Derington Christmas

I just got home a little while ago from a great weekend with most of my family. This weekend was our Derington Christmas. And while I do realize the reason for the season, and I certainly enjoy being with my immediate family on Christmas day, our Derington Christmas is the highlight of the Christmas season for me.

This was the 8th Annual Derington Christmas held at my parents house in Panhandle, TX. What an incredible tradition we have going here! I love being around my whole family. A close second to this event is our June family reunion. While we have more extended family at our reunion, the number one place is reserved for our family Christmas.

This year I was almost not able to make the party. Fortunately, Thursday night I was able to get coworkers to cover me and was able to make it for the weekend. I drove to Tulsa Friday night and stayed with my Uncle Joel and Aunt Gayle and then drove in with them early Saturday. While I would have loved to have gone home Friday to have fun with family who came in that day, I had a great time riding with the two of them. We laughed and shared stories the whole way there and back. As I get older I realize how nice it is to be able to spend time with family. I have always enjoyed being with family, but so many people my age do not take the time to spend time with their family, let alone their extended family.

We started out the day with food and drinks, which are never in short supply at any family function. We have a gift exchange of mostly homemade gifts. This is where the fun sets in! We have a white elephant, or dirty Santa, gift exchange. For some reason I have a problem with Dirty Santa, so I prefer white elephant, but I digress. We all draw numbers and then take turns opening gifts and stealing gifts from each other. Our matriarch, my grandmother, who we call Sudy, is the last to go. When we started this Christmas tradition we decided that Sudy would have the last draw and that she would be able to steal anything she wanted, even if it had been stolen enough times to be locked and no longer stolen by anyone else. What makes it even more fun is the fact that she will steal things from people and not just end the game! I am sure we have probably had some hurt feelings over the years and silent grumblings about the gifts we received or received and had stolen from us, but all in all we have a great time with lots of laughter!

I wish the whole family enjoyed this tradition as much as I do. Certainly everyone who comes for the weekend does, but not everyone comes. As in every family, their are those that choose not to participate in reindeer games and family traditions. They come and go occasionally, but for the most part they do not come to family gatherings. While much can be said, and has, it really just makes me sad that people I was so close to as a child have drifted apart from the rest of us. Maybe someday that drift will narrow, but perhaps it won't. Until then, we will continue to enjoy the company of those family members who do get together.

It does make me very happy to watch our growing family get bigger every year. My cousins have almost all married. It is so much fun to add a new member to the family. My cousins have married some great people and have started making families of their own. And the kids are awesome! While technically I am their second cousin and not their uncle, I relish in being called Uncle Man. It started a few years ago at our family reunion when my cousin Keith and wife Wendi's daughter Emily screamed "Uncle Man" from the pontoon boat while on the lake. It has stuck with me ever since and I really love it. Now all the kids call me Uncle Man.

This year I came home with a great gift! While I always enjoy and like the gifts I take home from our family Christmas, it is always nice to get a gift from an unlikely source. My family is full of Aggies, but I love to get a homemade Aggie gift from a true blue Red Raider. I got a framed "Saw 'Em Off" Picture made from leather and stingray skin, which is pictured in this post. I wish I had been able to make a gift this year! I put my gift on hold two weeks ago when I thought I was not going to be able to come. As it turned out, I was able to come. Guess I should have finished my gift anyway! Fortunately my dad had a gift that everyone knew I did not make, but was homemade nonetheless! Welding is certainly not my forte! I hope the person that got the wine rack enjoys it! A future post that I have been working on will include my New Year's resolutions, one of which is to stop procrastinating! I guess that could have come in handy in regards to my gift this year! (or any other year) Oh well, next years party is a long way away! (or at least that is what I tell myself every year until the week before)

Well, it was a great weekend! I hope everyone had as much fun as I did! I am already looking forward to next year.