A Merry Christmas

We have survived another Christmas. That is probably not a fair assessment. Survival implies that it could have done us in, and this year has been anything but that--gifts were welcomed; children were happy; adults were tired but pleased. I do not think we could ask for anything more. A high point for me was my immediate family attending Mass together, at least my children and most of the grandchildren. One exception was my six year old granddaughter who became ill and could not quite make it to 10 p.m. Mass. She was sliding into chills and fever, so she and her dad and her 23 month old brother stayed behind at our house napping in anticipation of opening presents. My own children all attended, however, including my son and his family who live in Texas. And we were all together for the grand opening of the gifts. It is interesting to watch how the long anticipated unveiling combined with a post midnight time frame and gobs of sweets can affect nine year olds. At one point, the adults imposed a moment of pause just to keep the two older girls from exploding. I loved it as I did all of the thoughtful gifts that came my way. Christmas day for us meant gathering once again for my husband's delicious pancakes before we all went our separate ways. We all began to decompress, and now this extra rest day, a bonus of a Sunday, should bring us all back to reality in a soft landing kind of way.
Christmas is my favorite time of year, and this year even provided us with a few inches of snow on the ground. I am truly happy.

Tired

I have to remember to do this blog thing earlier in the day. I get sucked in late at night reading my daughters' blogs and then I forget to go to bed or I start fighting back tears or I just think too much to sleep. I should know better.

A Warning

Having been reared in a family that thrived on secrets, I am no stranger to denial. If the lie can be sustained, why bother with the truth? Let's pretend everything is wonderful. Such a rejection of unpleasant reality might be mistaken for optimism, but denial is more sinister than that. Regularly ignoring truth infects all involved with an insidious loss of equilibrium. Like looking through the wrong prescription of eye glasses, denial leaves some participants, especially the unwilling ones, always on the brink of nausea, straining to make sense of the distorted view.

A Visit

My son Ian visited St. Louis last week with his family. I have not posted in two weeks due to prep followed by visit followed by recovery. Aren't house guests an interesting phenomenon? (Now, there's a mix of singular and plural, just like the issues suggested.) Actually the best encounter we have all had since Ian's sojourn to college over ten years ago, the interaction is currently replaying in my mind and the critique is under construction. I know I held up well, and my husband managed to maintain through heat and three active granddaughters aged six and younger. Bevin was here some of the time and Colleen came into town for a few of the days. When Terry and I drove her back to Columbia, MO, we got to see her new and rather cute apartment. A couple's first meager home can be so much fun, as it plainly is for them. She is such an optimist and that makes her optimism often be the truth of the situation.
One moment of touristy, family activity orchestrated by Bridgett, or a vignette taken from Grandma, Uncle Joe and Aunt Jackie's joining the rest of us for barbecue on Friday, reflects more than can be taken in at once. Something like peering at that drop of "clean" water under a microscope, it takes awhile to discover all that exists within the microcosm of the larger world.