Holidays

My first holiday in prison camp was Thanksgiving and it was tough, especially with the four day weekend. Patti visited me the Saturday and Sunday before Thanksgiving, but by Thanksgiving afternoon I was dragging and missing everyone a ton. We did get a decent lunch around noon, after waiting for over an hour for my section to be called. They served us very processed turkey slices, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, corn, dinner rolls and cranberry sauce. Then we received a small dinner bag which contained PB&J sandwiches, and small portions of cookies, sunflower seeds, pretzels and chips. They allowed folks to take leftovers in tupperware containers, but I didn’t have one yet. By 1pm the excitement of the holiday was over for me as I went back to my cube. I kept thinking of my family enjoying themselves over my brother and sister-in law’s house (Mike and Victoria) with his family and my sister-in-law Tara and her family. I rented the only Christmas movie available on my tablet – Last Christmas and watched it at the same time as my family that evening, but it wasn’t that great of a movie. On Black Friday I listened to my radio on my tablet via headphones and kept hearing Christmas music and wished I was home to cook, decorate for Christmas, and play games with the kids. Saturday was more like Friday again. Finally Sunday arrived and got to visit with Patti and 4 of my 5 children- Connor, Fiona, Gabriel and Charlotte. It was the first time the children visited and it went very well. Several of the children dropped me off on the first day, so they were familiar with the situation. They managed to get up super early for them and braved the long drive out and even longer drive back as they hit holiday traffic in the Poconos. I called my daughter Kelsy who was unable to visit and some other folks to help me stay close to my family. 

Christmas was a little better. I had been getting used to (less depressed) listening to all of the Christmas music at work and through my tablet. Writing and email also helped me to stay connected to my children, Patti, family, and friends. I purchased a Christmas card 6 pack and wrote personalized letters in the cards to the children and of course Patti. The Friday before Christmas they gave us the afternoon off from work and called us up to get a big bag of snacks, cookies, etc as a holiday gift. The contents were much better than the bagged dinner and was appreciated by many.

On Christmas day Patti was scheduled to see me with some of the children (Fiona and Charlotte). Our holiday lunch ran late again and she hit traffic.  I woofed down the large lunch in about 10 minutes – small cornish hen, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn, then grabbed my crappy dinner bag. They visited from 12:15 to 2:45 and surprised me by picking up my dad and bringing him for the first time. My dad talked a ton like he always does and the visit went well. On Christmas night we watched Elf. I was on my tablet and the family was home. Patti and I realized afterwards we missed the 1 on 1 time together, so she came back the following Saturday and Sunday which really helped to keep our relationship strong. She left around 2:45 on New Years Eve and that night was difficult again. I listened to the radio on my tablet as the housing unit celebrated the best they could and I managed to fall asleep around 1am. We had a regular lunch and dinner on New Year’s Day.

Having the 4 children home for Thanksgiving and all 5 home for Christmas Eve really helped Patti and the children cope with the holidays without me home. They said it wasn’t the same, but did celebrate the similar traditions – watched Christmas movies, played card games and Mario Party, did puzzles, went to lunch and dinners and had a scaled down Christmas Eve party and then went to midnight Mass. Our youngest child Charlotte hosted a small New Years Eve party at our house so that provided Patti with some company that evening as well.