it is 1:30am. everyone is asleep. mom. dad. bryce. luna. winston. gacey. houdini.
this is my first christmas that i have not been with my niece and nephew since they have been born. this is my first christmas without my sister in my entire life. this is bryce and i’s first christmas together, as mister and missus. this is the first christmas for a lot of things. and as different and new as it all may be, it is still christmas.
while it breaks my heart that our family isn’t all together. it is also a time to be thankful that this is the first time. ever. in 29 years of my being. that we haven’t been. and for that we are sad, but above all we are grateful.
my family is not religious. we have never been (i mean, except my own personal stint in evangelical land). but christmas is our thing. and today we did our thing. with 4 of us here and three of us there.
bryce, the mutts and i got to my parents last night. it is hard not to say “we got down there”, but we don’t anymore-now we go up. we went out for mexican, had a few drinks and played cards until after midnight. we got up this morning. made sure all computers were set up to video chat. chatted with my sister briefly to make sure all systems were a go and headed out to my grandma’s (my dad’s mother).
we ate our usual christmas breakfast of biscuits, gravy, fruit salad and ham. this year grandma threw in hash browns and a breakfast casserole. both a welcome addition. mom learned grandma’s secret to cooking, which she used to excel in and in the past years has lost a bit of her magic touch…don’t read the directions and don’t set a timer. god, i love this woman. mom directed me into the dining room, the adult table. i have never sat here before. but shortly after sitting down i realized this was the man table, and i quickly joined my mom, my aunt, three cousins and a second cousin, all female, at the “kids table”- which is actually two card tables-in the living room. this was a much better fit. we sent grandma in to eat with her boys.
from there we opened gifts. the youngest cousin in attendance took over my usual position as “santa”. i was happy to give it up. crawling under the tree at 29 just isn’t as cute as it once was. plus i wanted to sit back and enjoy people opening their gifts. there was some amusing family banter. plenty of thank yous. then we relaxed for a bit. i talked with my cousin about her first semester at college and my other cousin about books. my aunt and i talked about the twilight insanity. my uncles and cousins talked about coming down to fish and us coming up to ride horses. after a while bryce and i went to sam’s. then back to mom and dad’s to hang out before our usual chinese dinner. my sister, heather, called when she and the kids got back to their house and we all linked up on google video chat to say hi to the kids, but most importantly, so mom could read the kids their traditional christmas story.
it was bittersweet. of course we wish they were here, but since they can’t be i am so glad that we were able to open our laptops and keep our traditions alive. or as alive as they can be from missouri to pennsylvania. the kids were a riot. and mom held it together. i am pretty sure them making silly faces at themselves in the camera saved the day. i snorted from laughing too hard.there is not such thing. i snorted from pure enjoyment and perhaps a lack of air.
and in the morning, when they get up, heather will call again. and again we will open up our laptops and we will watch them open gifts. i can’t wait to see their faces. they make christmas morning so very sweet.
bryce and i exchanged our gits tonight. i got some toms that i have been talking about getting for a while, but never followed through on. they are gray. i love them. i also got an awesome purple jacket. perfect for all kinds of things outdoors. i also got a subscription to anthology magazine and some trx bands are on their way!
i got him a chalk box and chalk for the rock climbing room, some beard conditioner and a sweet new kitchen knife. i think it all went over well 🙂
mom, dad, bryce and i decided to fill each others stockings. i had no idea how hard you parents work to fill a stocking. i told my dad tonight that i hope we do the same thing next year, so i have a full year of picking up little things that make me think of them or that i think they will like and use. apparently this has been mom’s MO the whole time. this year we decided a little late in the game. and i am not going to lie, it was hard. i am also not going to lie, not everything fit in a stocking. and i love it.
tonight for the first time i got to lay out gifts for my parents that i knew they would wake up to. stockings are the first thing that get opened in my house and they are always so fun. i can’t wait to see my parents go through them.
and you know i can’t wait to go through mine.
merry christmas friends. where ever this finds you, i hope it finds you well and thankful.
ahoyfriend. 