Anyone my age with children and grandchildren will relate to anything I write about this and will most likely have opinions of their own. Your children will be defensive, of course.
This was our "off" year for Christmas, meaning it was the "on" year for the in-laws (that is, going to the in-laws house sometime during the Christmas holidays.) Thus, it was our year to visit our children if we wanted to see them instead of just mailing the packages. We're not old enough yet to let Christmas go by without somehow seeing them.
Our daughter hasn't sworn off coming home during the month of December as close to Christmas as she can because she is very nostalgic and we live on land that has been in my family for a couple of hundred years. She hasn't lived 200 years, but she is melancholy for the almost 36 years she has been coming to this spot. This year it just couldn't be worked out, so we made our trek to Arlington to stay a couple of nights on the weekend before Christmas. We packed up all the presents and Dori and Chad's stockings (given in secret when the boys were in bed) and it was like having Christmas morning on that Saturday sans Santa. We had a great day and we were able to see the kids enjoy their gifts. Our tree back home was now only half-full because we hadn't yet had Christmas giving with Derrick.
On Friday before leaving, I was eating chips and felt a slight pain in my back left tooth. By the end of Saturday it was beginning to throb and at 3:15 am Sunday morning I drove myself to the emergency room telling Donald he needed to stay and get some sleep so he could drive home the next day. I got back to the room at 5:30 am and he hadn't been asleep. We headed over to Dori's and during the night Pearce had developed a full fledged sinus infection and my tooth still needed fixing, so our trip was cut short.
We headed home on the 21st and I had a dental visit where he informed me I had a cracked tooth on the 23rd, my Nyvall family Christmas on the 25th, Donald left on our 44th anniversary on the 28th for Kansas to pheasant hunt, had a root canal on the 30th, fitted for a crown on the 31st, went to a New Year's Eve party - all of this on pain killers (thank God!) And still felt guilty for not spending more time at Dori's.
Then we headed for Bastrop for our "off" Christmas with Derrick and his family on January 2 and had a really fun time there also. My tooth didn't hurt any more, our daughter-in-law actually ate wild game two nights in a row (pheasant on the first night and venison on the second.) Our grandson in Bastrop ended up with a sinus infection and his Mama had to take him to the doctor on Sunday. He spent most of his time while we were there in bed feeling really bad (he's 4 so you know how bad he felt.)
All of this was within a 1-week period. And now under the tree is empty. We are camping in Blanco State Park for 4 days just to recuperate from the "off" year and already making plans for the "on" year. And this is the kicker - that's if our kids stay the course. But we won't know anything until some time in December 2009. That's okay, though, because no matter what we'll still see them and our tree will be Full because it's our "on" year.
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1 comment:
Defensive??? Me?????? Never. Especially after the Christmas you gave us this year. From here on out, there will be nothing but butt kissing.
I like the term 'off year.' As though anything about our family weren't a little 'off' all the time.
I like how the last post was from the top of a tree and this one is from under the tree.
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