible.” Mark managed.

“You gave me her bathing suit and a scarf. It was the biggest challenge this seamstress ever encountered. She cut them into pieces, but they wouldn’t work because they were too slippery. So she had to line each piece with a backing before she could sew them into the bear.”

Mark was running his fingers over the colorful patches on the bear. He coughed. “I can’t believe it. It’s incredible.”

“That’s a colorful bathing suit.” Cool-guy laughed.

“Actually.” Stella said. “I think I might have one just like it.”

Everyone laughed.

“My mother loved to swim. Right up to the end. She really loved to swim. And.” He paused for a moment, fingering the necklace. “This necklace is the one she was wearing the last time I saw her.”

Lanie smiled. “I know. You showed me the photo of her wearing it. That’s why I knew that I had to have the bear wearing that necklace. There are pieces left over if you want them to be made into earrings or a bracelet for the bear. That’s up to you.”

“My mother loved to swim.” Mark said. He laughed at the memory. “When she was seventy-five years old she decided that she wanted to start working out at the gym.” He laughed again. “So. First she would go and get her hair done. Then, if it were Christmas, she would get decked out from head to toe in her Christmas gear. Christmas earrings. Christmas sweater. Christmas socks. Everything Christmas. Then she would go to the gym to lift weights in her Christmas outfit.”

“No way.” Stella laughed.

“Yup. She said that lifting helped with her flexibility and she knew that it made her stronger. I always told her that we needed to write it up for the AARP magazine, but…” He lowered his voice. “we never did.”

“When did she pass away?” Cool-guy asked.

“August thirty first.” Mark said. “I was in the Las Vegas airport when I got the call. She had fallen the week before and had been in a coma. But the final call came when I was at the airport. I called Holly.”

We smiled at each other.

“I was crying my eyes out. I knew that it was time for her to die because she would never be the same if she woke from the coma. Man. I was so upset. But. Through it all I could still see the irony of crying in the Vegas airport.”

“Irony?” Stella asked.

“Yeah.” Mark laughed. “Here I was crying because my mother had just died. But. I knew that people at the Vegas airport were looking at me and thinking, ‘Man. That guy must have lost a lot of money.”

Everyone laughed.

“I’d like to raise a toast.” Mark said, putting his reindeer glasses back on. “Ok. Put your glasses back on.” He held the teddy bear on his lap. “Christmas was my mother’s favorite time of year. And. She loved everything about the spirit of Christmas. And. Thank you, dear friends, for celebrating that spirit with me.”

He raised his glass in the air and started laughing. “Sorry. I don’t know if I can make an official toast while I’m wearing reindeer eyeglasses. It can’t be done.”

Everyone laughed.

“Let me try.” Stella said. “I’ll raise a toast…” She started laughing. “Nope. Sorry. I can’t do it either.”

“I’m not trying.” I laughed. “I can’t think straight while wearing antlers.”

Lanie raised her glass. “To the spirit of….” Her snowflakes fell off.

We laughed louder.

“It’s my mother.” Mark laughed. “She believed in the tradition of not being too serious around Christmas. I don’t think we can do a serious toast in her memory.”

“Maybe we’d better heed her bidding.” Cool-guy laughed as his glasses slid to the side.

“Here, here!” We laughed, drinking up.

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