Too many events and too much fun were shoved into 3 1/2 days of my family's trip to Chicago, so to spare you the details you don't need (or care) to know, I decided to highlight the ones you can't possibility live without knowing. You are very welcome. These are in the order in which they occurred, not in their amusement/entertainment value.
* Whilst (you just don't get to use that word enough) touring the home of one of my aunt's and uncle's for Christmas Eve brunch, I noticed they had a baby picture of my dad framed on a decorative table in their upstairs hallway along with other framed photos of their immediate family. It was sort of like playing Where's Waldo with my dad being Waldo cuz he just didn't belong. I politely asked my aunt why he was present and she said she had been told that it was her husband's baby picture. My cousin then piped it that it didn't look anything like her dad, so my aunt added that my dad had always been her favorite. Later when I told my dad the story (in front of my aunt and uncle because let's face it - I like an audience), my dad said, "Hey, I'm just glad it wasn't in the master bedroom." I wonder if the picture is still there...
* On Christmas Eve, my family all gathers at another aunt's house. One of my uncles brought champaign and was pretty sneaky about keeping certain people's glasses full. Jay, my brother in law, was one of his targets this year. Drunk Jay was hilarious and thus, he made my list. He was sort of like our little monkey - there for our amusement. One of his greatest tricks was turning from "happy go lucky" Jay to angry Jay in 2.3 seconds. Even while we were laughing, he maintained his facade for like at least 3 minutes. He was amazing and we were amused.
* I need to provide some background to better explain this next one. There are 22 grandchildren in total and we range in age from 35 to 2 (big spread). Often my siblings and I don't quite know where we fit in because although we are adults, we are often still considered the kids at such family gatherings, but for crying out loud...we are old enough to be parents to many of the other grandchildren, so things get confusing. On this particular Christmas Eve, we got kinda bold and daring and formed a 21+ year old table. We actually did turn away some of the youngsters so that we could actually have an adult (read: inappropriate) conversation. Sitting at our table was Linda (sister), and her husband Craig, Cathy (sister) and her husband drunk Jay, me, Courtney (cousin), Jeremy (cousin), and for a short while Anna (cousin). It was filled with laughter and I walked away thinking it was definitely one my favorite Christmas Eve dinners to date.
* Though I received many great presents from my extended family, one of my aunts and uncles gave me a VERY generous gift that is totally one of my faves this year - the Rachel Ray 10 piece set of pots and pans. All these years I've been using Cathy's hand me downs (which I was quite thankful to have) and I just figured someday when I got married I would register for a nice set.
* After the festivities at that aunt's house, we caravanned (if that's how it's spelled) back to the house we stay at which belongs to my dad's brother who married my mom's sister. They have two daughters - Danielle and Nicole and they are my double cousins. I found out recently - through Wikipedia, that double cousins have the same genetic make-up as half siblings. Anyway, our tradition is to do all of our gift exchanging that evening once we get back, so we usually change into our comfy clothes, have some hot chocolate, and go to town. This year, my mom bought her, my two sisters, and I matching polar bear jammies. She then, as a gift to my aunt, bought the same jammies for her and my two cousins. Look at this picture to see how cute we were! This was definitely one of my favorite things and I think the guys were a bit jealous!
* Though you probably read about it in my last blog, the whole Secret Santa thing was such a fun addition for our immediate family this year. We enjoyed our banter back and forth and the guessing and the wagering, and finally the big reveal.
* I had a VERY inappopriate conversation with my grandmother. Though I tried to use as much discretion as possible, in hindsight, the whole thing was really kind of funny. Too bad I really don't feel comfortable going into more detail on this blog. hahaha! =P
* I didn't eat a single Christmas cookie. I didn't have a morsel of cheesecake. I didn't eat any pie. I didn't have any candy. The only thing I'm guilty of having were some pieces of dark chocolate covered orange peel. The dark chocolate I'm technically allowed. I'm also allowed oranges. Somehow South Beach never mentions orange peels - maybe they just don't realize how awesome they can be when dipped in dark chocolate. Anyway, it wasn't even hard to "resist temptation" which is probably a direct result of everyone throwing themselves in front of the dessert table(s) whenever I walked by shouting one of the following: "You don't want these. They aren't good!" or "They aren't worth it, I promise!" I mean whatever would I have done without these words of discouragement?! LOL! I made a commitment 6 months ago to not partake and to be honest...there wasn't even any temptation. I really just wanted to look and see what was there. The desserts were never in any danger people, but if it helped you to think you were saving me, then I thank you! =P
* I thoroughly enjoyed some awesome conversation with my siblings and their spouses. We were naming their future children. Executive Burkholder and Earth Burkholder were thrown out there. Gandalf Girdner and Jupiter Girdner were some others. Linda also made it very clear that she is vehemently opposed to Craig cutting the umbilical cord out of fear of him making their child have an outtie (she was kidding, no worries). No, no....nobody is pregnant but we did have a fun time discussing the future on Christmas Day.
