So this is Christmas

Christmas - that time of year when there is nothing of interest on TV or the radio. Once you've seen It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street and the various versions of A Christmas Carol, there is no need to see them every year. To counteract this, I buy cheap movies to watch, especially on Christmas eve.

Around here, my wife makes Christmas special. She starts looking for presents for the next Christmas on boxing day of this Christmas. She and my daughter get together a couple of days prior to Christmas day and wrap presents. I would help, but I have always found it difficult and now, with PD, it is impossible. Even though the drugs hide the tremor, when I am under stress, it reappears. And stressful it is, trying to wrap a present without using up all of the scotch tape. Why is it that men are unable to do what women find so easy and enjoyable?

I am not a Scrooge....Christmas does become the most wonderful time of the year, on Christmas day when all our children and their children come to our house to open presents. Even the youngest, 17 months, has some interest in Santa, so there is always much excitement. Christmas really is a time for children and thank goodness for grandchildren.

This Christmas, I am thinking about being mortal and how fast the past 36 Christmases have gone by since my oldest boy was born. And now, I have PD to intrude into my thoughts, adding to my joy. What will the next 20 years be like? Will I deteriorate quickly? Will the drugs keep working? Will I ever have to have deep brain stimulation as a last resort? and many more uncertainties. Fortunately, they are fleeting intrusions and I mostly don't think of the future and I live life as I always have, day-to-day and free of the shadow of PD.

That being said, Santa, all I want for Christmas is a cure or a life with dignity.

I have to go now. There is yet another Christmas TV special for me to avoid. Where is my copy of Silence of the Lambs?

Merry Christmas.