Most Wonderful TIme of the Year

Well, the Christmas party is over and done with, thank goodness. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and I am happy to say not everything I thought would happen. So, if you want, here is an account of my evening.

We arrived early, and the family ws mostly there. I went into the basement where the tables were set up and chatted to my Great Aunt M and my great grandmother, who told me I looked like I had lost weight. (Whee)

My aunt R arrived and passed out some rather sentimental pictures of her son, who passed on at Chrsitmas about 5 years ago. She cried a lot, but not as much as normal, and she settled in with a drink and chatted to me until dinner. She invited me to her house after, which I hadn’t seen yet. Beloved and I agreed.

The kids were loud, and broke some ornaments on the tree and were promptly sent upstairs to stay out of the way. My Great Grandmother settles in next to Beloved, and asks if they can sit together during dinner (this is a first, and a very big deal to me)

MY brother showed up late to the party, and added to the list this year by bringing a friend who was as high as he was. My uncle offered him a beer and we all gathered round for prayer. This year was a record year for her, only 3 minutes 15 seconds. I was impressed. Beloved says her bloodsugar was probably low and she was hungry for a change.

My mom made all of her customary foods that no one really likes and passed up on the way around the buffet. She whined about making too much food, agin, before settling on my other side. She went on and on about how she wished she could have gone to the church play the night before, but she had no one to go with. She looks pointedly at me, because she had invited me and I had declined. I tell her I was at the ballet with Mystery, as part of my Christmas present. She throws a huge fit that I would rather take a person ‘I hardly kow’ than my own mother to share in such a nice Chrsitmas gift and how she had really hoped she could spend some more time with me (yada yada).

I change the subject and ask when my aunt A will be there, because my cousin Lovey would be there, and I love her. Aunt A is pretty cool as well. They are going to be late, Uncle L had to go home sick (turns out he didn’t want to come -haha) Mom looks at my hair and changes the subject by asking “what I did” to it.

Other things that happen – Lil Bit comes downstair for seconds and mom makes a snide comment on her not needing more food because she is “such a big girl” and feeds her anyway. Lovey, her sister Tiny, and Aunt A show up. Turns out Lovey has given up religion for spiritualty. They are into stones and tarot and allthose cool things I am into. My aunt A can see Auras, and it think its nice to have other pagans in the family after I have had to hide it for years. (see, in my family, I can be gay and no one will say anything, but if I were to be a witch…god save me…) We spend part of the evenign passing around her and the kid’s power stones and her telling me about a Native American Pow Wow she went to earlier in the year. My mom keeps popping her head in and inviting us to church, the kisd roll their eyes and mom mutters stuff about how no one cares about…I didn’t catch the rest but I could fill it in I bet. My aunt R takes off with her husband and we agree to follow A over to visit. My mom throws a fit when my brother and his buddy want to leave early. Beloved gets up to move about and be social, and my mom corners her, invades her personal space (Belvoed has a very.big.personal.Space.Bubble.) and drives her, in general, crazy. Lovey and I switch email addresses and agree to meet for coffee now that she can drive.

I go to hug my mom goodbye and she is busy talking to my Grandmother. I say “bye mom,” and hug her. She says “later, sweetheart,” and goes on talking. I shrug, get on my coat, kiss Grandma and head towards the door. My mom spots me and starts squealing about how I am leaving without saying goodbye and leaving early which is rude and I don’t love her and how dare I run off to my aunts when I haven’t spent any time with her. I point out that I went to hug her and she wasn’t paying attention.

We go to Aunt R’s and have an excellent time. She has a dance studio in her basement (like me, she is a former ballerina) and we danced about and in general did a lot of girly things. She showed us her new car (a red convertible soft/hard top switcher 1980 mercedes benz- *drool*) and then let us raid her closet. She shops at a local boutique that is so expensive they give you free alcohol and hours dourves while you are shopping there (as if it will shock you less if you’ve been drinking). She and I were the same size, but her Thyroid has been acting odd, and she can’t wear a lot of them anymore, so she went through her closet and dressed A and I up like real life Barbie dolls, and I went home with loads of nice clothes. So that was fun.

On teh way to R's and home we looked at teh lights, they were very pretty. R lives in a swanky neighborhood, so a lot of the displays were very nice. Of course, there were also four or five houses with manger scenes with *crosses* instad of stars near them, but, you know...I can live with it. It made us laugh.

All in all, we had a decent time, especially after we got away from the party. Beloved and I get home, see that Mystery has a cold, and we snuggle on the couch and talk about how much we love eachother and how nice it is tobe home with eachother. We watch a movie, take a bath, crawl into bed, read for an hour or so, and go to sleep. And that? Was the best part.

So, that’s the story of my extended family Christmas party. I’ll tell you all about the Yule morning when I finish it. In the meantime – lots of love.

AG