Christmas with "Ralph"

Forty years ago, we spent a Christmas with family friends in Rose Bay, Nova Scotia. They were an older couple with a restored Cape Cod-style home situated right above the scenic little bay.

They had a son, quite a few years older than Gigi and me, who had a pet boa constrictor named Ralph. The son took Ralph out of his glass terrarium and slept with the snake at night. Gigi and I found this thoroughly gross and frightening; I don't like snakes at all.

Notwithstanding the snake, we had a lovely Christmas visit. Heavy snowfall blanketed the rural countryside, and an ice storm one night coated all the bare trees so the branches looked like they had been dipped in crystal.

I was 11 years old, and had access to an early version of a snowboard (I remember it was called a "Snurfer", for snow surfer). I used it to cut swaths through the virgin snow on the hillside up behind their house.

The house was very old and not well insulated. Gigi and I shared a room on the top floor (not quite an attic) and were given an electric blanket to put on the double bed to keep us toasty. We'd never used an electric blanket before, so this was quite a novelty. We snuggled under the covers on Christmas Eve, hoping that Ralph the snake would stay put in the son's bed. We fell asleep with visions less pleasant than sugar plums dancing in our heads.

I don't remember who started it, but in the wee hours we were both awake and screaming amid a messed up pile of our bedding. One of us had felt something snakey and we knew Ralph had found his way into our bed! It was complete hysteria until one of the adults figured out we had mistaken the cord of the electric blanket for Ralph! It took a while for the pounding of our hearts to subside.

Two years ago, when we started the addition at our cottage, my husband and I bought an electric blanket because our master bedroom in the addition was not going to be finished and insulated for a long time. Every time I made up the bed with the electric blanket I would think of that Christmas long ago and recall the "Ralph episode".

Last month we finally got the addition insulated and I packed away our electric blanket. But I know the memories it stirred will make me smile for years yet to come.

Todo bien. (It's all good.)