* One day during our visit, we always have our annual Bowl-a-thon with the Scholz family. My dad's first cousin, Rich, and his wife have 4 daughters who are just about the same ages as the 4 of us kids. Sadly they were short their 3rd child, Kelly, just as we were short our Eddie this year. =( We were bringing my cousins Danielle and Nicole with us this year, but there were 9 of us going to meet up with them and only 8 fit in The Navigator. My father was bound and determined to get us all in one car, so he decided Danielle (who is a very petite 15 year old) was going to sit in the back back. He even gave her a pillow and a blanket. I think the worst part was that he thought this was a great idea and her parents thought it was funny. When Linda and Cathy saw him trying to put Danielle back there, they put their foots down and said we were taking two vehicles. They saved her life! Then we spent the next 10 minutes lecturing Danielle about never getting in the trunk! We said normally she should run in the opposite direction when somebody is trying to put her there screaming "Stranger Danger!" We understand how things get confused when it's your uncle and it's a Navigator instead of a sedan, but still...no more trunks! So we took two vehicles to Johnsburg, IL through the ice and snow to visit them.
* While enroute, we noticed there were crazy people out and about jogging/running in the snowy conditions. We were talking about how nutty they were and Craig jokingly said he would give Nicole $20 if she hit the next one who jogged by. Imagine our surprise when the next one (honestly) who jogged by was our aunt Michelle. Whoa! Needless to say, Nicole didn't take Craig up on his offer. Phew! Ironically, we passed her by the following day, too!
* Thankfully, the bowling alley lets you print out your scores. Not so thankfully the additional players the Scholz family had (beyond their original 5) were far superior to our additions. This was Craig's first year bowling. He totally trash talked the day before. Linda tried explaining to him that he couldn't trash talk if he wasn't going to deliver. He made it sound like it was in the bag. His first frame in the first game, he got a strike. Linda felt guilty for doubting her husband. She shouldn't have. He had no business trash talking. That strike, it turned out, was a fluke. The Scholz family + friends beat us, but my dad kept twisting the scores around until he finally found a way we won. The original 5 versus the original 5 (parents + 3 kids on each side) and we had them by over 100 pins.
* Last, but not least, though we were delayed about 30 minutes leaving the gate, the pilot made up the time in the air and we got home to Houston on time. This was soooo much better than our 3 hour delay arriving in Chicago.
These, as previously mentioned were just a few of my favorite things that made Christmas 2009 memorable and wonderful!
* Whilst (you just don't get to use that word enough) touring the home of one of my aunt's and uncle's for Christmas Eve brunch, I noticed they had a baby picture of my dad framed on a decorative table in their upstairs hallway along with other framed photos of their immediate family. It was sort of like playing Where's Waldo with my dad being Waldo cuz he just didn't belong. I politely asked my aunt why he was present and she said she had been told that it was her husband's baby picture. My cousin then piped it that it didn't look anything like her dad, so my aunt added that my dad had always been her favorite. Later when I told my dad the story (in front of my aunt and uncle because let's face it - I like an audience), my dad said, "Hey, I'm just glad it wasn't in the master bedroom." I wonder if the picture is still there...
* On Christmas Eve, my family all gathers at another aunt's house. One of my uncles brought champaign and was pretty sneaky about keeping certain people's glasses full. Jay, my brother in law, was one of his targets this year. Drunk Jay was hilarious and thus, he made my list. He was sort of like our little monkey - there for our amusement. One of his greatest tricks was turning from "happy go lucky" Jay to angry Jay in 2.3 seconds. Even while we were laughing, he maintained his facade for like at least 3 minutes. He was amazing and we were amused.
* I need to provide some background to better explain this next one. There are 22 grandchildren in total and we range in age from 35 to 2 (big spread). Often my siblings and I don't quite know where we fit in because although we are adults, we are often still considered the kids at such family gatherings, but for crying out loud...we are old enough to be parents to many of the other grandchildren, so things get confusing. On this particular Christmas Eve, we got kinda bold and daring and formed a 21+ year old table. We actually did turn away some of the youngsters so that we could actually have an adult (read: inappropriate) conversation. Sitting at our table was Linda (sister), and her husband Craig, Cathy (sister) and her husband drunk Jay, me, Courtney (cousin), Jeremy (cousin), and for a short while Anna (cousin). It was filled with laughter and I walked away thinking it was definitely one my favorite Christmas Eve dinners to date.
* Though I received many great presents from my extended family, one of my aunts and uncles gave me a VERY generous gift that is totally one of my faves this year - the Rachel Ray 10 piece set of pots and pans. All these years I've been using Cathy's hand me downs (which I was quite thankful to have) and I just figured someday when I got married I would register for a nice set.
