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!