Things we don't deserve

Unless you're highly unlucky or have the personality of a pregnant yak, you have friends. Most of the time friendships are give and take, and if an accountant with a ton of time on his hands were to examine that give and take, he'd find it pretty balanced at the end of a lifetime.

Most of the time.

Then there are those people who just seem to give and give and give, and eventually it becomes apparent you are in a position where you'd have to have the resources of Warren Buffet and Mother Theresa to pay all the love, support, gifts and favors back.

We got us a couple of those.

First, there's Rickey and Susie. Rickey builds things like spare bedrooms, and fixes things like broken walls, on his own precious spare time (because he's got a day job too, like I don't have enough to feel guilty about). He always shows up when we're in a jam, like Batman or Iron Man--somebody who isn't just a superhero, but who brings his own tools. And he never says "you know, just once I'd like to be home watching HGTV and eating a chili cheese dog, instead of in your basement discovering which of my joints hurts worse when overworked." And Susie? She tells me I'm doing a good job and everything is going to work out splendidly, when anyone with eyes can see I'm not and it won't. And I always believe her--seriously, everyone needs someone who will lie to your face, and then help you clean up the mess. I can't tell you how much I love her and have grown to depend on her. Know what I do to earn all that? Yeah, I don't either.

Then, there's Michael and Alicia. They show up every Christmas without fail, with a beautiful tray of food you know they spent hours on, that I always hope I'm gonna get and am never worthy of. That food is like a Christmas bonus for stay at home "non-revenue generating" moms. It's a "job well done" platter. Know what I do in return? Eat it. Every year. Just consume it like I haven't eaten in a week. (This year was particularly yummy as you can see.)

So for those of you out there grappling with inequitable friendships this Christmas, I feel your pain. I guess it's the whole underlying theme of the season, isn't it? Gifts given, undeserved? I suppose the best we, the unworthy, can do is to be as ridiculously grateful as possible, and remind those people in our lives how much they mean to us every chance we get, because dang it, Christmas 2010 is only 13 months away, and we're about to be reminded once again how unfair it all is. As we stuff our mouths with delicious cookies.

Kristi

PS While I'm on the subject of being thankful, the funniest thank you card I ever saw was one of those Hallmark jobs that said "Muchas Gracias" on the front, and then inside, it read "That's Spanish for 'if I were any more thankful, I'd give you my car!'" I don't know why, but that always makes me laugh.