A Look Back: Christmas Vacation Part (big house)

Grandma and Grandpa really love the vacations where we can all be together in the same place. There were, for at least one night, the grandparents, the four brothers and sisters, their husbands and wives, and all of the grandchildren (all 4 + 2 + 3 + 2 of us) plus a future grandson-in-law and a few dogs.

The meals were divvied up by the day, so each family had a dinner. Breakfasts (if you were up that early) were always a surprise, sometimes planned with omelets or French toast, and sometimes cereal. Lunches were a "fend for yourself" matter: leftovers from the nights previous, a second breakfast (or first breakfast, for some of us), and sandwich supplies.

Evenings were spent in a myriad of ways, but usually involved games, either of the football variety (on the television) or board games, such as Bunco.

Additionally, a group of the cousins has gotten into more off-beat games, so Pandemic, Ticket to Ride, and Bananagrams were other favorites. (I've gotten so good at Bananagrams, though, that I had to have a handicap to prevent me from winning all the time. You try getting through a round with no two-letter words!)



The three-story house was big enough, and the top floor was large enough that it was possible for all of us to be in the same room at the same time (such as when we opened gifts around our second-life tree from the side of the road), but still have our space. There was some friction and family drama, but it was pretty easy to get lost by yourself for a while with no one noticing.


On Christmas Eve, folks began to scatter. Maria flew back to Oregon, Valerie and I with some cousins spent the New Year with the younger cousins in Virginia Beach, the rest of my family got ready to fly back to Washington on New Year's Day, and we all breathed a sigh of relief when all were home and accounted for.