Merry Christmas to All

I had a wonderful evening with my family yesterday. The new baby was there, but still inside of her mom. She's reluctant to put in an appearance for some reason. All but one of my twelve other "greats" were there, too. Unfortunately, poor Michael had to stay home with his dad Mike 'cause, as his big sister Hannah put it, he had "green snot". I'm not sure exactly what that is, but it sounded pretty bad and his mom didn't want to take the chance that he would infect the rest of the kids.

The rest of us, though, had a very pleasant dinner followed by a modified gift exchange. We used to make a huge production over Christmas Eve dinner, but this year we took a more laid-back approach. There was fried chicken (from J.R.'s), lasagne (from GFS), and a couple of salads, along with desserts (pies by Marie Callender and cheesecake by Eli's). The order of the day was EASY. We also told the nieces and nephews that they didn't have to bring anything. I brought the two pies, my brother and his wife brought the cheesecake. Two of my sisters, Karen and Diana, split the cost of the chicken and the third sister, Janis, bought the lasagne. A couple of the kids did bring things like cookies and candies and a cheese tray, but nothing complicated. As a result, we were all able to sit down to dinner without too much fuss.

After dessert,the gifts were handed out. We had decided that only the aunts and uncles would buy for only the greats instead of the whole family exchange that we used to do. We didn't want any of the nieces and nephews to feel bad because they couldn't afford to buy for everyone. Afterall, the recession has hit us just like it has everyone else. So, the rule was nothing excessive. I sewed a little goodie bag for each kid that I put a toy, a baggie of cookies and candy, and a marshmallow lollipop in. Someone else gave each of them a puzzle, someone else had given them socks, another gave another little toy, and Uncle Mike was the big hit when he gave each of the kids a little case that contained a $15 universal gift card.

We all sat around chatting for a while and telling stories of Christmases past. Everyone went back to the dessert table for seconds (thankfully). Then we started packing up and heading for home. We had spent almost three hours together without anyone having to stress out over a big to-do with a big dinner and tons of presents (trust me, when there are 30 family members exchanging gifts, it is a very big to-do and a whole lot of presents). I think that this was one of the best Christmas Eve get-togethers that we've ever had.

This morning when I first got up, I put a loaf of whole wheat bread into the oven to bake. Once it was done, I headed to Christmas morning mass with Karen, Diana and Ken (Diana's husband). Janis and her family had gone to the 4:30 mass yesterday before the dinner and had gone to Indiana for Christmas with her daughter-in-law's family early this morning, and Mike and Dawn (my only s-i-l) were on their way to dinner with their daughter, who had to work last night. After mass, we went to Karen's house for coffee and Christmas cookies. Karen's husband, Hap, had to work today. He went in for 8am and is scheduled to work until 11pm. Karen was going down to her daughter's for dinner today and Ken and Diana were headed for their daughter's house to see what Santa had brought the kids.

I headed back home, fixed myself a nice ham salad sandwich with my fresh baked bread. Then I sat down in my recliner and watched a couple of Christmas movies on television. I had turned on my Christmas tree lights and just enjoyed the feeling of not having to do anything or go anywhere. And I am very glad that I didn't have to drive anywhere since the rain that was coming down this morning, turned to snow by about 2pm. And, it is very windy out there. Better to stay in my nice, warm apartment. My friends had invited me to come to their house which is about 20 miles away, but I had told them that I was worried about what the weather was going to do. Looks like I was right. I'll just try to get out to see them sometime in the next few days.

In the meantime, I hope everyone had a really good Christmas, too. I also hope that Santa was good to you all, and not just with gifts. I hope that he brought all of you the true gift of this season, too. Merry Christmas, everyone!