Christmas craic

I started the day right with a run along Queen’s Quay to the Peace Bridge and back. There weren’t many other people out but everyone was full of Christmas cheer. I’d say Merry Christmas to someone walking along the quay, for example, and she’d say “And the same to yourself.”

Then up to Hilda and Ronnie’s, Julie’s parents, for gift exchange. So we had Hilda and Ronnie’s three children, Julie, Caroline, and Peter. Julie’s husband, Peter’s two kids and their spouses, Peter’s grandson, one of Julie’s two children, and Caroline’s three children. And me. Christmas for me is usually my mom and me opening one present each in turn. At Julie’s, it’s a free for all and great fun to observe. One of Julie’s son’s, Ronnie, has Asperger’s, like Julie, like her mum, sister, and two of her nephews. Ronnie doesn’t like Christmas and doesn’t participate but his brother Michael, who works in insurance at age 19, is very generous and bought lovely presents for Caroline’s boys, who are much younger than him and who adore him. It was all fun to watch and I even had a lovely little stack of pressies, including beautiful artwork from Julie and home-made food from Hilda. David gave me a CD by a pianist I’ve been wanting to hear.

Back to Julie’s house, where she was in charge of making turkey, gravy, sausages, and ham (made yesterday). Even though she’s vegetarian. Caroline was in charge of veggies. Hilda made chestnut stuffing, bread sauce for the Brussels Sprouts, and Christmas pudding. We all descended on Caroline’s where the table awaited:

Julie and Caroline at work in the kitchen laying on the feast:

Julie and her dad:

Her dad makes no bones about the fact that Julie is his favourite. I don’t think this bothers her siblings because she’s everyone’s favourite.
I rounded out my day with Skype chats with my mom and my friends Joe & Carlos, who were here last year. As mom gets older and is unable to travel to Beth’s, I imagine I’ll be back in Parkersburg for Christmas. In the meantime, I’ve found a new tradition for Christmas that gladdens my heart and makes me very grateful for the lovely people in my life.
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