and left our bags in the van because it wasn’t time to “check in” yet. We took our gifts inside and looked for our family’s name on the big display board to see which room we were supposed to go to. The wigwam room, same as last year, and my favorite because of the gianormous fireplace.
We greeted family and exchanged some personal gifts, saving the “family” gifts for later. We were all introduced to the newest family member.
Congratulations, it’s a boy. Carly married Justin!
They are going to have a baby in late June or early July. Justin, the die-hard Marine, is hoping for a boy and wants to name it Leonidas. I asked him what he thought would happen if he got up in the night to go check on the baby in the nursery and would he say, “Spartan! What is your occupation?!”
He did the famous Spartan fist move and mimicked in a baby Spartan voice, “Waa!! Waaaa!!”.
LOL! Yeah, I like him. He reminds me a lot of Charlie, who is currently in Iraq.
(Go Air Force!)
Carly and Charlie have always been the closest of all the kids, and I think she missed him so much when he left, she gravitated to someone who was very much like him.
The kids all split up for a couple hours and hit the game room, the arcade, and the pool.
Then when it was finally “check in” time, we took our stuff to our cabins. Ours was good ol' #60!
We went in to change for dinner.
One of the traditions we keep is dressing up for dinner. It’s hokey and cheesy, but we really like it. We all met in a big entrance way where the lodge has a backdrop on the wall and some props for anyone to take pictures. We took individual family pics and then a giant group picture, but some of us didn't know that was the only chance we all had to get a group picture together, so some were dressed up, and some weren't.
We went back to the Wigwam room and had our Christmas dinner together and my Aunt and Uncle each said a little bit about how grateful they are that we each set aside time to share together. I’m the one that’s really grateful… They’ve always included me just like one of their own children. This whole family gathering is them, their three daughters, and the daughters’ families. They’ve always thought enough of me to include me and mine.
They are the most giving, loving, and happy couple I know.
After dinner, we all split up and went to our cabins to get into our jammies for the rest of the night (another tradition). It had started to rain, but we stuck with tradition and trudged through the trails and over the toboggan run bridge in the dark cold rain wearing our jammies and fuzzy slippers!
We met up for skits and songs and just generally made fools of ourselves to entertain each other. There were two long tables packed with “prizes” that we all contribute to for games that we play every year. This year I totally swept the “name this Christmas song” competition!
My aunt usually gets sort of a bad deal, because everybody is so wrapped up in the hustle and bustle of Christmas, her birthday gets glossed over. But this year we surprised her by making a huge deal out of it. She had no idea what was coming, but we made her sit in a chair in the front of the room and did a skit with a poem just for her, and upon expressing the “code word” in the poem, everyone came up to the chair with a card or a gift for her and showered her with birthday wishes, hugs, kisses, and gifts. She was very surprised.
MiniMe shopped for just the right gift forEVER in the mall and ended up finding the perfect thing. Whenever she goes to spend the night there, she and my aunt spend a lot of time in the flower garden re-arranging little ceramic fairies that my aunt has placed all around and they laugh and talk and share secrets. MiniMe found a little ceramic fairy for her garden.
After all the skits and games were over, it was time for the grown ups to wind down while the littlest rugrats were tuckered out and sleeping. The older kids were partying in some room or another or cabin hopping and some of the more daring ones were braving the night trails in the freezing rain. We sat by the fire until well into the next morning and then all met at the buffet for breakfast.
We lingered as long as we could, but in the end we all said our mushy goodbyes and reminded each other that next Christmas we’ll have two new babies, one more in-law in June, and Charlie will be home from Iraq.
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