Asa’s letter to Santa reminded me of the year Grandma gave our brother Lemmy the worst memorable gift. Grandma and Lemmy had an unique relationship. Grandma loved Lemmy dearly, but she couldn’t stand all his fur. It didn’t help matters that Grandma always wore black when she came to visit Lemmy. Nor did it help that Lemmy always insisted on sitting on Grandma’s lap. He never did it to anyone else, but when Grandma came to visit, after wrestling with Grandpa, Lemmy would settle in on Grandma’s lap and rest his head on her shoulder. Thus ensuring that by the time the visit was over, Grandma was covered in “Golden glitter.”
Well back in 2010 Grandma thought she had found the perfect Christmas gift for Lemmy. She surprised him with a handheld vacuum cleaner, so he could tidy up the house a bit before her visits. Lemmy’s expression in the attached photo clearly shows how he felt about that gift! You see, not only does no dog want a vacuum for Christmas, but Lemmy was deathly afraid of vacuums! Dad always took Lemmy out for a walk so Mom could vacuum and not scare him. So to actually give him his very own handheld vacuum was a nightmare for Lemmy. But being the utmost gentleman, he never barked a word and graciously accepted that gift. He even “showed” Grandma where the fur was “hiding” when she insisted he try it out that Christmas morning. Little did she realize Lemmy was actually trying to hide from the dreaded beast.
Flash forward to 2017, when Asa and I finally repaid Grandma for that worst memorable gift, by giving our grandmother her very own vacuum. It seems that her old one couldn’t keep up with our fur after our visits, so it was definitely something she needed. However, it was also not necessarily something she wanted. Yet just like Lemmy did 7 years earlier, she pretended to be excited for our well thought out gift. In fact we all sat around laughing remembering the time she gave Lemmy his very own vacuum. Grandma, you’ve certainly come a long way with your gift giving since that Christmas, oh so long ago! And in case you’re wondering, every time Mom uses “Lemmy’s vacuum” she smiles remembering that special Christmas.
