When I last left off, I was on my way to my aunt's place for Christmas Day dinner. This is when we get together with my dad's side of the family. Dale, my aunt's not-on-paper-husband, always makes enough food for three sittings, so it was no problem when three additional guests joined us this year.
I walked into the fireplace room to sit down and warm up. My mom and my grandma were sitting in the corner with Beryl, an old friend of my grandma's was going to be alone for Christmas Day until she was asked to join us. It also happened to be Beryl's 97th birthday. My aunt had warned us that she had just spent the afternoon entertaining Grandma and Beryl, neither of whom were wearing their hearing aids.
"They were round and hollow in the middle," Beryl said loudly.
"Were they Cheerios?" Grandma asked.
"No, not Cheerios."
"Fruit Loops?" my mom offered.
"No, they were round and crunchy and hollow in the middle," Beryl explained.
"Yes, like Cheerios," Grandma tried again.
"Yes, Cherrios," Beryl nodded. "And that is what I had for breakfast."
Oh wow, I smiled to myself. This is what I had to look forward to for the evening. I looked over to the plush easy-chair where a long legged black guy was sitting with a polite look on his face. I'm terrible at guess ages but I put him somewhere between 19 and 22.
"Oh, Jillian, this is David from Sudan. David, this is my granddaughter, Jill." I shook his hand and said hello. I remembered Grandma telling me about meeting David, a Sudanese refugee, through her church. He was living and going to school in Regina but staying in Winnipeg visiting some friends this week. Grandma and one of the reverends had lunch with David last week and learned that he didn't have plans for Christmas Day dinner so she called my aunt to see if it would be alright if David joined us. Aunty Carol told me Grandma wasn't wearing her hearing aids (again) that day so she was sure the entire Garwood Grill restaurant heard that yes, David was invited to spend Christmas Day with us.
I asked David about school and his sister. He is interested in the health field but taking just a few general night courses to see what he really likes. He has a sister in Regina who has five children. I later learned that they were all products of rape when she was captured by the militia in Sudan. He told me he was 24 and has been in Canada for four years. Grandma proudly pointed out that he recently got his Canadian citizenship and a driver's licence.
I told him a bit about myself--my job and my house.
"Are you married?" He asked.
"Oh no," I smiled and shook my head. "But I'm doing okay." I suddenly felt a bit shy knowing that my lifestyle was probably pretty different sounding from what he came from, not so long ago.
In a loud voice (I assume because she was deaf from talking to Beryl) my mom piped in, "But she's still looking!" Thanks, ma. Way to sell me.
David told me my grandma had told him a lot about me. I told him I was very interested in Africa as I had a friend who was working over there. I told him some of the stories I had had heard about my friend's adventures in Uganda and Tanzania. He laughed as I compared the description of a typical over packed bus ride in North Africa to the roomy bus ride he'd get to enjoy back to Regina later that night.
After David had left my aunt told us more of his story. His village was attacked and as he was running for safety he saw his dad and his brother get brutally killed. Aside from his sister, who he came to Canada with, he had other siblings that he doesn't know the whereabouts or fate of. He recently was put in contact with his mother who is still in Africa. He'd like to bring her to Canada as well. Despite all this, he still believes that God has a plan for him.
On the other side of the house was another current events story. My cousin, Scott, joined the military in 2005 and is now preparing for his deployment to Afghanistan. He was recently in Germany for training on the tanks he'll be driving. Since he started training he has missed a few family get togethers. I don't remember the last time saw him. It was the first time I heard him talk about minefields and roadside bombs and it suddenly started to feel real. Scott wasn't just running around playing war games in training anymore. I'm really happy for him; he has found a career path that he is excited about.
Beryl turned out to be hilarious in that kind of way where she would say something but have no idea how funny she was. She told us it was the best birthday she had in many years. By the end of the night she was telling us it was her 94th birthday. If we managed to take a few years off her life then I'd say it was a pretty successful evening.
So that was my Christmas. It was different, but it was good.
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