The Cellar - Holiday Madness

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I think it's more because they spend hours perusing the gift-card aisles and then I harrass them about it and tell them how stupid it is. They have such an investment of time in it already that any criticism is seen as a threat to their way of life.

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...then I harrass them about it...

      So it is what you write.

Nah, I always write nice, sappy stuff. :)

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...and tell them how stupid it is...

      Of course you do.

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Originally posted by Whit
      the fake shows of appreciation for gifts that'll be in the next garage sale unopened,

With the death of my great-grandmothers a couple of years ago the food is just not the same. It's good but it's hard to beat the feast presented by two old women that are trying to out cook each other...

see now.... we write lists...and the stuff i get i always need/want.

and...........our food is awesome. my grandpa, who was italian, always told us we needed 13 different dishes on the table during the holidays...one per apostle. it's a tradition my mom has carried on. so there are always at least 13 different plates of stuff. that would include cookies, fudge, fruit, nuts, usually choc. colored cherries, baccala (fish), sardi (also fish, this time with heads), olives....how many is that? anyway, that's the stuff on the table all the time. christmas eve we have lasagne, christmas day is usually turkey and ham.

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Originally posted by Elspode
The fact that we have any art and culture here in KC at all is due, in large part, to the Hall family.

Don't forget the Kempers. Although they weren't overly generous as employers...

Christmas for my family hasn't been the same since my Granny (mom's mom) died.

Being a child of divorce meant I often had 4 sets of Grandparents, and alot of sitting in the back of the car going to x's house. Granny's house was always the best. Me, my sister and her husband/kids, my mom and her husband of the moment, my aunt, her husband and granny, presiding over it all from the kitchen, where it was warm and smelled so freaking good, you just couldn't stand to wait until dinner.

Then she died, and the cohesiveness of that side of the family died with her. I grew up and moved back to England, my mother started going to her husband's parents for Christmas, so my aunt and her husband would go to my sisters.

Last year, we knew it would be the last Christmas for some time together, so we all made an effort to gather. We met at my mother's house in Southern California. My son, age 10, has mild autism, so the new surrounds + all the relatives + not having his normal routine + no games or anything to do because he's the youngest and the older kids are off doing something they aren't supposed to but not including him = 1 freaked out, acting a fool 10 year old boy. My mom's current husband, having never had children himself, freaks out and starts yelling, which further freaks my son out, makes him hysterical to the point I have to pick him up, carry him out to the car, and hold him until he calms down and stops crying.

Needless to say, it was NOT a good time.

Now that my sister is in Texas and I'm in North Carolina, It's just my aunt, her husband, my mother and my sister's two oldest children (one a Marine, we're hoping he doesn't go BACK to Iraq).

I have already talked to my ex, and we will have my 3 Christmas week, and hopefully we'll have his 2 the same week, and get it all done and over with in 7 days of what I anticipate will be pure hell.

Meantime, I buy the "$7.95 for 100" box of cards and spend about $20 in stamps for all the friends and relatives I don't see, and will buy gifts only for my husband and our 5 kids. And spend money to drive from here to Atlanta, then to Gulfport, MS and back...twice...

Our family is rather odd. During the holidays its like an unspoken rule to be completely nice and civil towards one another. After Jan1 though - all bets are off - at least until my birthday if February. But - this year - Thanksgiving a friend of mine who is in the Army has leave around that time - so we are just having a huge bash celebrating the fact that he is home. Christmas should be highly entertaining. I have no idea where the heck I will be. Christmas eve we always take my BF's kids out and open presents, eat McDonalds and drive around looking at christmas lights singing christmas tunes with the heater up and the stereo as loud as it can go. LOL - yeah - its kind of a dumb tradition -but they love it. We also do chinese fire drills around the car.

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Originally posted by daniwong
LOL - yeah - its kind of a dumb tradition -but they love it. We also do chinese fire drills around the car.

For some reason, after thanksgiving dinner one year, my family gathered around the piano, and my brother brian..who is a spectacular pianist, played Piano Man. We all sang in loud, many off key voices, swaying like drunks and making musicians cringe everywhere...but having a great time.

Now we do it every year, and everyone who dines with us does it also. It's humilating and wonderful. In fact, my husband and i had missed T-giving the year before we got married, and i was very sad that i wasn't going to be there. So after we got married, and marched out, they brought us back in and made the entire wedding guest lot sing piano man.

Those who had supped with us before were amused. my ultra christian mother in law, though, stood, and looked at the words "makin' love to his tonic and gin" with a stupefied look on her face. i'm sure she was entertaining thoughts of scooping geo up and dashing from the yard, never to return.