Reluctant Endings

The Gathered Clan in My Wife's Pajama Creations

I’m trying to reconcile with myself that Christmas and the attendant celebrations are officially over. I did not want them to end. As a matter of fact I’m not going to allow it. I still have a granddaughter in residence for a few days and she was one of the critical elements in making this Christmas so memorable. While she played a key role, this year featured a truly all-star cast. The new tradition we started this year of passing the holiday at the home of the ABFA and Favorite Son was a complete and undeniable success.

Christmas Elves Meeting

Someone was Excited!

We had to use two cars to drive up to New Hampshire from Worcester. My Favorite Panamanian decreed that our granddaughter was entirely too precious a cargo to share that confined space for a long drive with the Wonder Pooch. Buddy took his exclusion in stride, since once I figured out how to wedge his cage into the smaller Camry meant he would be breathing down my neck for the entire trip. He didn’t care as long as he wasn’t left behind.

So Much Fun

She Loves Climbing Stairs Usually with a Grandparent in her Wake

We made the drive up through a driving rain storm on Christmas Eve morning with Wingman piloting the craft with the important cargo following me. Wingman was particularly derisive in his opinions on the driver’s side windshield wipers (I did mention the driving rain storm we had didn’t I?). Whenever he got behind the wheel for the rest of the weekend we could count on rain, almost karmic.

Don't Think I've Ever Been Happier than at This Moment

Or This

You Get the Point

As soon as we arrived at my son’s place we loaded up the car again to make a hasty trip to the grocery store to lay in supplies for the weekend, most importantly the fixings for the Christmas dinner and an assortment of adult beverages. We had to hurry in order to return in time to see the Patriots lay an absolute beating on the hated New York Jets which was a perfect launching point for Christmas Eve festivities. The First Blog Reader got to fully exercise her perfected touchdown signal.

Mutual Admiration

Uncovering one of the ABFA's Chocolate Stashes

The ABFA’s parents joined us to complete the assembly and were able to partake of that most important aspect of Christmas – a true family gathering. This was the first Christmas in three years with all of the family together since we finally got those pesky Californians to come east.  It meant so much to me, especially with the granddaughter acquiring fascinating new abilities seemingly by the minute. She liberated a sheaf of red tissue paper from one of the gift bags and turned that into two red pompoms she waved frantically. Wingman created a video out of that which kept us in stiches.

Making Freinds with Riggins

Always on the Phone

While my son and I were discussing plans for Christmas dinner we realized we had forgotten a critical element – a pan to cook the turkey in. Few homes come equipped with a pan large enough to adequately roast a 26 pound bird so he and I rushed out to see if we could find any store open. I say rushed but that was a relative word because an “ice mist” of all things had descended and the roads were very slick. We passed through four different stores which unfortunately had the heart to send their employees home early on Christmas Eve. A last gasp on the road to Portsmouth produced a more grinchily run Target’s store which had the required pan and Christmas diner was saved. We received a call from a concerned ABFA, thinking we were stranded in some icy ditch, about the length of our trip.

ABFA Gives the Best High Fives

Big Time

After mass we congregated around the dining room table for a pork roast dinner my wife cooked back in October. It was consigned to the freezer when she was called home by events surrounding her father and re-emerged Christmas Eve having lost none of its taste. Immersion in family cannot be underestimated in terms of medical advantages. Of course we were also surrounded by literal mounds of Christmas cookies which did nothing to dampen the mood.

Buddy Wife and I in Our PJs

The Californians

My wife unveiled the secret plan that shows all the hallmarks of a certain cable television channel laced with holiday movies. She created a special set of matching pajamas for everyone at the house for Christmas Eve. She spent an enormous amount of time hand sewing a moose onto a bunch of shirts and carefully obtained everyone’s size ahead of time. The plan was met with universal praise and we had a lot of fun with it.

Bonding

It was starting to get later in the evening when my Favorite Son announced it was time for the annual viewing of Love Actually. The now similarly clad viewers assembled for this Christmas Eve tradition. My son was taken strictly to task when he produced a DVD copy of the beloved flick instead of the blu ray we evolved to several years ago. His sister was very pointed in his faux pas which was her duty as the big sister in the equation. He was still hearing about it two days later.

Son's First Turkey

Well after midnight after everyone else retired for the whole sugar plum dance my son and I convened in the kitchen. Well over a quarter century ago the men in the family took over responsibility for Christmas dinner. Since we started the new tradition in his house he would be responsible for cooking his first Christmas turkey ever. It was tough handing over the reins to something I had done for so many years but some paternal pride was unavoidable at this point. The turkey was readied for immolation in the morning.

