I cautiously pulled into the long gravel driveway leading to home. It was hard to believe I had been gone for the past four months finishing my first semester of college at Michigan Tech. It had been a grueling week of finals followed by a long five hour drive home and I was exhausted. I put the car in park, turned the ignition off and took a long hard look at my childhood home. It looked a little more run down then I had remembered, but still it felt good to be home. I smiled at my mom's attempt to hang Christmas lights across the house herself. I grabbed my duffel bag and sauntered towards the front door. As I approached the first step I noticed the "Welcome Home" sign in mom's handwriting, again I found myself smiling.
I was just about to put my key in the lock when the door suddenly flew open! "Eric, your home! Oh, I've missed you so much! You look great!" exclaimed my mom as she threw her arms around me. "Are you hungry? I have dinner waiting for you."
"Oh, no thanks, Mom, I grabbed a burger on the road. I don't think it really agreed with me."
"Well you can always have it later if you get hungry. Now tell me how finals went. How were the roads coming home? Was there a lot of snow up at school?"
Mom and I sat and talked for a good half an hour before my phone went off. "Mom, I'm going to need to take this," I said as I headed towards my room. An hour later I reemerged and found my mom sitting by the Christmas tree. I could hear Christmas carols playing in the background and noticed the plate of my favorite Christmas cookies on the coffee table.
"There you are. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to be on the phone all night. I thought it would be fun if we decorated the tree together tonight. I didn't want to do it without you."
"Mom, I'm really not in the mood right now. I really just want to sit, relax and do nothing but maybe catch up on some Netflix."
"Really? Come on, where's your Christmas spirit? I have all the decorations ready to go."
"Mom, I honestly don't want to do it. I just don't get into Christmas like you do. I have been really stressed out lately and I just want to chill." I saw my Mom's smile fade. I knew I had hurt her feelings. I didn't mean to sound so rude. I know she likes to decorate, sing old songs, and put figurines into a manger, but I really don't get excited about Christmas any more.
"Oh, alright. I was just really looking forward to spending time with you. We could do something else if you would rather," said my mother with a tone of defeat.
"Mom, I know, we will, just not now. I just want to sit and watch some tv." I headed towards the den, grabbed the remote and watched my shows for hours until I drifted off to sleep. On the opposite side of the house, my Mom picked up her rosary, climbed into bed and prayed until she drifted off to sleep......
