Christmas at our house

Once again the family gathered at our house.  I’m always honored and actually thrilled they want to come.  Erik arrived a week before Christmas.  Paul and family came four days before Christmas.  And the family participation was completed when Arne and family came from Palo Alto on Christmas Eve.  We all crowded into our house celebrating the biggest holiday being together.  It was the first time we were altogether since Erika’s graduation party in June 2024.  We were twelve for dinner on Christmas Eve as Justin, Arne’s friend joined the family.  After dinner, the tradition has become watching a movie.  This year, the group chose “Home Alone.”  We packed into the living room to watch.  After that, we brought out the air mattress and piles of bedding so Arne and family could find places on the sofas and the floor for Christmas Eve sleeping.  

Paul and Paula volunteered to make breakfast on Christmas morning.  It is different than it used to be when the grandchildren were little.  Now, they have to be woken up and prodded to open their stockings.  As all of them are now teenagers, sleeping late is their way.  We started opening the pile of presents one at a time around 9:30 and didn’t finish until after 12:00.  It is a time of that always falls into something close to chaos as we all sit around watching the festivities.  Around noon, Karna gathered up their gifts, the children and Arne and Boba, the dog and they depart for the other grandmother’s house for more presents and lunch.

Here, we all tired out from the intense morning of togetherness around the tree, we all found something quiet to do.  Paul and Paula made lunch for us and then they cooked dinner too as I was too tired to do it.  It is wonderful to have them step up and help out with the meals.  

This Christmas, I’ve enjoyed watching the grandchildren.  Each one is unique, fully themself.  Liam is clearly happiest in Bob’s shop where he goes as soon as he can.  This year, all he got for Christmas were tools for use in the shop.  Currently he is excited about the metal lathe, and is cutting threads in pipes.  Elsa was busy in the kitchen baking gingerbread cookies and making frosting and decorating the gingerbread men.  Usually all the granddaughters love to bake and decorate cookies.  But this year Elsa alone was busy doing this.  Sonja stepped up to help with dinner preparations.  When I called to Bob to carve the Christmas ham and he didn’t come, Sonja stepped up and carved the roast.  She isn’t afraid to take on new tasks and is happy to help out.  Her focus has been on gourmet food and we ate in the Japanese restaurant on 4th Street, in the Burmese restaurant in Palo Alto, in Saul’s deli in North Berkeley and Benchmark Pizza in Kensington.  This year, Erika was more reserved than before, spending much of her time reading a very thick book she brought.  She and Paul did step up and wash the dishes from the dinner and one night played music together.  I enjoyed watching Erika on a walk we did a couple of days after Christmas.  She ran ahead, bursting forth in a fast sprint to see how fast she could run.  The electronic road sign recorded her at 14 mph.  And the next time I spotted Erika, she was up a tree, way high up.  Funny girl.  

I love to see each of them doing what they love.  It was a great joy to be together with the family for Christmas.  On the 5th day of Christmas, very very early, Paul and family plus Erik departed for Palm Springs to catch some sunshine and explore the desert of California.  Bob and I sat in the quiet and remembered the highlights of the wonderful busy time we all had together and I wondered if I am getting too old for such excitement.  .