It Is a Wonderful Life!
I’m dealing with just a bit of mom guilt, since I am off to work again this morning. Just for a few hours........no one will perish in my absence but I feel guilty anyway. The mellifluous tones of my voice are just a phone call away. This makes the kids happy.......though I am still reeling from the call I received at work last spring when Fran was home with the boys..........there was no car here because Dad had run uptown to fetch the Princess from the flower shop. I could barely hear Fran over the blood curdling screams. I was able to discern something about Eddie, lots of blood, tip of his finger. The most worrisome part was the screaming. That little stoic has taken some really gruesome injuries with barely a quiver of the upper lip, so I knew the high decibel wailing meant something. So I told Fran to call 911. I left work right away and by the time I got home, Rick was at the ER while Eddie was having a finger naill re-attached (for protective purposes......certainly not aesthetic. His constant invitations to “look at my nail” made me absolutely faint.) and the girls had cleaned up all the blood. But I carry this with me every time I’m at church and I know there may be a window of time without dad home. (What can I say today? If Eddie hurts himself, call Fran at work? Maybe the vet can stitch him up?)

I’m looking forward to spending the rest of the day with the kids. We’ll do a little more decorating and tonight we’ll plunk down to watch It’s a Wonderful Life on NBC. Pater can’t understand our fascination. I know we’ve seen it a hundred times and have it on tape. But I get a certain feeling of communal enjoyment knowing that millions of other people are watching it at the same time.

It is still one of the best holiday movies. Sweet but not saccharine. As Clarence said, “I like George Bailey.” He is a good man, with a bit of melancholy. (My favorites line: “You call this a happy family? What did we have all these kids for anyway?” Some year I shall find a way to use that on a Christmas card in a way that the children won’t misunderstand and won’t depress the recipients.)