This year we had the entire family at our house for 5 days, which provided us with laughter, love and absolute pandemonium. Let me set the stage:
Dad -- My father. Nearly 70, not in the best of health. His days are mostly spent in front of the TV.
Mom -- My mom. 70, lively as a wire-hair terrier. She is very active, a bit daft sometimes and easy to wind-up.
Tony -- My husband. Lovely and, bless him, tolerant of my family. He threatened to stir the pot between my conservative father and liberal brother, but kept his comments to a minimum and even cleaned the house while everybody was out one day.
Me -- You know who I am.
Our Son -- 17, inseparable from his girlfriend.
His Girlfriend -- 16, lovely and Jewish which meant her family didn't mind her spending Christmas with us. Bless her she was tolerant of the endless questions from my brother about her religion, etc.
My Brother -- 5 years younger, priorities are him, running, family (I'm pretty sure in that order). Will talk the leg off anybody and isn't the most PC person alive.
My Sister-in-Law -- How she tolerates my brother I have no idea. I'm pretty sure she's a saint.
Neice -- 6 years old, first grader who is so smart the teachers are begging her parents to put her in 3rd grade! You can carry on an adult conversation with her quite fine. She's a little "Miss Know-it-all" but that's only because she does.
Nephew -- 4 years old. His world revolves around trains, trucks and anything mechanical. He's never heard the word "no" so at times he can throw a whopper of a temper tantrum. If he wasn't so darn cute he'd be dead by now!
On Christmas day we were also joined by my oldest, his girlfriend, her 6 year old daughter and their 9 month old daughter. That made 14 in all!
If you've ever watched the Christmas movies Christmas Vacation and Home Alone, our family times were very similar to the ones there. Everybody talks at once (is anybody listening?) and it's general chaos.
I had a little guilt asking my parents to stay in a hotel. We have enough bedrooms, but with two in-home businesses a couple of them are used for offices with no where for a bed. In the end it worked out okay because my Niece watched a marathon of The First 48 with my Dad and being the braniac that she is understood everything that was going on. It scared the living daylights out of her and she decided she couldn't sleep in our house. Not sure how the hotel was better, but it was.
We had dramas ("I thought we were all going to the mall! Why is everybody gone but me?" and "No, I won't babysit your kids while you go out to eat with Mom and Dad."), and Tony and I found ways to sneak off and grab a martini (or two) to settle our nerves, but all in all it was absolutely wonderful. There's nothing like the faces of children as they open their presents on Christmas morning. We did learn that we would have been better off letting the kids open all of theirs and then sending them off to play while the adults opened theirs.
I don't know about you, but as an adult Christmas generally doesn't come with many surprises. You make a list of what you want/need and people get it for you. But this year my list was short (PJs and drill) ... there just isn't as much I need anymore. But true to form Tony showed he'd been listening throughout the year and surprised me with a pair of snowshoes! I am so excited to get out there and put them to use. We had a great time in Lake Tahoe last March and as my business partner likes to snowshoe as well I can see many "office planning" days on the mountain.
About noon today the car was loaded and everybody said their good-byes. The first hour Tony and I just sat there listening to the silence. Then it was time to tackle the two loads of dishes and multiple loads of laundry to be done. I spent DAYS preparing the house for company and right now it looks like I haven't cleaned in YEARS! On the upside, I can go back to knowing where all my dishes are (dishwasher unloading help is wonderful, but it always makes for a game of hide and seek when you start looking for things) and knowing that if I buy a gallon of milk it will last more than 2 days.
I hope you all made wonderful memories over this Christmas and are ready for a fun celebration on New Year's Eve. Wishing you all a happy and wonderful 2010.
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