A Different Kind Of Christmas

My family does all its activities Christmas Eve. We open presents between the four of us and then my extended family on my father's side get together and have pizza fondue for dinner.

For a long time the extended family would get each other gifts. The uncles and aunts would get the kids gifts until they were through college and the adults would draw names to get each other a gift. We gave up the gift exchange last year and at this point I only have two little cousins that get gifts.

This year was quite different. Marta and Nick just got engaged so there was a lot of excitement about that. My college-age cousins on my mom's side Iona, James, and John, in town from LA, spent the holiday with us. My mom's family is spread all over the country and some across the world so it was a great treat to have them with us.

In a surprise twist Tisher came and spent Christmas with us as well. Groupon is being progressively stingy with PTO so he couldn't make the trip back to Napa to be with his family. It was great and odd to have him there, like worlds colliding and I think he enjoyed himself but there is still something melancholy about spending the holiday with a family not your own.

All told that's nine people when our norm is four. The holiday was more crowded, a bit more stressful, and not as relaxing as it usually is. More often than not I spend the holiday lounging around and reading. This time there was a lot more running around, a lot more errands, a lot more logistics, and more entertaining to be done. Which was a nice change- fuller and more action packed. In the past I may have been put off by all the changes to our routines, but I was happy to mix things up and to be there for my family and friend to, together, have a great holiday.

I got my dad Undefeated on DVD. We watched it today before I came back to Chicago. We watched and cried, it was a wonderful Christmas.