Descendants of Champ and Other Wackos: A Merry Din

I love Christmas. I'm not much of shopper and I'm wary of over consumption, but I love the day and the night before too. Hosting my family for the event for the first time was awesome. I love the ebb and flow of the day.

I love waking up to find cousins splattered throughout the house. Shani slept on the hard wooden floor in the living room, one hand resting on his open laptop and Kayla actually slept in the living room chair. Two sleeping mats leaned up against the wall. Five people slept in the addition alone, which is not a very big space, but everyone said they were comfortable. Manny got up at about 4:00am, snuck most of his presents from under the tree and opened them in his room. He tried to tell us that Santa had left these toys by or under his bed. But we know this is a lie. He spent much of the day in his room with his new legos.

Then there's rising morning excitement and consumption of many pots of coffee and egg treats. Last year someone (Henekis?) started calling everything a treat, so our breakfast strata is now "egg treats" and the spiced nuts my mom makes are "nut treats". Clam dip is "clam treats", etc.

One of my favorite parts of the day was the Gram Jam game. Grammie Robin makes the world's best jam and gives it to us all at Christmas (though she sneaks Neil some at other times throughout the year because he loves it so much). This year she made a game out of everyone choosing their jam. I think she just liked the opportunity to boss us all around. And I liked her bossing us. This video clip is a nice example of the chaos, silliness and fun of my family on Christmas Day:

Then there is the late afternoon. Presents have been opened, turkey dinner consumed and people start to spread out around the house. Jordyn's lying on the floor on her belly, texting and Joe and Terry are playing a guessing game with pictures. Kali is in the easy chair where Kay slept the night before reading Patrick's library book (Encyclopedia Horrifica) and Alan is studying 35 ways to play poker. In the other room, Neil does the dishes and shouts to someone "gum breath" while someone else is singing. Henekis is laughing and Dahe is heartily and happily cursing. The light is getting low and I am reveling in this din; the hum of love.

Later on there is more coffee and out comes the cake! I am very proud of this cake:

In the early evening we again gather round and Henekis reads to us from Jack Handy's Deep Thoughts. This one is our favorite and made Kali laugh so hard he cried:
I remember that one fateful day when Coach took me aside. I knew what was coming. 'You don't have to tell me,' I said. 'I'm off the team, aren't I?' 'Well,' said Coach 'you never were really ON the team. You made that uniform you're wearing out of rags and towels, and your helmet is a toy space helmet. You show up at practice and then either steal the ball and make us chase you to get it back, or you try to tackle people at inappropriate times.' It was all true what he was saying. And yet, I thought something is brewing inside the head of this Coach. He sees something in me, some kind of raw talent that he can mold. But that's when I felt the handcuffs go on.

Anyway, for me it was definitely one of the best Christmases ever. Kali was supposed to ruin it and I was a little disappointed that didn't happen. But my mom's cooking made my life pretty easy (it's so fun cooking in my kitchen with my mom!) and I think everyone had a wonderful time. Maybe they'll let me host again next year. I love you all so much!