Family at Christmas



While ambling about the university campus, I often stop by the library coffee shop for a caffeine pick-up.  While there, I like to peruse the UW Daily.  (It now comes out twice a week, not "daily" -- another sign of a dying civilization.  But let's save that topic for another day.) 

A recent issue devoted a couple of pages to the issue of how to handle Christmas vacation -- specifically one's family, or separation therefrom -- during vacation.  I was amazed at the number of students who found it problematic to be with family at Christmas.  Some, of course, were foreign students who had to face being alone on campus during the holidays.  But many were kids who either stayed away from home -- "my friends are my family" -- or who went home dreading the ordeal.

Nope.  Not me.  Never a problem.  I could hardly wait to get home and resume my role as tyrant and chief tormenter of my younger siblings.  And while I've grown used to spending many holidays apart from family members, I honestly can't recall a time that I didn't share Christmas with at least a few of them.  Without old-timers to reminisce with and newly minted members to get acquainted with, it wouldn't really be Christmas.  For me.

Continuing that thought, I'll be leaving on the 23rd for Glendale, California, where this year I'll be joining my brother's extended family -- hosted by my niece Tawny and her spouse, and with my great niece Hayden (now six) as the star attraction.  It will be a short visit, returning to Seattle on the 26th.

I often joke about being the Christmas grinch, but it's the sort of joke you make to deflect attention from the fact that you're a sentimental Christmas fanatic.  Bah, humbug, and all that, but it's a week before Christmas Day and I've already done all the preparations, aside from gift wrapping (which has to be done, in part, once I arrive).  Gifts chosen and bought?  Check.  Christmas cards mailed?  Check. 

Oh.  That's pretty much it for this year, I guess, but I feel like I've accomplished a lot.  It's been a while since I've hosted Christmas up here in Seattle, but I think we're about due for it.  That's when my eyes begin rolling around in my head.  House decorations, which I don't bother about when I'm going out of town -- tree, lights, tinsel, turkey, stockings, etc.  It's been nearly a decade since I've stage managed the full production.

It's been quite cold -- sub-freezing -- the past few days.  Great weather for Christmas shopping, for walking around the neighborhood observing competitive Christmas lighting and decoration, and just rubbing shoulders with excited people of all ages.  We even had a little snow a week ago, just for atmospheric effect.

But the best part of Christmas, for me, is getting together with relatives -- whether it's been two weeks or a year since I last saw them -- and relaxing with folks who have known me long enough to be neither impressed by my cleverness nor concerned by my peculiarities.
I feel sorry for all those young students who feel differently.

Myself, it's the closest I can come to being an un-self-conscious kid again, and I love it.  "Aw, c'mon, Hayden, let me play with that toy for a while!"