My Favourite Thing About Christmas

Tuesdays I usually re-cap my weekend, but tonight, with the holiday nearly upon us, I am reminiscent of Christmases gone by.  I am thinking of how lucky I am to not only have amazing parents, siblings and an amazing husband but also my wonderful extended family.  My grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins are a big part of my world even if I don't get to see them as much as I would like.  As clichéd as it sounds, Christmas for me means being with my family.  Christmas Eve means my immediate family; Christmas Day means my extended family. 

My Dad was raised as an only child.  He had two siblings that both died as infants so while he was a middle child, he did not know his siblings.  My grandparents on my Dad’s side passed away long before I was born.  I wish I had had the pleasure of knowing them both. My Mom is the oldest of five and I have had the pleasure of having grown up very close to my Mom’s parents.  Not including the great, grand children, there are 12 cousins. Christmas for my family meant always going to my Mom’s parents’ Christmas Day.  When we were really young, my sisters and I would open Christmas gifts at home in the morning and then my parents would bundle us up with a new toy and off we would head to my Grandparents.  While the gifts were awesome, I think spending the day with my parents and sisters and getting to my see my grandparents and all of my Aunts, Uncles and cousins was the highlight of my day.  

We would arrive at my Grandparents for their late lunch, eagerly awaiting to see what our cousins scored from the big guy in red and to start our eating; and eating we did.  As soon as you walk into my Grandparents house you are greeted by the most heavenly aromas; the sweet smells of freshly baked pies, the warm smell of ginger from my grandmother’s ginger snaps, and the tantalizing aroma of the succulent turkeys.  My grandmother is the most AMAZING baker.  Every treat is not only baked to perfection, it’s cut nice and neat, so neat it would put Martha Stewart to shame. All of her treats are prepared in cute, dainty little servings.  AND THE TASTE IS HEAVENLY.   Rich, and buttery and sweet; the baked goods table always is a huge hit. She must have baked every day since Thanksgiving as the baked goods are piled to the ceiling.  The turkey, the ham; all juicy and melt in your mouth.  The sides range from potatoes, to stuffing, to dill potatoes, to dry garlic pork, to meatballs, to every veggie imaginable.  And then my Mom would arrive with cheesecake and gingerbread men, and my aunts and uncles with their decadent contributions. 

My Grandparents used to set up a few long tables running the length of their basement family room.  The room seemed to be incredibly long, (It’s funny how small it seems now that I am grown up.  I told my Grandmother that I think her basement shrunk.)  You had to squeeze your six-year-old arse past my aunts’ and uncles’ chairs to get to the prime spot: the coffee table at the end of the room with the TV and the Christmas tree.  This is where us cousins hung out.  Those hours we spent sitting at the coffee table, beneath my grandparents’ Christmas tree with my cousins, stuffing our faces were the best Christmases.  The sounds of Christmas all around us: my uncles with their big, distinct laughs teasing one another; my Grandmother shrieking as my Dad did something dirty to my Mom, (He was big on grabbing her butt in front of her Mom, much to my Mom’s dismay and much to my Grandmother’s great sense of humour’s delight).  My aunts would be chatting and my Grandfather would sit quietly watching his brood enjoy themselves with a tired grin on his face.  All the while us cousins talked about Santa’s treasures he bestowed upon us and my cousin teaching my younger sister how to stretch a real burp into a really long burp.  (Funny, my Mom never appreciated this sharing of wisdom.) The coffee table was never forced upon us to eat at; there was no “kid” table per see.  The cousins just all naturally congregated there.  There was no fighting, no yelling, EVERYONE got along.  I think that is impressive.  I never wished for more siblings when growing up, but I now I wish for a pile of cousins for my children one day. 

Most every Christmas, one of my uncles would pull out a guitar.  All of my uncles are very musical.  My Grandfather might sing and his little brother might stop by, (they look like twins even though they are a few years apart) my Great Uncle brought a harmonica at least one year and accompanied my uncles. Sometimes my Grandmother would sit and sing too, she loves to sing.  She has since learned to play the guitar too.  My grandparents are awesome.

Now that we are older, my Grandparents don’t do a formal sit down meal.  It’s more of an open house, everyone stops by when they can, coming from and going to in-laws and such.  My husband and I are very fortunate as his parents live right around the corner from my grandparents.  We visit with his family for a few hours and then we head off to my grandparents for a few hours.  We both get to do our family traditions and don’t have to drive for hours in between, we got very lucky!!!  My grandparents don’t put on the spread that they used to either, just a few nibblies, and of course the baked goods are still piled to the ceiling.  While I miss the good ol’ days of being spoiled by Santa and then heading to my Grandparent’s and eating ALL day long with some of my most favourite people: I still get a taste of the greatest treat of all every Christmas Day.