Another Christmas has come and gone, leaving us basking in the memories of some good times and playing with the presents we received. The weather was in the mid-40’s yesterday and we saw a lot of rain prompting me to sing “I’m dreaming of a wet Christmas” on the way to Mom’s, much to the disdain of Ashleigh and Briana. I didn’t do too much during the day. Ashleigh and Briana went visiting with Christi to her parents.
Her Mom now lives in Cincinnati and her Dad lives in Beavercreek. So I spent the day alone, enjoying some quiet, working on the website, and watching A Charlie Brown Christmas and Fantasia. Of course, I was so excited for the leftovers that I ate a turkey sandwich, Doritos, Pepsi, and pumpkin roll for breakfast.
We headed out about 4:00 to Mom’s for our annual family gathering. She has hosted our Christmas Day party for her family for the past several years. We had an exceptional turnout with nearly every single family member from my Mom’s side in attendence. The only ones missing in action were Lori’s stepson Brandon, my cousin Ben, and my uncle Bob Robinson. Debby,
Brittney, and Bryan even had their boyfriends/girlfriend show up with them. Bob’s sister Sherrie and her family were there too. I find this quite amazing to have so many cousins present considering the oldest of us is almost forty. I wish we had thought to take more family photos and an updated cousins picture. Naturally, we all felt the void of not having Grandma Murphy with us.
The food spread was even larger than on Christmas Eve with tons of appetizers (including my favorite – shrimp), ham, turkey, meatballs, sweet potato casserole, beans, and a ridiculously large spread of desserts. Tried as I did, I wasn’t even able to try one of everything.
For the first time in at least thirty years, we chose to
forego the usual gift exchange and just went for a ‘white elephant’ gift exchange with a $5.00 limit. I still don’t know where that name came from. There were nearly 30 participating, including Ashleigh and Briana, but I did not. Briana got the coolest gift – singing magnets. No need to explain.
I always feel bad that during these huge family gatherings I don’t get to spend much time with everyone individually but I usually just circle the house trying to sit down and talk with as many people as possible, play with as many of the kids as possible, hold as many babies as possible, snap as many pictures as possible, drink some wine (not as much as possible), and make sure Ashleigh and Briana are behaving – if that is even possible. Ashleigh fell asleep yet again. Teenagers – can’t live with ’em, can’t stuff ’em in a sack.
The sing-a-long that Bev was trying to organize never happened, probably because of the sheer volume of people in the house. Near the end of the evening, though, some of us did get the chance to look at some of the home movies I had transferred to DVD.
After everyone had cleared out, I played some ping-pong with Briana and then caught the last half of the Jets-Dolphins game. The Jets won, further eliminating any hope of the Bengals getting to the playoffs. I spent the night there, in order to be closer to work in the morning. I slept in the attic and listened to some Bix Beiderbecke on my iPod as I drifted off into sleep, leaving behind another Christmas day.
Move into 2007 here…
that was quite a night and i still cant believe that Ashleigh fell asleep again with all those little kids running around. lol
briana
December 27th, 2006
Well, the name ‘white elephant’ originally refered to albino elephants that rulers kept in Southeast Asia. When given as a gift, the elephant (which is seen as sacred) must be well taken care of, despite the financial burden that it may bring its owner. Therefore, the gifts in such an exchange may be large, delicate, and/or utterly pointless for the recipient.
Thus endeth the lesson.
Chris Tangeman
December 29th, 2006
A few times this past week I tried to put together a family newsletter, as I’ve done recently after our family gatherings, but my heart just wasn’t in it. I spent a lot of my Christmas holiday in a fog missing my mom. I didn’t take even one picture because I felt it wouldn’t be complete without having mom in them. I’ve been struggling a lot and I don’t know when it will end. I kept waiting for a sign from mom, or a feeling of mom’s presence, but it never came, so I cried and struggled even more. Your web site is great and I feel you are extremely good at it and include pictures and say so many of the same things I would say. So I’m going to let you be the informer and I’ll just keep enjoying your memories.
On Friday Sammy was in the front yard with Charles while Susan and Charley were in the house. Charles turned his back on Sam for just a minute to put something in the trash. In that one minute Sammy had disappeared. That baby is fast and unpredictable. Charles is such a good daddy who loves his boys so much that the moment Sam wasn’t were he left him, a fear and panic appeared. Charles got Susan to come out and help look for Sam. Charles also called Ed to help search too. I was at work and didn’t hear about this until I got home, but I truly believe Ray was with Charles at that moment of need, helping and guiding Charles. Trying to keep him calm down enough to search the area and call his cousin who is a cop, and call Ed. And I TRULY believe Mom (Loretta) was with Susan. Mom always worried and cared about those boys and prayed for them everyday. Mom finally showed up for Christmas, she came when she felt she was needed and helped Susan find Sammy a block away, across the street, in someone’s driveway. Susan’s search, with Mom’s help, led her to the next street over where two groups of kids were playing. And I believe Mom choose this time and moment to help little Sam. Mom always said she wished she could do something for the boys. Well I believe she did. Susan picked up Sam who was safe and unharmed. Miracles do happen! MERRY CHRISTMAS! Thank you mom for choosing the right time to show up!
Bev
December 31st, 2006