Navidad - Dos

Rainy Christmas.

Two potato casseroles mixed and poured.

Terraria for the boys.

Laundry.

Adventures in Odyssey for Puck.

And somehow it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon.

Christmas Eve is traditionally Mom’s side of the family. And this year it was at the Big House.

Nineteen of us, including Uncle Larry, Uncle Bobs & Aunt Day back from a recent return to Australia. Naturally, with all this waiting around to eat and open gifts, I could only distract Puck with so many rounds of Shut the Box.

“When are we going to EAT?”

“When are we going to OPEN PRESENTS?”

Of course, Grandma didn’t help much by asking two hours too early, “Can’t Puck just open one present? Just one?”

“Grandma, no. We can’t open presents yet.”

“Oh, just one.”

“MOM! GRANDMA’S TRYING TO OPEN PRESENTS!”

Busted.

Anyway, the traditional early dinner: ham, potato casserole, Hawaiian sweet rolls, Jello salad, and pumpkin pie or trifle.

Gifts. This time we shook it up a little and skipped the whole opening according to age order. Saved us the trouble of remembering how old everyone was, and the moms from revealing their age.

Things kicked off with specialized Christmas ornaments from Grandma, hand-selected according to our personalities and interests, or points of note during the year. It was little surprise when I unwrapped my box to reveal a painted glass grilled cheese. My gourmet tastebuds demand such quality and class.

Later on in the evening, while a group discussed evolution in the kitchen, Uncle Gary – “stretching out his gut” on the dining room bench said to me, “I almost forgot your birthday.”

“Well, better late than never, right?”

“Or maybe ‘never’ the older you get,” he laughed.

Could be right. Fortunately I don’t think 30 qualifies for ‘never’. At this point anyway.

So another Christmas Eve concluded. In the misty rain of a mild December night.