Yesterday my mother and I went to my sister’s house to celebrate Christmas with a few other members of my family. We have a huge family. When we are all together there are 24 of us. And that’s just my parents, brothers and sisters, spouses and children. Trying to coordinate everyone to get together is a nightmare. Because of that we rarely all get together. This time there was just a third of us.

My mother and sisters cooked an amazing meal of both turkey and ham. And of course all the sides. We had a great time chatting at dinner talking about previous Christmases, what everyone’s up to, and several other topics. You should always avoid politics and religion when visiting with family members. I was very good not to bring up either of those topics. One of my brother’s in law did. He kept complaining about Obamacare and how much he’s going to have to pay for insurance. I wanted to say so many things but I kept my mouth shut. As much as I love my sister, she married a man who isn’t very smart. But anyway, we did have fun chatting at dinner.

After dinner we moved the festivities to the basement. My sister has a huge tree decorated beautifully for the holiday. We all handed out gifts and sat around and opened them. One of my brothers gave my father a new cell phone…one with large numbers so he can see them better. We were all trying to show him how to use it. Each time he held the phone for a test call, his hand rested on the volume switch and kept turning it down. He said he couldn’t hear anything. We tried to explain to him that if he holds it a certain way, it will turn down the volume and he won’t hear the call. I think he got it in the end but you know how old people and technology don’t get along all that well.

After awhile everyone decided it was time for dessert. There was something for everyone. There were pies, cake, ice cream, cookies, fudge, and of course candy. I had a big piece of chocolate cake. It was delicious. My sister has three dogs and a cat. All the dogs were constantly around us as we eat looking for bits that might fall on the floor.

After gifts and dessert we went back upstairs to the dinning room table to play games. My sister brought her Rummikub game with her. I guess that’s the latest game everyone is playing. I had heard my mother talk about playing it with her retirement group but I’d never actually played the game before. I watched my sisters, nephew, and mom play one round and then with a little instruction, I joined in the fun. I won the first game I played! I picked it up pretty fast. I won another round as well. Even after my one sister and her family left to return to Richmond, the rest of us continued to play. I won 5 games over the evening. It was a fun! Have you played Rummikub before?

We spent the night at my sisters house because we didn’t want to have to drive the two hours to get home on Christmas. This morning we got up early and got on road. We stopped at Denny’s on the way home for breakfast. It was good, but filling. I’ve eaten way too much for the last two days. I had a great time visiting with my family. Even though I’m not religious, I do enjoy this holiday for getting to spend time with my family. It’s tough getting together with many of them during the year. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well!