Monday, December 16, 2013

News From Home

Christmas here is nearly over, even though it hasn’t yet started.  That isn’t a bad thing; it’s just the way things worked this year. 

Calendars have become a problem the past few years.  What was once an easy celebration to arrange has become complicated as children became adults, married, and now have in-laws who also expect holiday visits.  Adding work and social obligations to people’s calendars only made Christmas Eve and Christmas Day more complicated.  It became pragmatic to host Christmas on December 15th, and so we did. 
This was the twenty-eighth year we have hosted Christmas for our extended families, although only the second time not on Christmas Day.  Aching backs and sore knees as we clean up the house today remind us that we won’t be doing this much longer.  The idea of renting a room in a bar or restaurant for the celebration is becoming more appealing.  And honestly, it wouldn’t cost any more than yesterday’s at-home food and beverage tab.  Or maybe it’s time for one of the millennials to pick up the tradition.  We’ll see.
When we started doing this, my wife and I were the tenth and eleventh youngest in our fifty-some person extended families.  This year we are eighth and ninth oldest.   This revelation was not lost on us as we watched two of the oldest haltingly navigate with the help of walkers and offered hands.  Measuring your years against others in the family is a melancholy but true measure of the passage of time. 
At the other end of the age continuum were a hyperkinetic 22 month old, and a brand new 7 week old being seen for the first time by most everyone.  The toddler ran around making toddler messes to the delight of everyone, and the 7 week old was passed from person to person to person until everyone had a few minutes to hold and rock.  Not a few of the 50 year old moms had an “if I could only have one more…” look on their faces, while the 50 year old dads wore a “No!” expression.

The college kids weren’t with us, exams not yet being over.  We’ll see them and their boyfriends, girlfriends, roommates, and almost-fiancés on the morning of December 24th for another tradition: The Christmas Eve morning hockey game.  This started a dozen years ago as a way to fill time while the little kids were waiting for Santa to arrive, and has become a wonderful part of the holiday.  A grandnephew rents an ice rink for two hours and all family, friends, neighbors, co-workers and others are invited to play hockey.  The teams are evenly divided; there may be 20 players for each team on the ice at any time.  Men are not allowed to body check women, but women are allowed to push, check, stick and trip any and all males.  There is a lot of shouting and laughing, and some pretty good hockey.
Everyone brings a dish of food for a communal meal after hockey, and a hat is passed for funds to be donated to the Salvation Army or the Red Cross. And it’s over by 1:00 PM.  The traditional bottle of festive holiday ibuprofen is passed around.

Christmas Eve will be spent quietly here without company, then we’ll go to church for midnight service.  Christmas morning will be leisurely, brunch at home for the two of us and the traditional “I thought we agreed not to give each other gifts this year” as we open gifts from each other.

Sometimes the storybook and magazine pictures of a traditional Christmas are what folks yearn for.  Better than that, though, are traditions a family makes out of its own circumstances and habits.  It’s good to want the things you have.
May God bless all of you this Christmas season!

19 comments:

ndspinelli said...

Merry Christmas to the entire Haz clan. And, hire a maid service you cheapskate.

Amartel said...

What a great tradition. Now you can relax for the rest of the year while everyone else is running around like lunatics.

Michael Haz said...

Thanks Nick.

The maid service thing isn't going to fly, since Ahnold got some extra fluffing and cleaning.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Thanks Hazman.

Here we are planning to travel to the folks in GA. But we aren't 100% sure yet.

Michael Haz said...

Amartel - It is relaxing, more than I thought it would be. It's good just to take it all in, to watch shoppers, kids going to school. To enjoy the snow and the carols; it's almost like being in a movie. And the stress is all gone.

chickelit said...

Lem said...
Here we are planning to travel to the folks in GA. But we aren't 100% sure yet.

Is Gabon a safe travel destination?

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

I don't know. Why do you ask?

chickelit said...

Oh you must have meant GA = Georgia and not Gabon.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Georgia. isn't GA short for Georgia?

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Georgia. the one on my mind.

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

I've tweeted your post MH.

JAL said...

Thanks Haz (& Mz Haz) for sharing.

We are heading to VA next week to one of the kids'.

Kid and spouse both are working Christmas eve and afternoon, so we will do Christmas ... when they get home?

Another family lives up that way and we will cross paths with them after Christmas. Brother-in-law and 2/3 of his tribe will be outside DC that Saturday, and the VA house will troop over there. So I guess we will have one of those protracted holidays.

It's one of the first years nobody will be here (and we will be gone) -- so the decorating is a bit skimpy, though the tree still looks lovely half dressed.

All the other kids are out west and beyond, so flat rate "if it packs it ships" and Amazon are my friends.

We've not been all together in a long long time. But still, this year is different for a bunch of reasons.

bagoh20 said...

Sounds like you've done more than your part to create and maintain a wonderful family tradition. Well done Hazmanians! You should be very happy and proud of what you have done. Yes, you did make that.

Traditions having their own flavor is exactly as it should be. That's the richness of this season, and what it represents: love, family, humanity. You are lucky people. We're all lucky to be here to have us some Christmas. God Bless you all.

Chip Ahoy said...

Yes, this is all well and good, but you left out the most important part of all, what color is your Santa?

Christy said...

Great traditions Haz. I love the sound of that Hockey Game.

My sibs and I just hosted my Mom's side of the family for Christmas. The duty rotates around the families and we long ago began using church fellowship halls and occasionally a union hall for the hundred or so we have.

Everyone gets a special Christmas ornament with the family name and the date, the under 10 set get a toy, and until this year we've always raffled off a quilt made by Mom and her sisters to pay for everything.

We look forward to the spin each family puts on the party. One family of hunters always has venison and bear meat. The Miami contingent comes in and arranges a lovely catered affair. The Mexican cousins are usually pressured into Mexican food, which I find a bit ridiculous because they are, in fact, more culturally Southern than Mexican, but there you go. We went back to pot luck this year and the food was great.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

The hockey game tradition sounds awesome.

Calypso Facto said...

Beautiful post. Merry Christmas to Clan Haz!

Michael Haz said...

Thanks, everyone, for your kind words and warm wishes. Both are greatly appreciated.

Michael Haz said...

Chip - my Santa is....camo.