Christmas Past

Christmas 2009 has joined the ranks of Christmases past. And what a Christmas it was! This was our year to have our family for Christmas Day. Leroy's family always has their dinner the Saturday after Christmas, so that meant this year we had two Christmas dinners back-to-back. Gerald brought a girlfriend for the first time which swelled our crowd to 28. I didn't get an exact count but around 60 were at the big Stauffer family dinner. (There would be close to 90 if everyone came.) We are blessed to have the 86-year-old matriarch of the family still with us. Here she is, surrounded by her ten children.

I spent December 23-24 preparing food and the house for Christmas. Then we had two days of parties on Friday and Saturday. Now it has taken me two days to recover and return to normal. Sunday was a day of rest. Today there was a mountain of laundry to do and the house to put back in order. Except for the train still set up on the pool table and a few new stains on the carpet that I still need to deal with, you would never know my basement was Christmas Center on Friday.

While I gave the basement a good cleaning in October I was thinking of it as the first step in getting ready for Christmas. While I was putting things back in place this morning I could savor the memories we made on Friday. I don't mind having a mess to clean up. I want the family to remember having a good time when they are here, not having to sit on the edge of their seats for fear Grandma will get upset if something is out of place.
Now that Christmas is past, it is time to tackle the list of things I am hoping to do this winter. The season used to seem dreadfully long when I had a flock of children underfoot but now it flies by so fast it is hardly long enough to get everything done. The world must be turning faster than it used to.