Friday, December 30, 2011

A trifle


I had a really nice Christmas. I was especially aware of this this year, because the way the holiday fell, I had to work Christmas Eve and had pretty much decided that would preclude getting together with the family, even though for various reasons, I really wanted to do that this year. But my sister was kind enough to drive down to Santa Cruz and pick me up after work and so I was able to go on a rather madcap adventure around the state spending time with many people I care about. There were many elements to all this, but I thought I would mention one here in particular.

My sister as usual decided that it was not enough to pick me up in Santa Cruz and stay up late wrapping presents. She also wanted to throw her semitraditional Christmas Day brunch. She makes a souffle and sausage but as there was another guest coming she thought she'd also make a trifle. A trifle is not really a trifle to make, it has a lot of things in it and a lot of layers. Fruit and whipped cream feature heavily. As usual, I thought it was a tad over ambitious and as usual, she ignored me, much to my benefit, as it turned out.

Everything actually went very smoothly so we opened presents and the guest arrived and we shared a very nice meal and good conversation. It was a beautiful sunny California winter day, and the trifle looked gorgeous on the well set table and we dug in with appetite and really nothing could have been better. We even had Christmas crackers, and the little trinkets inside seemed apropos.

The doorbell rang and we were saying goodbye to the friend while my sister answered the door and stood there talking to someone. She stood there for a long while and though I was curious I was also distracted, so didn't think much about it till she came into the dining room, followed by a young guy, barely out of high school. "This is Nicholas," she said. We said hello, somewhat perplexed, as I had never heard of him before. He was smiling, and had merry eyes. The odd thing--and it will sound like some sort of literary device,though it isn't--but for some reason, he had the white fringe of a Santa Claus suit around the ankle of one leg. He said he had found it in a trash can at the St. Vincent de Paul.

My sister went out to the kitchen and got him a tin of the Christmas cookies she had made and we made small talk with him while he waited. After he had said goodbye, we looked at my sister and she told us his story. He was a foster kid who had aged out of the system two weeks before he had finished high school and was now homeless. He had come around to her door a few times before, looking for work, and she had given him some small tasks to do. He was happy because he had gotten a sleeping bag and maybe a place to sleep at night.

When you work in retail, you can feel a bit put upon during the holiday season. It is easy enough to understand that you're part of the "the 99%" a lot of that time, but there are other moments when you realize that by other standards, you are also part of the one percent, which merely means "lucky".

Nicholas left, though I'm sure he'll be back. And my sister will undoubtedly try to figure out some way that he can be helped to find work and a GED. There are a few ideas floating around all ready. After he had gone, we all looked at each other, a bit ashamed of our good fortune. My sister looked at the table, seeing it as he would have seen it.

"Oh!" she said. "I should have given him some trifle!"       

22 comments:

  1. Such a moving story, Seana... like an episode from Dickens.

    I'm sure the young man will do well with such concern and support.

    We're down in our fiscal dugouts (self made, btw) here and there is a lot of discussion about what 2012 will bring.

    I'm incurably optimistic and look forward to much happiness, which I also wish for you and yours.

    I continue to tell friends about your wonderfully informative blog, so thank you again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful story and so well told, I felt like I was right there with you. You and your sisters have such kind hearts, no doubt learned from your parents. Wishing you and all your family a very Happy New Year! - Janet

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the kind words, everyone. I thought it was a moment that should be witnessed, so I'm glad it came across.

    Happy New Year to all of you. I think this one has been a pretty challenging one on many levels, and I hope in 2012 we are at least a little clearer about our mutual collective predicament.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you, Paul. Looking forward to reading more of your stuff in this new year. Hope it's a good one for you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Seana,

    Nice to see this story told in your thoughtful and inimitable way.

    Steph

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks, Steph. I'm glad you approve, since I basically hijacked this story...

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yikes! I feel rather small asking this after that moving story, but how did a trifle get to be called a trifle, and does the answer have anything to do with the trifle that means a small matter?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Good question. Perhaps to be taken up soon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Aha! I had guessed that you began this post with one of your usual inquiries into a word's origin before becoming distracted by the holiday story.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Well, no, it's the reverse, but order doesn't matter a great deal on this blog. Lots of questions, few answers.

    ReplyDelete
  12. A search for

    "trifle history cooking 1596 foole" gives all the answers to the earliest usage of the word.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wonderful story. One I didn't hear during the family gathering in LA. Proud of both my sisters...one for the deed and one for capturing it so vividly.

    J.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Writing well is not easy, as we all know here.

    Getting paid to write well, which is no trifling matter, is where the real problems start.

    ReplyDelete
  15. All right, I just cried over Nicholas' situation but was happy to see that your sister is helping him.

    That is the spirit of the holidays, what it's all about.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Thanks for reading this, Kathy. And good to see you up and about around the blogosphere again.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Keeping up with the blogosphere is a full-time job. Don't know how you all do it, work full-time, blog and comment and then read an enormous amount.

    An fyi: Margot Kinberg wrote a post about Denise Mina at Confessions of a Mystery Novelist, all good.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I am not sure how anyone does it either, Kathy. Or even if they should. But thanks for the link. I see Margot popping up everywhere, and it's time I go directly to the source.

    ReplyDelete