Christmas Eve may be my favorite day of the year. Everything about it shimmers with expectation, even the semi darkness of an overcast, snowy sky. The presents are wrapped and a truckload have already been hauled off to Ty’s house and hidden in secret places inaccessible to the kids. There are enough cookies baked so it doesn’t matter if more are added to the larder or not. The decorations are all up but and everything looks magical. Everythingfeels magical. It’s not a Holiday but it feels like one. Since Jay has always worked in academia and I work at home, it’s a Holiday for us.
I got the gumbo started early; I made the roux at about 9:30 in the morning. For soups and stews, I’m a firm believer in letting things simmer for hours. The longer the simmer, the tastier the dish. I don’t cook much but what I do cook is pretty damn good. My recipe for gumbo is straight out of the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook of 1981 but I’ve tweaked a few things over the years, so now it’s mine. I’m well aware of the fact that no southerner would even recognize it as gumbo, as it contains no okra and I don’t even know what file powder is. Once upon a time, Jay had a few players from Louisiana, so I know. But that was a long time ago and to this bunch of upper Midwesterners, my gumbo is as close as they get. Whatever it is and whatever you want to call it, it’s delicious.
Because I simmer it all day long.
We got over to the Christmas vigil/Children’s mass early enough to grab our usual seats. Josie joined us and MJ, Kent and the kids were somewhere in the pews, along with more of our relatives but I didn’t see them. Apparently, Tot was dressed in the fanciest outfit he owns: his Minnie Mouse costume from Halloween. I do wish I’d seen that.
We had to take two cars out to Tyler’s place. Even though we sent a lot with Ty a few nights earlier, once we packed the food, the rest of the gifts and our overnight bags in, there wasn’t any room for passengers in the back of the van. The party was in full swing when we arrived. Xena and BoopityBoop were tearing around in the matching red velour dresses I’d found at Sam’s Club a month earlier: they looked like they were straight out of White Christmas. In addition to those little girls were Babalouie, the Indiana Twins and the Glen Lake and Violet, Alice and Georgia swelling the ranks of youngsters. At 13, Sophie is like the Grand Dam of the generation. I still haven’t met the two newest members of the family, as their parents have been careful to keep them away from the large, germ infested family parties. Oh well.
Dinner was delicious and the gift exchange as raucous and manic as usual. Next year, I’ll get more kid-friendly stuff. There were more gifts than participants, so several of the gifts remained on the table during the swap part of the game. My nephew Matt had originally opened a box of wooden refrigerator magnets, which he swapped for something on the table. Boopity saw him put down the magnets and wasted no time in grabbing them and running straight to me. She wasn’t actually in the game but I saw no reason not to let the toddler claim the magnets, so I had her back. BoopityBoop are spending tonight (New Year’s Eve) with us so they’ll get to play with those magnets this evening. I also got a Tough Talking Ric Flair doll action figure out of the game, so… Fun for the whole family!
With so many families coming from far away and so many little kids involved again, the party began breaking up around 9. We had a long dry spell with no little kids. There’s a ten year gap between Josie, the last of Pat and Frank’s grandchildren and Sophie, the oldest of the great grandchildren who lives in Minnesota. In fact, that’s how the motto: It Ain’t Christmas Till Someone is Cryingcame into effect: Uncle Tim couldn’t resist teasing Josie during the game. He took her Christmas Bear in the swap. She was three. He gave it back to her as soon as the game was over. That was twenty years ago. They get along fine, now.
There were just enough items in the game geared towards kids to make things very interesting. In effect, we had two separate games going on: one between the adults over some grown-up gift and another between the kids who wanted entirely different things. The competition was intense.
Even after the bulk of the guests headed home, the twelve of us left kept the party going. Xena, Babalouie and BoopityBoop weren’t all tucked in their beds with visions of sugarplums dancing until close to ten o’clock and it took over a half an hour to unload all the cars, trunks, closets and other hiding places of their wrapped presents under the tree. The pile was nothing less than obscene. All I can say in defense of our over materialism is that Christmas Mountain represented the gifts of fourhouseholds. It was actually very reminiscent of the Christmas Mountains of my youth, when it took my Dad three hours to hand out all the gifts, one at a time. I mean, there were eleven of us…that’s a lot of giving and receiving.
We had to move the furniture to make room for the mountain.
Then, some of us piled onto the couch and watched one of our favorite Christmas movies: Die Hard.
Seriously, is it Christmas if you don’t see Hans Gruber fall from Nakatomi Tower? Some of our number hadn’t seen the movie or saw it so long ago, there was a brief debate as to whether or not it’s a Christmas movie but by the end, we unanimously agreed: it is. As Josie put it “It begins with a Christmas carol, it ends with a Christmas carol. It’s a Christmas movie.” Then, she horrified the entire crowd with her inability to distinguish Bruce Willis from Mel Gibson. I mean, yeah, she wasn’t born until they had gone respectively bald and crazy but come on! Some of us pulled up side by side photos of the two superstars on our phones but Josie just shook her head. I think she may need glasses.
I crawled into bed around 1:30. Jay and I were in Xena’s room (she was bunking with Babalouie while Katie’s crew took up the guest suite downstairs. Some of my kids were in the pool room, listening to Christmas music, which came up through the floor as a muffled party from another time and place. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought “Man, this is a great house!”
I woke up around 8:30 in the morning. I put on my robe and crept out into the hall. I could see Megan asleep on the couch in front of Christmas Mountain. If she has trouble sleeping, the couch cradles her five months pregnant body better than her bed.
“Hey, Nana!” a little voice called. I turned and saw Xena, bouncing on her Dad’s bed next to his desperately attempting to stay asleep form. “Daddy told my we couldn’t get up until you did and now you’re up! Let’s get Babalouie!”
So we did!
The rest of the family staggered upstairs during the next half hour or so. We started with Xena and Babalouie opening the presents Santa left by the fire place. Looking at the disparity of the piles by the fireplace and under the tree, I couldn’t help but understand why Babalouie had been so sanguine about being on Santa’s naughty list.
Due to the enormity of the task before us, we broke with tradition; instead of handing out the presents one at a time and watching as our gifts were revealed and appreciated…we just attacked the pile like a bunch of wolves. It still took nearly an hour to get through it all.
I don’t approve. I didn’t get to see anyone open what I gave them. As a grown up, I prefer that end of things; it’s like savoring a delicious meal. This rip-open-as-fast-as-possible method reduces the whole thing to a hot dog eating contest. Boo!
Brunch was delightful! Jay was in charge of the food, while Megan set the table. Everyone else did whatever job was delegated to them. Xena and BoopityBoop provided entertainment via the karaoke machine she received.
There was (naturally) a snow storm moving across the plains so Megan and Ty planned to hit the road for the farm late in the afternoon rather than waiting until morning, so we all helped clean up and we took all the leftover food with us when we left.
We had a couple of hours between parties so I took advantage of the time to show Josie another great Christmas movie, Lethal Weapon. At least she should be able to tell the difference between Bruce and Mel, now.
Late afternoon found us at my brother Bill’s house with my side of the family. It was a virtual replay of the night before; delicious food, great company and tons of fun. Mom and Dad were there, bringing the turkey. They wouldn’t let a little thing like Dad’s wheelchair keep them from bringing Christmas dinner.
The game went better this year: more participants and a better grasp on the rules. The hot item this year was a pair of screen-protective glasses from Eyebob! I got a game of Bananagrams but gave it to Josie afterwards because she asked for it.
All in all, it was a fantastic Christmas.