Christmas 06

Praise God. We had a white Christmas for once. Not too much snow, but the grass stayed covered while the roads cleared. I have some pictures up on the photoblog. Take a look at dlwilley.photoblog.com. With funds a bit tight, this year I missed the family shopping trips. It’s always fun to pair-up with someone you’re NOT shopping for, and then help each other shop for the rest of them. I enjoy the hiding gifts… wrapping things… trying to guess what you’ve been given and such. That and the wonderfully lit houses, the fun, happy music and such, all come together to make this time of year so special (in spite of the gloomy weather and gray overcast days). Sure, we know that the Christ was probably born in April or May… but celebrating His birth at this time of year makes good sense. This year, however, I missed out on most of what I enjoy about Christmas. I did want to see the family assemble and have a good time together. We are getting to be such a large group that deciding on where to meet is becoming a problem. Hosting a party for this motley crew is also a lot of work, and fairly expensive. So I made what I thought to be some practical suggestions. First have someone host who has a large enough room. (A couple of the newer homes are larger and fairly spacious.) Second, the host shouldn’t be expected to cook everything. We have so many who can afford to contribute, and it is easy to cook one or two dishes. We represent some five or six married couples, who all have homes and kitchens and can cook. Then when we come together we can all enjoy a wide variety of foods and probably in great quantities. It seemed like a good idea. But I was disappointed because not everyone showed up. I had started talking to the family about Christmas right after Thanksgiving. I did not want to host the dinner here, because our house just isn’t quite large enough for everybody. But other options were shot down and our house was chosen in the end. Then it was suggested that we do something more informal, and just have finger foods. That meant that less space was needed, as no huge table setting would be needed. Since we were not setting up tables and chairs, we went ahead and made some deserts and drinks. My cousin John showed, as did my parents and my sister, Tina. Or I should say; Tina, Randy and the twins, but her boys and their wives and children all were no-shows… so we ended up with more than twice the amount of food than we needed. (The boys were either not told about the party at all or figured that since their mom would be hosting a big dinner the very next night… Christmas Eve was their night to spend with their wives families… and not with us). Hence my disappointment! So in part, my plan to put our family party together as a co-operative effort ended up being a sham! The real family party ended up at Tina’s (as always) and we were not even invited. But I have to curb my disappointment with this somewhat, because those who did show up here on Christmas Eve all had a great time! No one went away hungry. We all sat around the table and played games. Mom even stayed after everyone else left and played cards till after midnight. No one was trapped in the kitchen trying to put everything together. No one was stressed out by the daunting task of making sure everything is prepared. So all-in-all the concept I’d proposed seemed to work. I guess these family traditions are harder to change than I’d figured. Well, perhaps next year a few more of the family will see the sense in this and we can get more people involved in planning and preparing the family Christmas dinner. I know it’s a huge a job, but it is far easier to put it all together if everyone takes part, and the work load is delegated out. It is also more rewarding (for me at least) if I know I have added something to everyone’s enjoyment of the holiday. When I’m just invited to attend a party hosted and pre-paired by them, I feel like an unwelcome guest at what should be my family get-together. As it turned out, we were able to take the ample leftovers to a friend’s house. They were struggling a bit under the load of preparing food for a rather large group and when we came along with Turkey Soup, Steak, Shrimp, Salad, Pie, Cheese Cake, Brownies, Fresh Fruit, Wine and more… it just kind of made their day! We ate, played games and had a great time! So this year I opened not a gift. Nope, not so much as one wrapped gift. But I lacked nothing. I was surrounded by the love of family and friends, and that means more to me than all gifts in the world. If they only knew how much it means to me to be able to spend time with them, perhaps a few more of them would want to show up!

Life's too short

<<< Deep Thought >>> Life is just too short. I ask you. You spend you early years just learning about life, then you have to learn howoake a living, and then about the time your getting all this figured out, someone pulls out the "RIP" imbossed ballons! PLEASE! I think man ought to live to be about 150 or 200. That way you can learn all the things you ought to know and have enough time to enjoy it too. Maybe then we'd want to build things like they used to.. buildings and such that were ment to stand for a few hundred years instead of this trash that'll be lucky to stand for longer than the morgage payments will last. I suppose that is a bit harsh. Funny though. how life is. I've lived clean & never did nobody no harm. But life has never cut me a break nor done me any favors. Yes I have travled. Canada to Florida, Mexico, Korea, Spain and England too. I have seen life from more vistas than most men ever do. In spite of all that, there are many more places I have never seen. Hawii, Rio, Venice, Scottland, Ireland, Sweeden. Life is just too short.