Sunday, December 27, 2009

Christmas In Review

Christmas time is chock full of tradition in my family. Below is a sampling of the sweet, comical, and sometimes bizarre:

THE CUT-OUT COOKIES
One man's snowman is another's canvas for corn-rows and creative red-hot placement. To the frustration of everyone, I average about seven to eight cookies per hour.

THE 'SHARED GIFT'
Every Christmas, Gramma gives my sister and I a new game as a shared gift. However, until this year, there was no practical way to share the gifts. No one ever said anything to Gramma, it was a present after all, but Carebear and I always exchanged the customary raising of the eyebrows with every unwrapping. Needless to say, without the burden of traveling by carry-on bag only, Carebear claimed sole ownership of the loot! And can you believe, she still complains about the time I stole some of her DVDs and took them with me to NY...sounds pretty generous to me.

THE COMPETITIVE PUZZLE STOCKING STUFFER
Note: Packer Snuggie!
Mom's new tradition the past couple of years is to pit me, my sister and my sister's husband against eachother in a timed puzzle competition. This year I fell into last place during both rounds. I don't remember the entire event, I know it didn't begin until 11:30pm or so, and I do remember having my first cocktail around 4:30PM... At one point, after both Carrie and Brett had finished their puzzles [and after Mom snapped their victorious winner, and runner-up, photos; fingers raised indicating position earned] I let out an exasperated, "This isn't fair! This puzzle doesn't even fit together!" I'm pretty sure, around that point in the evening, my family started referring to me as 'drunk santa.'

HATS ON DOGS
Jack was not having it. And of course, when we gave second dibs to Cody, he wasn't having that either.

DELICIOUS HAM
Probably my most favorite food in the whole entire world. I ate at least a half-pound of shavings before the prayer of Grace. In a new tradition: I carve the ham! Very very exciting in my world.

DOG DESTROYS SOMETHING

GRASSHOPPERS
Customary holiday beverage since before the pre-teen years. I tried introducing a couple new ice cream drinks in the past, but let's just say: disaster. Ice cream doesn't make everything taste good, and on more occasions than not: amaretto kind of sucks.

FAMILY PHOTO

Three instead of five is what happens when folks get married: two have to leave the party before family photo time to attend other parties. Or in their marital bliss, they float upwards.

THE 'FUNNY' CALENDAR STOCKING STUFFER
Joy, I got 'Go-Girl.' Now actually envious of Party Animals.

All my best to you and your families. Hope you all shared many laughs.
'till New Years...

2 comments:

  1. Have to admit, I'm a little envious of Party Animals too. Is "Go Girl" a...a...a thing? A TV show, a line of dolls, a pop-art movement of the ’60s? Or is it just the exhortation, "Girl: go"?

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  2. FUNNY.

    Perhaps I can pull some blogger fodder from the jazzy graphic design and inspirational quotes.

    January: "Love the moment." Oh, but which. MTK

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