1:15 a.m. | 2003-07-20 Christmas In July Traditions. Yes, I�ve been to Christmas and back today. I had a great time. But, I thought I�d take a moment to describe some of the �traditions� we�ve adopted for this event. Ya know, just in case you�re interested or you�re wanting to move Christmas to July yourself. FOOD Yeah. We�re all about food. As people come from hither and yon, arriving at different times after traveling some sort of distance, we make sure to have beverages (ice cold, of course) and appetizers ready by about noon. Pictures During the arrival time, Eldest Sister � forever the photographer � corrals family units and such for our annual pictures. Every year, she picks a different location to prop everyone. The grand finale is the group picture. Eldest Sister is pretty stern about this too as, outside of the kids, no one really wants to have their picture taken, but we�ve all learned that it�s just easier to cooperate. Plus, we all want pictures of our family members, so well, it�s just something that must be done. Duck Race At The Creek We pick a place in the creek and everyone who wants to participate selects a rubber duck � or whale, whatever � and we all trek to the water. An adult selects the starting and finishing lines, reminds everyone of the rule � no throwing your duck, you�re supposed to drop it where you�re standing � and starts the race. Whoever wins gets a prize. Then we trek back to the house. Kid Crafts While most of the adults recover from the trek and creek frolicking, Dearest Sister always hosts the Craft Session. Every year, she comes up with some new thing and provides all the supplies. Then, you know, there�s scissors, glue, glitter and stuff. Any adult who cares to can join in, and any child/teenager who doesn�t want to participate doesn�t have to. And, let me just say, Dearest Sister has the BEST ideas. Dinner Then we eat our official Christmas dinner. Of course, we�ve already been eating for hours so it�s not like we�re all starving or anything. There�s always more food than we can eat. But, you know, we do our best. The Dinner part is especially important if you�re a kid, because presents come after dinner. The Kid Group The Kid Group consists of everyone under 18. We have about as many kids as adults and/or family units, so each �family unit� is assigned an age group and brings an appropriate present. Within each different age group, the kids � other than the toddlers � do the whole �paper, scissors, rock� thing to determine who gets to select a gift first. After they open them, they can trade gifts if they want. The �Adults� The Adult Group is a whole different thing. Each person and/or family unit brings a gift which can�t exceed a certain monetary value. I, for example, bring one gift. However, a couple can bring two gifts, if they want to. If they bring two gifts, they take home two. It�s all about the numbers. Anyway, Younger Sister always organizes this whole thing. While we�re eating dinner, she comes around with a bowl of numbers, each person who�s participating draws a number. After dinner, all the gifts are gathered up into a common area and Younger Sister starts drawing numbers. Here�s where it gets tricky. The first person called chooses a gift and unwraps it. The second person called can either �steal� the first person�s gift or choose another one. It goes on from there. Basically, the farther down on the list you are, the more choices you have. There are a few rules though. First, you must keep your gift on display during the exchange � no hiding of the gifts. Second, a gift can only be �stolen� three times. Third, you can�t �steal back� a gift you already had. In other words, it�s very cutthroat and competitive. And, we have the added bonus of teaching the youngsters how to lie, cheat and steal. Well, and swear. But, you know, we have boatloads of fun, so it�s all cool. Dessert Because we just haven�t had enough food, we move on to dessert. Youngest Sister always has to bring dessert because she�s an excellent baker. Even though I don�t really like dessert, I always eat some of whatever she�s brought. Because I�m not a dessert person, I don�t seem to fully enjoy it as much as everyone else does. Even though the sugar�s hard to stomach for me, her desserts always look real pretty. And, Little Nephew is anti-dessert too, so I have company now. You dessert people out there would love this stuff. But me? Well, not so much. Younger Sister is an excellent baker though. Departures Then everyone pretty much leaves. Most people have to travel at least some distance and get ready to go back to work. Or vacation. Or whatever. We do the goodbyes while cleaning up. Plus, since this is the one time of the year that we�re all together, we tend to do a lot of other exchanges. I get birthday gifts for next month, Eldest Sister gets new phone books from me, and a ton of people get random gifts from others � could be a Mother�s Day gift, birthday gift from 2 years ago, graduation gift. Whatever. It�s our annual exchange day. Which brings me around to this years� celebration. This year was a little different. On many levels. First, I rented a car to drive up to the SummerHome, which is about 90 miles away. That would be MyDad and StepMom�s SummerHome. They�ve had it for a good 15 years, give or take, so I know how to get there. However, it�s up in the hills, or well mountains, depending on your take of that whole thing. For the last leg of it, you have to travel up and down a one-lane-made-two-lane road. With a lot of curves. Then, take the right cut-off. Apparently, I was distracted (i.e., I was driving a new car). I was thinking that I�d traveled too far on that road just about the time I suddenly encountered a sign that said: �Continue At Your Own Risk�. And, right at that spot, the road narrowed even further and turned to gravel. Danger Will Rogers! Danger! I had to travel up this �road� long enough until I found a place where I could do a 20-point-U-turn. Don�t know what�s at the end of that road. Don�t want to know. When I finally arrived, I walked up to the porch and encountered StepMom (SM) and