I've been reading a lot today about how my fellow bloggers spent Christmas and the overwhelming theme seems to be time with family - good or bad as that may be.Being raised jewish, my family doesn't really do Christmas and distance keeps us away from Gina's family who are spread about the country. We would likely do the traditional Chinese food / movie combo were it not for our Christmas Family.
Yep, you heard that right. Gina and I have a Christmas Family...
Carl and Eloise have been friends of my parents for years. Their kids and us grew up together but, as is often the case, we got older and drifted apart - seeing each other only occasionally.
When Gina and I moved back here from Colorado 15 years ago, we got an invite to their house for Christmas dinner. I think our whole family got invited but only Gina and I attended. We had wonderful food and a chance to get back in touch with old friends.
We had all grown up, gotten married, and many had children of their own. We recounted stories of our childhood, the hole we put in the wall, toys we played with and other shared experiences.
We left that evening with the best of intentions to "get together soon" but the year passed without that happening, so we repeated the exercise again the following year, and the year after that... and every year since.
By now we've accepted the fact that we only see them once a year but that doesn't diminish our relationship with them or their importance to us. Their welcoming of us into their home each year and adopting us into their family - if only for one day - is a wonderful experience. Our Christmas Family makes sure that we don't spend the holiday alone and for that we are grateful.
SB
