Our Christmas Day

Today was a day for all of my family to gather at my parents house.
It's starting to get to the point where it will be good to get my
parents to agree to come to one of our homes for holidays instead
of them continuing to insist on us doing all holidays at their
house. Us kids tend to bring most of the food and we clean up, but
the stress involved has been becoming very evident in the last
couple of years. Mostly because my mom *insists* that we come to
their house. Then she just gets so stressed out with the dinner,
then Dad gets stressed. They're not used to the loud kids (twin 5
year olds are the loudest at Christmas. LOL) My house is too
small to host all of us. My brother tried to have Christmas at his
house a couple of years ago and our mom seemed just miserable that
it wasn't at her house that we've given up trying to relieve her
and our dad of hosting a big family dinner. My dad gets upset at
all the noise of the kids, the mess ... but he's a very quiet kind
of guy and getting old, and my sis, at the age of 35, had twins who
are now nearly 6.

Oh, those two. ) Smart beyond their years, and now they don't
have a dad around. So they need extra love and understanding. My
little 5 year old nephew is proving to be amazingly smart. The
twins were born in the evening of Dec 31, 1999. Hours away from
being millennium twins.

More on my nephew. During present opening time, we played a game.
You might be familiar with it. Everyone sticks a bow on their shirt
and you pick a word that no one's allowed to say. We thought it
might be hard for the little ones to understand, but he caught on
to it quickly. The taboo word was "present". I caught him starting
to say it, said "pres.." and stopped himself. He did better than
me when I told my sister I spent more on a present for her cats
than I did on anyone else. LOL (they got a drinking fountain, and
I am on a budget this year to save up for a much needed trip the
hell away from here for a week or so).

The get-together ended after a game of Uno Revenge (it has a card
thrower rather than the old Uno where you have to draw cards).
There were about 6 adults, 1 pre-teen and this amazing nearly-six
year old playing. There is no need to try to make the game easier
for this 6 year old, in fact, you had to watch yourself because
I've never seen such a young one strategize his next move like he
does. LOL Smart as a whip. Nothing gets past him. You could see
the calculating in his eyes because he was always a step or two
ahead. He only had one moment where his next move was foiled, and
he went to cry under the table ... but he was so tired! Early
morning up to see what Santa brought, and he's just too mature for
a nap. His twin sister had been zonked out for an hour by this
time.

Merry Christmas All, and I hope you got a chance to find some peace
for a day.


--
Cheryl