The holidays are never an easy time to be away from the family, but today, it's been particularly tough.

Columbus Day was always a big day for the Rust family. Every year, the day would begin with my mom's authentic "Christopher Columbus Breakfast" (three eggs, wheat toast, a pancake dyed orange). My sister Anne always claimed that an orange pancake tasted better than a regular pancake, but mom insisted she made them "the same way, dear" (us kids knew different).

After breakfast, the Rust Clan would get dressed up in our special costumes. Dad, of course, dressed as Christopher Columbus. Buckled shoes. Puffy pants. A big hat with a feather. We based his costume on the one Gerard Depardieu wore when he portrayed Columbus in the film "1492: Conquest of Paradise." Before that, dad's Columbus costume was based on... Depardieu's clothes in "Green Card." Boy, did dad look nice in that gray leather jacket!

As for the rest of us, my mom was Queen Isabella and me and my sisters were the three famed ships (the Nina, Pinta, the Santa Maria). It never failed that Amy and me would argue over who gets to be the Pinta. Eventually, we compromised and agreed to trade every other year (although I swear Amy got to be the Pinta in both 1987 and 1988). We haven't spoken since.

You'd think that after this, my family and I would engage in many more (very humorous) activities/examples. But you're wrong. This is all we would do. Eat breakfast and then put on costumes.

For the rest of the day, we just sat - very still - in our costumes in the living room. We spoke no words. It was kinda boring, but since mom and dad excused from school to do it, I didn't mind.

Then, at precisely midnight, we would all rise and go to our bedrooms. Sleep away the shame.

The next day, if you spoke about the previous day's events... you were murdered.

This blog entry is dedicated in loving memory to Charlie "Big Mouth" Rust.

R.I.P. Charlie "Big Mouth" Rust.
May You Blab In Heaven, Blabby-Mouth