My Christmas

As usual, any time spent around my family is interesting. This year wasn't too bad. I didn't get to see as much of my dad as I would have liked because he was working a lot and spent enough time with my mom to drive me crazy but not to the point of being homicidal. I'd liked to have spent more time with my brothers, particularly Caleb since I barely saw him at all.
The highlights of my visit home:

GRANDMA TIME--I went to my Grandma's early Monday to help her with Christmas dinner (we celebrated a day late because my paramedic sister and my dad, who works at home for troubled youth, both had to work Christmas day), so I got to spend a lot of time with just the two of us. My Grandma is the sweetest woman in the whole world. Sometimes she'll drive you crazy because she won't stop trying to feed you, but she has a heart of gold. And spending that time with her, I realized that we're alike in a lot of ways. My Grandma is what you would call spunky and she has this "Don't tell me I can't" attitude. She didn't get a driver's license when she was young (not that uncommon for women at the time), but at 40 got tired of being dependent on others, took driving lessons and got her license. Now she's getting older, her joints are getting stiffer, and it's harder for her to do things, but she still does as much as she can, even if it takes her a little longer. In one corner of her apartment is a little stand with a couple small power tools on it that she uses to repair small pieces of furniture she finds at yard sales. I think that I have not fully appreciated my Grandma for the strong, resilient woman that she is before, but I'm working on changing that.

COOL SIGNIFICANT OTHERS--I met my brother Josh's girlfriend Lisa and my sister Bambi's boyfriend Rich for the first time, and I really liked them both. Lisa is the first girlfriend of Josh's that I've ever met, but she's really cute and seems like she fits Josh personality-wise. And Rich is the first boyfriend of my sister's that I've actually thought was good enough for her. He kind of balances her out well, and he seems to be a stable and good-natured guy.

NEW CAMERA--Normally, I would never list a gift as one of my holiday highlights, since we all know that's not what it's about. But anyone who knows me knows what a camera buff I am. Still, I am about the last one in my family to get a digital camera because I didn't want to spend a lot of money to get a simple point and shoot one that wouldn't be what I really wanted, and I didn't have the money to get what I really wanted. So this year I told my mom that the only thing I wanted was a digital camera, told exactly which one I wanted, and said she could get the whole family to go in on it, that I would make up the difference if they fell short (it's a $400 camera) and if I didn't get a single other thing I'd be happy. I have my camera, and I am happy.

EXTENDED FAMILY TIME--Ok, there's only so much of this I can handle, because when my aunts, uncles and cousins all get together, it's bound to be boisterous, and there's bound to be questions about my love life (and really, how am I supposed to explain to people I see every year or two that there's someone I'm crazy about, but it's complicated because we work together and he's 20-plus years older than me?). I guess maybe the age thing won't be such an issue though, because my favorite aunt, who is about 15 years older than me, is determined to fix me up with a friend of hers from college who lives near me. So maybe my family is getting less rigidly conservative as they age, I don't know. All in all, despite the thinly veiled "when are you ever going to get married?" inquisitions, I had fun seeing everybody. Oh yeah, my best friend from high school was there too, since she's marrying my cousin in May. Which means I'll have to make another trip home to see my family in May...