My Christmas 2009

[raloria]

Our Christmases spent with our remaining local relatives are small and simple compared to the ones of my childhood. The locale hasn't changed however, we still all gather over at my aunt's house, 2 houses down from where my mom & I live. There's less of us now, of course. My grandma, dad, and now my uncle are gone. After "us kids" (myself & my 2 older cousins) grew up, we all stopped giving gifts to each other for the most part. There's a few gifts here & there, but nothing like it used to be. Everyone basically has what they need, or can get it themselves easier, so we now gather for a meal, talking, and playing some board games.

We had 2 Christmases this year. On Thursday, my cousin K & her husband J came down from Seattle to be with my aunt, my mom, & I. We exchanged a few simple gifts & cards. I gave out a CD I made of a few songs from our family's collection of 45 rpm records to my mom, aunt, K&J, and cousin R the next day.

I got these silly reindeer antlers from my aunt and I wore them all the rest of the day (and the next). :P
The four tiny bells really do jingle!



My aunt gave each of us "kids" (& J, too) silly little kiddy gifts this year. I got the antlers, K got a cute santa hat, and J & my cousin R each got a little remote controlled toy truck. The guys had great fun driving the little trucks around the house (proving that every grown up guy is really a kid at heart). We all enjoyed them and it was fun to be kid-like again.

I also got a framed picture from K of the two of us when we were kids that I'd never seen before, so that was a real treat. She also made me a very pretty bracelet of little metal daisy flowers, but she had to take it back home to add to it 'cause it wasn't big enough. Heh. Oh, I also got money from my aunt & grandpa. Whoo-hoo! \0/

K brought food for supper: lasagna (made from scratch), garlic bread, salad, and apple pie & cranberry tart (also homemade) for dessert. Yum! :D I love her apple pie. It was delish!!!

For Christmas Day, my other cousin, R and my grandpa came down to be with us. I got to wear my antlers again, much to R's amusement (he's always been like an older brother to me). My aunt prepared the dinner this time: black forrest ham, mashed potatoes, cornbread dressing, green beans, and corn. By this time we had a ton of pies.....some of the ones K had brought, 2 apple pies my aunt bought, and then my grandpa brought 2 more (an apple and a blackberry). I had apple pie again....can you tell I'm a Washington girl? I love my apples! :D

After supper my aunt, cousin R, my mom, and I played a couple of games of Chinese Checkers. :)

Cousin R left that night, but my grandpa spent the night at my aunt's place. He left Saturday afternoon, but mom & got up early so we could go over and spend some more time with him. I still can't believe he drove down by himself. The man's 93 years old and still driving. *sigh* We really don't mind him driving short distances, but from his place to us down here takes about an hour to drive. Mom & I were all set to go pick him up on Friday, but he beat us to it. Stubborn old guy! He made it home safe & sound on Saturday though. After he left, mom & I stuck around chatting with my aunt. Then we all went out for supper, came back to her place to eat, then played...yep, more Chinese Checkers. Heh.

All in all, it was a nice Christmas. I lamented for a little while how I miss the old Christmases, but I guess we'll never have those days again. All we can do is enjoy what we have and who we have to be with.

Here's the cards I got from my K & J, my mom, my aunt, & my grandpa.



Hope you've enjoyed the recap. :)