The only people we missed were my brother Smed and his fiancé Shanda, and our little buddy Johnny. They would've completed the whole picture, but Smed had to work. :-(
The crowd arrived on Saturday, filling every nook and cranny. This drives my poor mom crazy; she lives for putting everything in its proper place, but with 14 people, there's no place for order. We try to be considerate, but there's just so much stuff. Duffel bags and sleeping bags are stuffed behind the couches, suitcases have exploded in the bedrooms, and the bathrooms are a jumble of toiletry bags and random toothbrushes.
The rooms were equally filled with people. It was impossible to walk into any room and have a quiet moment, but hey, we're Dinsdales, we thrive on cacophony.
Well, most of us, anyway; my mom proclaimed that next year, she's skipping Christmas and going on a cruise. I pointed out that a hectic Christmas is actually my parents' own fault since they always encouraged our family members to be close. I pointed out that not all families engage in a Christmas marathon; some people only spend one or two evenings together during the holidays. Tim said, "What? Not all families spend 144 hours together??"
On top of all that, Dinsdales are also very social. We have a lot of friends, and we like to see them. So, at any given moment, in addition to Dinsdales, the rooms were filled with our non-biological family--Roppés (two different groups of them!), Fera-Schanes', and anyone else who happens to be in town and has a few free moments to stop by and say hi. I went out a couple times with some other friends, which was also nice.
But hey, all that chaos is what makes it feel like a real family Christmas. :-)
It was really nice to just hang with the family. The kids are all teens or pre-teens now, so they don't want to run off to the park any more. Scott transformed half the garage into a teen cave for them, complete with a Wii and a stereo. They LOVED that, and spent most of their waking time out there.
We also made sure the kids got lots of outside time. On Sunday, we drove to Coronado. You know it's a San Diego Christmas when the snowmen are made of beach sand, and the ice skating rink is melting in the sun.
Oh, and there are palm trees surrounding the skating rink.
Monday was Christmas Eve. We almost got seats in the real church this year--unfortunately, there was only room for five of us. We decided it was more important to be together than it was to be in the big church, so we tromped off together and celebrated in the bingo hall. I found out later that it didn't matter where we were, the only one really paying any attention was Grant. He perked up when the priest talked about the "son of Mary."
"Hey, I'M the son of Mary!" Grant exclaimed, and indeed he is, just not that Mary. But we couldn't help giggling at his enthusiasm.
We returned home after Mass for a wonderful dinner, gifts for the kids (just one!), and a photo shoot of all the families.
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| Kim, Tim, Nic (12), Hannah (14--but 15 the next day), and my parents |
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| Scott, Gabi (12), Mary, Grant (8), Nathalie (14), and Mary's mom Fran |
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| Me and Mark (12) |
Christmas dawned bright and early--around 5 a.m. I know because I was sleeping on the couch in the living room, and was awakened by two very giggly 12-year-olds. (Neither one was mine--he's not even a morning person on Christmas.)
I kicked them out and told them not to come back for two hours, but they never listen. They slipped back in an hour later and asked if they could just look at the presents.
"Look but don't touch," I relented, which was immediately followed by shaking sounds.
Finally, we gathered the family together. Most of the kids were as excited as...well, kids on Christmas morning. (And notice I said most of the kids--with one exception!)
It went well with his Bigfoot shirt and his Duck Dynasty DVD. Mark was happy happy happy.
Nic was also excited about his gift from Hannah. (And I was equally amused at Hannah's story of carrying the gorilla through the store, and making it wave at people from the car on the way home.)
Nic promptly named the giant gorilla Jeffrey. Turns out Jeffrey is a fun guy, as evidenced by his visit to the breakfast table.
It was a fabulous holiday. Mark had a blast hanging out with all his cousins, and I had just as much fun hanging out with the grownups. Any time I get to spend with my family is a good time, even if it is crowded and crazy. But hey, that's what Christmas is to me.
And although my mom might disagree, I wouldn't have it any other way.
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