Promise Redeemed

You have to know that I have unrealistically high expectations when it comes to this time of year. This starts with the birthday pub crawl, continues onto Thanksgiving, and culminates with my favorite, Christmas. Well. I’m two for two so far this year, as the past four days have been nothing short of remarkable. I’m sitting here now trying to glean some fraction of excitement about the waning NFL season but all I can think about is how quiet the house is after another patented granddaughter invasion.

A Very Fun Group to Hang With

It all started Wednesday night with the arrival of my daughter and the FBR, followed as hour later by Wingman. I had some pizza waiting on them and the party started. After the FBR reluctantly went to bed, we sat around the kitchen table as Wingman taught us a new game, Flip 7, which quickly became a family favorite over the ensuing holiday weekend. I prepped the Thanksgiving turkey for early morning ignition before hitting the sack, fully anticipating a fun Thursday. That happened with dismal weather descending all day long which made me happy I didn’t have the traditional drive up into New Hampshire. My Father’s Family’s annual Thanksgiving celebration has finally run out of steam after nearly a century. We’ve decided an earlier autumnal gathering of the remaining cousins will be more fun and better attended. The FBR took advantage of the lack of cousins in the house by demanding I sit for one of her patented makeup session. My Favorite Panamanian thought my blue finger nails were a little over the top. 

My FBR Makeover

FBR and her Mom

Wingman and I with Product of our Labor

Thanksgiving Dinner

Friday was the highlight of the weekend for several reasons. The first, learning how to make cinnamon rolls in the air fryer which was kind of cool. The biggest, by far, though, was the late morning arrival of my son’s family to start the day’s celebration. This leading up to the second Thanksgiving celebration at Great Aunt’s home. Keene Friend joined us shortly before we convoyed down to Rhode Island. He gifted everybody in the family with a book of Christmas movies. He knows his audience. This second Thanksgiving celebration is an outgrowth of my parents’ divorce back in the 1960s. I know, some explanation needed. Once I had my own family, I started attending the aforementioned Father’s Family gathering which my mother steadfastly refused to even consider. This led to the second celebration at Great Aunt’s house. That evolved into such a fun event that it’s become a highly anticipated event in itself.

Son's Family on Turkey Day

2d Thanksgiving

Great Aunt impressed me immensely upon arrival. She preps the meal and I take over the final steps like carving the turkey and mashing potatoes. It’s become part of family lore that invariably there would be some sort of issue with the dinner prep, ranging from gizzards left in the bird (something everyone routinely reminds her of), nonfunctioning/lost electric knives, etc. etc. She was loaded for bear this year. Every time I had a question or requirement, she was ready. She admitted that being retired helped immensely as did the drive to be prepared for everything.  She was justifiably proud of her readiness to handle everything as well as the humor surrounding past Thanksgivings.

BR3, Third Granddaughter to Wear This Dress for Thanksgiving

With the BRS

For the fabulous meal where we were joined by Namesake Nephew and his soon to larger family. Thereafter we began prep for the second part of the celebration, the table centered gathering with Soxfather’s family. Meanwhile, the granddaughter crew had adopted Remy, Great Aunt’s faithful canine. They spent the entire day escorting him around the house. You never saw one without the other. Soxfather’s family filtered in through the evening and the anticipated fun developed. I haven’t laughed as hard for a very long time, tinged with a healthy dose of nostalgia remembering earlier years with Soxfather as an integral part of the lively back and forth. I know he was there with us.

FBR and Remy

Wingman had to work on Saturday morning, so he left us early in the socializing for his drive back to New Jersey. The ABFA, once again, wandered into dangerous territory trying to educate her mother-in-law as to online shopping. Soxfather’s sister made her usual libelous comments about my photographic abilities which, de rigueur, resulted in arranging the accompanying photos, which, if I may be so bold, are singularly outstanding, bordering on artistic. I utilized a carefully developed agent to obtain some of them. The first caravan to return home included the moms and the grandkids who had to be pried away from Remy. Keene Friend, my son, and I remained to continue the “socializing”, well into the evening. We had a fun time, especially with Soxfather’s nephew who is bona fide character.

The Always Photogenic Soxfather Sister

Keene Friend had volunteered to be the designated driver and deserves recognition as one of the true heroes of the weekend. He got us home safely and spent the night in the Man Cave as a reward. He was specifically warned by both the ABFA and my daughter upon our return not to execute one of his trademark early morning departures. Saturday morning found him still in residence as he joined us for a very busy breakfast with the three granddaughters careening about. He remarked that the house was decidedly noisier than he was used to.

A Very Fun Friday Night

He finally escaped after breakfast as we set out for another activity that has become a tradition for this weekend. Hollywood always complies by premiering a kid-oriented movie. This year it was Moana 2, which we arrived to see in the late morning. I have seldom seen the theater so busy, especially for a morning movie. They were all there to see the same movie, which was entertaining, seeing so many grandparents as well. We had to take the second showing since the first was sold out but that gave us seats together for added entertainment value. The BRS once again fell asleep for the final twenty minutes, another tradition, but was pumped to have been to the movies again. We returned home where the granddaughters got together with their respective makeup kits and provided a fashion show, all wearing their abuela's shoes.

Movie Fun

The New Hampshire bunch had to head north in the afternoon as the rest of us continued to pay for the most serious tactical error I’ve made in a long while. We, like many of my generation, still have a land line telephone. My “kids” think this is quaint. My mistake? Showing the FBR how this archaic device works. She quickly located the three extensions we have in the house and whenever she was out of sight one of our cell phones would start ringing. Not answering the phone was not an option because when we tried that she would leave heartbroken phone messages which were impossible to ignore. She piled up a list of phone numbers and could be counted on dialing one of them after her cousins departed. She seems to have inherited not only her abuela’s shopping gene but the addiction to the telephone as well. Still a minor, if occasionally funny, distraction for what was a weekend filled with the magic of family and friends. I got to spend quality times with both my kids; with my son Friday around that fabulous table and last night watching movies with my daughter in the Man Cave.

Cousin Time

BRS, The Hojaldra Queen

Granddaughter Fashion Show

Three movies fell in the A-Z watch, all keepers: Move Over Darling, classic Doris Day with a fascinating history involving Marilyn Monroe, Dean Martin, and Cyd Charise; Movie 43, may be the most inappropriate movie ever made with an A-list cast; Mr. Brooks, Costner as a serial killer with hilarious relationship with his inner self played by William Hurt.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete –

 my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course