"Once in Royal David's City. . ."

Welcome back! It is December 1st and once again I plan on sharing a funny, cheesy, moving or something memory a day for the next 25 days. Why? Because it entertains me, and for no other reason. But isn’t that reason enough?

So for day one let’s look back to Christmas Eve 1991. Kat and I had been married only a few months and could not afford to go home to either one of our parents homes for Christmas. We planned to spend Christmas with Kat’s sister Stephanie and her husband Clyde and his family in Wister. I had never been to Wister, and Kat had only been once.

This was in the dark ages before gps, so Stephanie called Kat and gave her directions, which Kat wrote down on a piece of paper, with a pen. Oh man, how did we ever survive?!?! Stephanie told Kathleen to take I-40 to Sallisaw, then take 59 south till you get to Poteau, where it becomes 271, once you get to Poteau, you keep going to Wister, but do NOT cross over lake Wister, go past the road to lake Wister.

It was cold and dark and the car had a heater that barely worked. We didn’t have any trouble getting to Poteau, other than the cold. We left Poteau, saw the sign that said Lake Wister this way, and we turned to avoid it, crossed over the lake and could not find the house. So back across the lake and all the way to Poteau. We regrouped at the Tote a Poke (go ahead and laugh, but I am not making that up). After reviewing the instructions, we tried again, once again avoiding the road that said LAKE WISTER and once again crossing all the way over the lake. Once again we could not find the house.

Getting a little frustrated we returned to the Tote a Poke and called Stephanie. She was relieved to hear from us and gave us the instructions again. Third time is the charm right? Wrong. Still back and forth across the lake and could not find the house. So back to Tote a Poke. This time we ran into Chad Brooks. Chad and I had run track at OBU together and running into him well after midnight on Christmas Eve in a Tote a Poke in Poteau, where he was wearing overalls and no shirt and buying beer was just a small part of the increasingly surreal evening.

This time when called, Stephanie had us wait and she came and got us. We got to Clyde’s parents house well after 2am, and eagerly went to bed. Around 530 am we were awakened a loud banging sound. Clyde’s mother Dorothy was running through the house banging a pot with a big spoon shouting for us to wake up wake up because Santa was here. Really? Did I mention that the only child in the house was Elisa Gail and she was less than 3 months old? But how do resist Dorothy Forrest? So Kat, Stephanie, Clyde, Marqueta, Jay and I dragged our very sleepy selves into the living room and opened presents. I don’t remember what I got, but I do remember a nap before breakfast!