* After the festivities at that aunt's house, we caravanned (if that's how it's spelled) back to the house we stay at which belongs to my dad's brother who married my mom's sister. They have two daughters - Danielle and Nicole and they are my double cousins. I found out recently - through Wikipedia, that double cousins have the same genetic make-up as half siblings. Anyway, our tradition is to do all of our gift exchanging that evening once we get back, so we usually change into our comfy clothes, have some hot chocolate, and go to town. This year, my mom bought her, my two sisters, and I matching polar bear jammies. She then, as a gift to my aunt, bought the same jammies for her and my two cousins. Look at this picture to see how cute we were! This was definitely one of my favorite things and I think the guys were a bit jealous!
* Though you probably read about it in my last blog, the whole Secret Santa thing was such a fun addition for our immediate family this year. We enjoyed our banter back and forth and the guessing and the wagering, and finally the big reveal.
* I had a VERY inappopriate conversation with my grandmother. Though I tried to use as much discretion as possible, in hindsight, the whole thing was really kind of funny. Too bad I really don't feel comfortable going into more detail on this blog. hahaha! =P
* I didn't eat a single Christmas cookie. I didn't have a morsel of cheesecake. I didn't eat any pie. I didn't have any candy. The only thing I'm guilty of having were some pieces of dark chocolate covered orange peel. The dark chocolate I'm technically allowed. I'm also allowed oranges. Somehow South Beach never mentions orange peels - maybe they just don't realize how awesome they can be when dipped in dark chocolate. Anyway, it wasn't even hard to "resist temptation" which is probably a direct result of everyone throwing themselves in front of the dessert table(s) whenever I walked by shouting one of the following: "You don't want these. They aren't good!" or "They aren't worth it, I promise!" I mean whatever would I have done without these words of discouragement?! LOL! I made a commitment 6 months ago to not partake and to be honest...there wasn't even any temptation. I really just wanted to look and see what was there. The desserts were never in any danger people, but if it helped you to think you were saving me, then I thank you! =P
* I thoroughly enjoyed some awesome conversation with my siblings and their spouses. We were naming their future children. Executive Burkholder and Earth Burkholder were thrown out there. Gandalf Girdner and Jupiter Girdner were some others. Linda also made it very clear that she is vehemently opposed to Craig cutting the umbilical cord out of fear of him making their child have an outtie (she was kidding, no worries). No, no....nobody is pregnant but we did have a fun time discussing the future on Christmas Day.
* One day during our visit, we always have our annual Bowl-a-thon with the Scholz family. My dad's first cousin, Rich, and his wife have 4 daughters who are just about the same ages as the 4 of us kids. Sadly they were short their 3rd child, Kelly, just as we were short our Eddie this year. =( We were bringing my cousins Danielle and Nicole with us this year, but there were 9 of us going to meet up with them and only 8 fit in The Navigator. My father was bound and determined to get us all in one car, so he decided Danielle (who is a very petite 15 year old) was going to sit in the back back. He even gave her a pillow and a blanket. I think the worst part was that he thought this was a great idea and her parents thought it was funny. When Linda and Cathy saw him trying to put Danielle back there, they put their foots down and said we were taking two vehicles. They saved her life! Then we spent the next 10 minutes lecturing Danielle about never getting in the trunk! We said normally she should run in the opposite direction when somebody is trying to put her there screaming "Stranger Danger!" We understand how things get confused when it's your uncle and it's a Navigator instead of a sedan, but still...no more trunks! So we took two vehicles to Johnsburg, IL through the ice and snow to visit them.
* While enroute, we noticed there were crazy people out and about jogging/running in the snowy conditions. We were talking about how nutty they were and Craig jokingly said he would give Nicole $20 if she hit the next one who jogged by. Imagine our surprise when the next one (honestly) who jogged by was our aunt Michelle. Whoa! Needless to say, Nicole didn't take Craig up on his offer. Phew! Ironically, we passed her by the following day, too!
* Thankfully, the bowling alley lets you print out your scores. Not so thankfully the additional players the Scholz family had (beyond their original 5) were far superior to our additions. This was Craig's first year bowling. He totally trash talked the day before. Linda tried explaining to him that he couldn't trash talk if he wasn't going to deliver. He made it sound like it was in the bag. His first frame in the first game, he got a strike. Linda felt guilty for doubting her husband. She shouldn't have. He had no business trash talking. That strike, it turned out, was a fluke. The Scholz family + friends beat us, but my dad kept twisting the scores around until he finally found a way we won. The original 5 versus the original 5 (parents + 3 kids on each side) and we had them by over 100 pins.
* Last, but not least, though we were delayed about 30 minutes leaving the gate, the pilot made up the time in the air and we got home to Houston on time. This was soooo much better than our 3 hour delay arriving in Chicago.
These, as previously mentioned were just a few of my favorite things that made Christmas 2009 memorable and wonderful!
1 comment:
hahahaha how about when we kicked Danielle out of our table at Janet's and she thought i was kidding!
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