One Week of Yuletide Cheer

Wow, merry festivities to all.

And what a festive season it has been. I have taken a short vacation from blogging because my Christmas season has been filled to the brim. I still very much intend to blog daily (or along those lines), it’s just that Christmas was the exception (as you’ll soon find out why). So to make up for it, let me give you a little tour of my Seven Days of Christmas.

25 – Christmas Day. Alright, bring on the festive cheer (Christmas Eve was intentionally unfestive, my one defense against the onslaught of yuletide). May I also just make a note that I was definitely finishing up my Christmas gifts at 10am the morning of. I started shopping on the 23^rd and finished twenty minutes before my mom and close family opened presents. Take a lesson children, procrastination is applicable in every situation. I won’t bore you with details but fun was had, festivities held, and approximately 7 hours of Catchphrase ensued. Man is that game ever addicting. I have a funny family.

26 – Boxing Day. I can still proudly say that I have never been near a mall on Boxing Day in my entire life. I don’t know if it’s living in a smaller city or because I grew up with Deerfoot mall as my “home mall”, but malls kinda overwhelm me ridiculous amounts now. Recently I went to the new Chinook with my friend and was so overwhelmed I couldn’t process anything. It was sad. So I don’t even want to know what would happen on Boxing Day. Though, I’m not going to lie, I am secretly a big fan of dodging people in large crowds. When I was younger I would deke in and out of groups, pretending that they were all players on opposing soccer teams. After I grew taller than most people it became a lot less fun and much more awkward and gangly. Such is life I guess. Moving along, I opted to spend time with the gf’s rents *chuckle*, had an AMAzing steak dinner, and had a grand time playing Apples to Apples and Cranium with the whole family.

27 – Christmas with Dad and close family. Good conversation, way too much food, Things in a Box, and another 3 more hours of Catchphrase. We also did our fourth annual charity gift thing where we take the money we would have spent on presents and instead give it to charity. Every year I come prepared with a charity in mind, ready to lobby my case. The first two years I opted for Advent Conspiracy, mostly because I am entirely enamored with their promo videos every year. But, despite the fact that my arguments have included video presentations, I have never won. Last year I opted for Kiva, the charity which blows me away with its simplicity and brilliance, and to no one’s surprise, I was out-lobbyed (that’s not to say the money didn’t go to good places, because it definitely did). This year, I came prepared to pull out all the stops: memorized charity information, website examples, I even considered a flow chart or two. I braced myself after placing my idea on the table and I got a resounding… “Sure.” Victory had never tasted so sweet. Honestly it was a little anticlimactic, I was expected a vicious brawl where I would emerge sweaty and victorious from a smoking heap but apparently life isn’t as exciting as the action film in my head. Sad. Optimistically, now we get the joys of finding someone to donate to on Kiva.

28 – Four days into the festivities and things are still going strong. Celeste and I drove down to camp because I have never experienced camp right around Christmas and we were excited to see old friends. After missing the turn-off to Didsbury by like an hour (we basically got all the way to Innisfail) we arrived to winter wonderland. After some post-group clean-up (because nothing says Merry Christmas like old traditions and a clean urinal), we meandered over to Kerry’s for fun and frivolities. Amazing pizza and a couple hours of Balderdash transpired, and we were on the road again. Two hours of stressful driving and we were home in one piece.

29 – Day Five and Christmas spirits remain aloof on our laughter and joy. Well, more like Mom and I cheered as our computer got fixed (after I may or may not have downloaded a file which may or may not have had a lot of viruses which may or may not have been very bad news. What can I say, I just really really wanted to play Age of Empires. Sorry Mom). Then an impromptu miniature family gathering occurred with relatives that I’ve never really talked to but had a wonderful time with. I also rediscovered the joy of puzzles (more on that later).

30 – Six Geese-a-Laying. I miss when terms like “geese-a-laying” were considered acceptable material for song lyrics. Anyway. Day Six hosted a wonderfully Mennonite holiday bash in the basement of Highland with all 49 of my Esau relatives. This ain’t your grandmother's Christmas party. While the locale and potluck-themed dinner appeared along the guise of traditional Mennonite, the Minute-to-Win-It games and KFC proved how rebellious we truly are. I will never forget the image of my uncles and sister bouncing up and down while trying to remove pennies from a Kleenex box around their waist. No further comments.

31 – One Week later and I am almost festivitied out, but set on having a memorable New Years. Past memorable slash thoroughly anticlimactic New Years involve:

2009: Watching Up with older family members. Family members fall asleep. Up ends. Clock strikes midnight. Michael cheers quietly alone and goes to bed.

2008: Sitting in a plane. The pilot announces over the intercom, “Ladies and Gentleman, it is now midnight at our take-off location so… Happy New Year.” The crowd is asleep, minus one slightly drunk guy at the back of the cabin who cheers a quick, “Woohoo!”

2006: I was alone and fell asleep at 9. Woke up to my alarm at 11:55 where I went downstairs to watch tv, cheered quietly to myself, then went back to bed at 12:01.

I could continue, but there really is no need, you get the point. That’s not to say that these were depressing times, just not the poetic climax that always accompanies New Years Eve. Or so I’m told. Thankfully, this year was thoroughly different. I got to see a whackload of old and new friends (and was thoroughly astounded by the small-worldedness of the Menno community yet again. I will never cease to be amazed.) We played some sweet games including Bananagrams, What?, Egyptian War, and Scum, and rang in the New Year right and proper. The holiday has now been since redeemed in my head. Though my pride in having a successful New Year was dampened slightly by the realization that I beat my own mother home by a full two hours. Oh well, I tried.

So, now you’ve gotten a little taste of what it is like to celebrate a multi-familied holiday season. To be honest, I often dread Christmas because: a) my sisters are always better Christmas shoppers than me b) it usually includes having to drive halfway across the globe c) social gatherings make me awkward d) they’re a glaring reminder that your family isn’t perfect e) and Christmas music is easily overrated. Maybe it was me growing up, or maybe it was my family growing together, or maybe it was the fact that I only listened to a very select amount of festive songs, but this Christmas season has been quite possibly my most favourite yet. I also realized two very important things: a) I don’t know if you caught this general theme, but I really dig board games. A lot. And b) my family is pretty darn legit.

I wish I could end this post with Sheree Plett and Eisenhauer’s “Cloak Room” because it seems to be the song of my holiday season, but unfortunately I can’t find an Internet version of it. If you do get a chance though, pick up their “Lights Used to Shine” album: totally worth it. I would also do “Christmas Lights” by Coldplay, but that’s been posted too many times now (though still, really really good). So instead, I’ve opted for some Ingrid and Sara, because you just can’t go wrong with something so adorable.