Canine Exclusion Fence

Christmas morning dawned with more anticipation than usual since we finally had a bona fide youngster to enjoy the present opening with. She needed a little bit of training from Wingman that it was okay to rip into the wrapping paper but she was soon tearing in with gusto. The Great Aunt and Namesake Nephew drove up from Rhode Island to join us for this which truly added to the fun. The canine elements were kept at bay since they both thought some of the our granddaughter’s stuffed toys were well within their hunting parameters.

Yet Another Fashion Statement

Presents Opening - Riggins Snuck In

My wife gives me a hard time for overspending at Christmas time but its more than worth it my mind to see what the results are on Christmas morning. My granddaughter quickly made use of her newest toys including a pink moped she used to great effect. My wife got a new IPad which I somehow kept concealed from her successfully. I received way too much in return including a bound copy of the first year of Frail Deeds Dancing from the Californians. There were tears for remembered and departed family members but it was too much fun to linger on how much they would have enjoyed that morning.

Brunch Time

Once the chaos settled and the Soxfather finally arrived to complete the full assembly, the ladies had hojaldras and fried dough sizzling away while my daughter displayed her mimosa concocting abilities once again, something sadly missing from the past two Christmases. During the respite after brunch my son and I (in a strictly advisory role) addressed Christmas dinner. He felt like he was on trial as the newly remodeled kitchen had lots of seating at the kitchen island for a fairly robust peanut gallery to gather and comment on his technique (so much fun).

The Peanut Gallery

The meal turned out great and well within the time limits set for a first time effort. The Soxfather and I got a little misty eyed as we reflected that when we (just the two of us) started the male cooking tradition my son was three years old and now here he was serving as the architect of the meal. It had a definite sense of generational transition but in the best possible way.

Carving his First Bird

The Upper Table

And Lower

The day after Christmas called for travel to the Keene Friend’s annual gathering. While travelling across New Hampshire we stopped in see my second mom. She was my mother’s best friend and an integral part of so many Christmases. She’s well into her nineties and her children made the difficult decision this past year to move her into a nursing home. She’s an ardent Catholic so they were lucky enough to get her into a great one near to their homes which is Catholic run and offers mass twice a day.

Second mom Meeting Newest Generation

We hadn’t seen her in a while and for the first time she looked close to her age. She had always defied the years with her Navy nurse savior faire so it was a little sobering to see that. Her daughter was there and so pleased we had stopped by and marveled that her mother immediately recognized us and was so happy to see us. The Fist Blog Reader charmed everyone in sight and tried to surreptitiously acquire my second mom’s milkshake which was left completely unguarded until we keyed in on her acquisition strategy. It was a very nice visit where I also left off some of Great Aunt’s lasagna, a dish our second mom loved and my sister insisted I take when she learned I was going there.

Great Reunion

We then set out for Keene and since Wingman was driving the rain soon descended. We were in some fairly high terrain so it had the added luxury of freezing on the road which made the descent into Keene fairly adventuresome. We arrived precisely on schedule at Keene Friend’s home and were soon surrounded by the hometown friends that make this gathering such a pleasure each year. He does a fantastic job of acquiring vast amounts of food and sitting around his living room sharing holiday cheer with friends is about as close to nirvana as it sounds. Buddy achieved his usual sentence to solitary confinement when the low lying food was too much for him to overcome. Riggins did much better and spent a lot of the party underneath the coffee table waiting for spillage.

Riggins Hiding Out

First blog Reader Meet Cantankerous Friend
Seems Unimpressed

The Cantankerous One arrived making spurious claims about US Navy aircraft carrier navigational abilities and never learned that one of his favorite antagonists, the Favorite Son, had actually lost money betting on the Navy football team this year. At one point my granddaughter seized control of Keene Friend’s phone, she is certainly my wife’s granddaughter, and accidently dialed the Pittsburgh Roommate’s phone. This was already on the agenda anyways so Keene Friend followed through with the call.

Keene Friend 2 Clan

Keene Friend Two and his clan also stopped by, accompanied by his fiancé’s daughter, back from Argentina for a visit with a very nice Argentinian in tow. He was soon accosted by my wife for some serious Spanish speaking while the rest of the party ebbed and flowed. We had to be cognizant of the granddaughter’s rest schedule and everyone’s need to work today so we left the party around 8pm to find the freezing rain had coated everything. Luckily the temps were on the rise and the roads not in bad shape as we traveled south to Worcester.

Too Much Fun

I know this was a very long post but you’ve had a couple days’ vacation from Frail Deeds and I’m trying to capture how much fun I’ve had over the past few days. I failed miserably but  I think that’s in part because if I impart too much into written word it will actually be over and as I stated above – I’M NOT READY FOR THAT