Christmas Shenanigans

I hope everyone had a great Christmas!  I sure did.  I'm not sure if anyone reading this has seen Four Christmases yet, but divorce sure can add a "fun" element to the Christmas season.  In the movie the couple has to visit each of their four divorced parents all on one day.  Hilarity ensues.  And while this is not the exact case with my sister and I, a certain degree of hilarity was definitely in the air today!  

We started the day with presents and brunch. My grandmothers from Pampa both came.  Sudy graciously picks up our other Grandmother every time we have a family get together.  Les's mom is great and we love her to death, but she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years ago and it has really begun to take its toll.  It's an awful disease that fortunately bothers us more than it does her.  This allows us two emotions. Laughter or sadness.  We choose laughter.  For example, this morning I brought up a video on teacher tube of the group Straight No Chaser singing a very funny version of the Twelve Days of Christmas.  Sudy could not hear the music on the video, her friend Jim was laughing and Grandmother just wanted to know which one I was on the video since it was sort of blurry.  I should have just told her I was the one that had the best voice!

Lindsay and I headed over to my aunt Marilee's house to have lunch with my Dad's side of the family.  My Dad was not there, although most of you reading this blog know that he has been "vacationing" down south for a little more than a decade.  I'm sure I can blog more about that at a later time.  My Granddad was there, as well as my aunt and uncle and their children.  My uncle's father also joined us.  Fred's dad is very hard of hearing and does not see very well.  He has to be within about 3 foot of you before he knows who you are.  This led to him addressing questions to me that were for my aunt and to my Granddad that were for my sister.  He probably felt like his head was on a swivel because he would ask a question on one side and then someone else on the other side would answer.  Anyway, he does not hear that well so Granddad proceeded to speak VERY loudly, driving most everyone into the other room.   Then they would come in to see what we were up to and the whole cycle would start again.  

We left there and headed back to my parents to eat.....again!  No shortage of food around our houses on the holidays! We came back to find that a game of gin had not gone well when, mid-game, my Grandmother forgot how to play and became a little agitated. Fortunately none of us cared and we moved on to something else.  

Our family tree is full of nuts, but I sure am blessed with the family I have! We may be dysfunctional at times, but who isn't?  Between last weekends Derington christmas and now, I can certainly say that I am blessed to be a member of this family!

Christmas Eve

What a day to start my first blog!  Christmas Eve has been a pretty busy day.  I left Portales this morning and went to Clovis.  The first ever Stripes opened up in Clovis a couple of weeks ago.  I stopped by and got a taco from the Laredo Taco Company inside the Stripes.  It was okay.  I probably built it up in my head a little too much.  It's just nice to have an alternative to Allsup's, which happens to be caddy corner from the new Stripes.  I initially thought it would be nice for Allsup's to go out of business when Stripes opened up, but that's not a very "Christmas" attitude to have.  It's also unrealistic! As long as people can get the deep fried gut bomb chimichanga and a tasty Tallsup beverage combo #1, then Allsup's will never die!  But that is beside the point!

I made it to Amarillo about noon.  I usually have my Christmas shopping done early, but this year that was just not the case! I went straight to Kohl's and was surprised that it was pretty tame.  I got what I needed there, or more accurately, what Les needed there and then headed over to Best Buy.  It too was surprisingly calm! Even Wal-Mart was manageable!  It was only when I got to United Market Street to pick up a ham that was on sale that I got the full effect of the "less than 24 hours to shop" Christmas shenanigans.  Now I can't blame Mom for this because I offered to go, but it was a madhouse!  Hormel Cure 81 Hams were on sale for $1.88/lb.  That cannot be passed up!  Right?  I could not find a spot to park after looking for 10 minutes.  I was just about to leave when I noticed a relatively close spot across a side street.  After that, the rest was easy.  Come to think of it, if you are still reading this, this is one dull story!  I'll try to throw in a few peppers!

Then I headed home to Panhandle, one of the greatest places in the world! (or at least I think)  I wrapped a few presents and just hung out with the folks.  We went to the Christmas Eve service at the church.  Our minister is a great man and has a great message, but sometimes he veers off track and you're not sure where you might end up.  This is a paraphrased sample of tonight's sermon. 

"Ya'll remember that movie where the guy wants it to be Christmas every day.  And then it is Christmas every day. And then he's not sure that he wants that anymore. Well, that's sort of how we can be sometimes.  Hey, anyone have a favorite Christmas color?  Can anyone name their favorite Christmas color? Red? Yeah that's a good one.  How about green? White is another good one.  What about jelly bean colors? Silver? (Someone was answering the previous question) Not sure I have ever seen a silver jelly bean.  Did your Dad tell you to say that? Anyone know what color is missing from a bag of jelly beans? (No answer) Blue."

Then we read scripture and really got into the reason for the season, which is great.  However, does anyone know what movie he might be referring to?  The closest I can come to an answer is Groundhog Day. but somehow I doubt that is it!

After church we headed home for dinner.  Nothing too big happened. We sat down to watch Christmas vacation and I decided to start this blog.  I have been thinking about it for a couple of weeks.  My cousin's wife has a blog that I think is hilarious and really enjoy reading, so hopefully mine will be mildly humorous sometimes!  Thanks for the encouragement Kristi!