StepSisterSparkly (SSP). This is that. (SM:) Hi, it's sooo good to see you! (hugs) (CI:) You too. Hey, SSP. (SSP:) Oh lord, it�s trouble! How ya doing? (SM:) I need to talk to you. And, I want to do this privately. I need to see you in the house. (SSP:) Oh, you�re in trouble!! (CI:) It sure sounds like it. I�m kind of scared now. Anyway, SM had waited until this event to give each of us an item that MyDad specifically said he wanted us to have. See, one thing I haven�t told you all is that MyDad knew he was dying. We didn�t know that, but he did. So, when I visited him a week before he passed, he asked me about stuff that he had. Stuff I might want. I�ll tell you about that another time. Apparently though, he paid careful attention when I toured their WinterHome. He wanted me to have a particular piece of art that�s been in the family for years. And, it�s quite original. I don�t really have the words to describe it, but it contains the �spirit� of that whole side of the family, if you will. I�m very honored, and quite surprised to say the least. Then, other folks started arriving, including Dearest Sister (DS). DS has only recently gifted me with a rather odd task. Her Eldest Son recently discovered some discarded history, and since I�m the �family historian�, she�s turned it over to me. Mind you, it has nothing to do with our family whatsoever. It�s a piece of someone else�s family. But, she feels it�s important to preserve it and I agree. In other words, she gifted me with two boxes of history to sort through. It�s hard to explain but it was gonna be my birthday present, however, Eldest son won�t part with it. So, alas, it�s only being �loaned� to me until I can piece it all together. And, I must say, it�s the best birthday present I�ve ever received. Albeit, it�s temporary. I love that stuff. And, that�s an example of some of the exchanges we make during Christmas in July. In desperation, I asked DS to bring up the ingredients for my appetizer. She did that AND more. She also brought up the ingredients to one of our most favorite snacks. So, we spent time preparing all that. And, I swear, I bring the oddest things and it gets wiped out. People start that whole mumbling thing: �who made this?�; �this is sooo good�; �WHO BROUGHT THIS? I LOVE IT!� And, it�s always something so simple. I�m normally ordered to bring my artichoke dip, but with the move and all, they were easy on me. They should actually thank DS, since she pulled it together for me. All we did was take thin salami slices, spread cream cheese on �em, throw a pepper in the middle and wrap it up. It�s something I picked up from somewhere. Years ago. As an alternative, you can slather ham slices with cream cheese and throw a green olive in the middle. Toothpicks hold it all together well, and you know, the youngsters like the toothpicks. We made some with peppers and some without them, because not everyone loves peppers. But, apparently, I need to kick it up some next year and make them all with peppers. And, even hotter ones than this year. It�s amazing how they forgot about the artichoke dip already. They�re an easy crowd, I tell you. Hightlights from the Duck Race. This was the first year I�ve been able to be part of the Duck Race. See, outside of MyDad and Dearest Sister, no one in my family has ever �understood� that I�m in pain all the time, and that I have trouble with some things. They just think I�m weird. Or something. But MyDad and DS always �got that�. However, when StepMom visited with me recently, she asked me all about it. As a consequence, she moved the Duck Race from the backyard to a place down the road that�s easier to navigate. See, to get to the creek in the backyard, you have to be like a mountain goat or something. At the very least, you have to be sure footed. Since I have to drive up there, I can�t take my meds which makes me spaz out and shit. Then, I�m not one with the whole mountain climbing thing. I was quite surprised; I�m not used to things being worked around me. But, it worked for everybody actually. There were definitely fewer kid injuries. There was some outright rule-breaking amongst the youngsters though. Some throwing instead of dropping and such. You know, cheaters never win, and winners never cheat. However, in the second race, the �cheater� actually won. Fair and square and all. There were some moments though that were a little tough. StepMom gave each child and adult a gift in memory of MyDad. Toddlers and the �school girls� got books that my dad had as a child. The boys and men got watches (some pocket watches; some wristwatches). All the daughters, and the daughter-in-law got �tie bags�. Little purses made from dad�s ties. Sounds strange, I know, but they�re very cool. That kind of brought things to a lull that we haven�t had before. Ironically, it was StepSisterBubbly that said the purses and watches and things made her sad. StepMom summed it up well, yet once again. �I know. It just IS sad.� It was interesting though. With the Steps and all. MyDad was part of our lives (the biological kids) from the beginning. But, he was with my StepMom for 20 years. We all have different experiences and memories. But, the Steps� they instantly corralled their children when they received their books or watches and gave them that serious talk about how some things are not �toys� before protectively snatching away their new gifts. And, you know, they didn�t really need to because, to them, MyDad was their grandpa (Opa), so they already knew those were special gifts. And, the men. MyDad never had biological sons. He had one stepson, four sons-in-law and seven grandsons. Outside of the toddlers, they all got timepieces. They were touched. Deeply. All of them. That moment, with the ties purses and timepieces, brought us all together in a way that we haven�t been before. Barriers just dissipated like ice on a hot day. That�s what MyDad wanted � he wanted that kind of blending of the families. We were supposed to spread his ashes today, but we didn�t. But, I know that we spread his spirit. That�s good enough for me. In fact, it�s perfect. your thoughts? seed flower