Christmas Morning

It's quiet here for awhile. Hubby was called out on an emergency and I am enjoying the alone time. We'll be going to Oldest's for Christmas Dinner and then on to Youngest's for the last of the gift giving. Sometimes it's actually more tiring to travel to family on the holidays even when the mess is left for others to clean.

My aunt and uncle hosted the Family Christmas Eve as they always do. It was a joy to see them since they have new babies in the family. Allison and Emily are growing fast, and they have a new baby brother Liam. Sarah has also had a baby boy. Mason is a little older than Liam, and seems not to like other babies. Mason's sister Riley is 4 now and quite sure that Santa's only job is to bring her gifts once a year. She'd order him more often if she thought it would work. Got the biggest kick out of her walking around to each of us to wave goodbye because she was leaving now so Santa could come. Grandpa Raymond kept asking her where she was going and then broke her heart by telling her she had to wait for the rest of them. The tears didn't last long since there were exciting gifts to open.

Cousin Sean had a heart attack shortly before Thanksgiving. He's a jogger and since there were no warning signs of a blockage, they believe the jogging shook loose the plaque that builds in all our veins and arteries and it created a blockage. He's out of work for awhile and has to pinch his pennies so he asked his Mom to call me and tell me not to buy them anything for Christmas. I made jars of Brown Sugar scrub to give because I don't have that much money either.

Each jar had a label listing the ingredients: Brown Sugar, Almond Oil, Jojoba Oil and Love. I also added a Shut Up Sean, it's Christmas to the card included with the gift. He doesn't understand that for me the joy, the spirit of the season is in my giving, not receiving.

The only unpleasantness happened when my aunt gave her granddaughter one of those Exploderz battle weapon sets. It's a plastic launcher of squishy slime type pellets. The child appears to be a budding gun nut but she may grow out of it by the time she's old enough to discover boys. My aunt gave her the message that if she aimed her guns at any living thing, animals, birds or humans she'd take them back. I thought that was a good warning until she added that Emily could aim at the Amish.

My first reaction was to crank the outrage and demand to know how she could say something like that. My second reaction was to ask Hubby if he was ready to leave. I decided that neither was worth it in the long run, took a deep breath and started a conversation with my other uncle.

I don't know what her issue is with the Amish, I find them to be delightful people even if I don't agree with some of their beliefs or ways of doing things. I agree it would be nice if they'd clean up after their horses when they travel on the roads. It does get messy, but eventually everything will wash away in the rain we have here. Eventually everything will be the way it's supposed to be which isn't necessarily how we want it to be. In the meantime, I'll just breathe and enjoy Christmas. Merry Christmas Everyone!