Please welcome the first guest blogger this week. Jami from Boycrazedmomma.
She is a hoot on twitter and check out her blog and let her know that you are visiting from MountainMum.com I have asked some of my favorite tweeters and bloggers to guest post for me this week, while I'm in Seattle, Washington visiting family.
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I am a SAHM mom to two adorable, young boys--Sweetie Pie is almost 4
and Boogaboo is 19 months. I spend my days trying to keep the chaos to a minimum while not losing my mind. I get way too little sleep and drink way too much caffeine. You can find me on Twitter (@boycrazedmomma) where I will have you captivated with my wisdom on raising boys, being the perfect wife, and just life in general. Did you sense the sarcasm? My momma motto is “Sometimes a momma’s got to do whatever it takes to survive the day and make it to tomorrow.”
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I grew up with many Christmas traditions. My aunt’s fudge. The mantel display
my mom put up from the time I was itty bitty that has now become a Christmas
fixture on my mantel. But of all our family’s Christmas traditions, the one that is
the most special to me is Christmas at Mimi & Papa’s house. (Now just Mimi’s
because Papa has been gone for 11 years.)
My extended family on my mom’s side is huge. I think we are up to around 60
people now. My Mimi & Papa had 5 children, 15 grandchildren, and I’m not
even counting up the number of great-grandchildren. And you can’t forget the
poor souls lucky ones who married into this chaos. For years our family met for
Christmas at Mimi & Papa’s the evening of Christmas Eve. Papa was adamant
about it. ADAMANT. Everyone was just expected to be there. No one questioned
it or even minded that it was more of a requirement than an option. When it was
Christmas Eve, we were there. Growing up the grandkids would always put on a
skit. And me being the bossy one meant I always put myself in charge. We’d sing
Christmas carols for the adults. The tree at their house was always decorated with
apples with all of our names on them. (Most of the apples have been lost now,
but some of the apples are still around. We still look to see whose name is on
the tree every year.) We’d open gifts. We’d eat way too much food, mainly Aunt
Gloria’s fudge. (One Christmas the fudge disappeared. We found it in Papa’s room
with him. He was rationing it out!)
I remember the first year someone missed Christmas Eve at Mimi & Papa’s. It
was my cousin. I can’t recall now why he and his wife couldn’t be there. What
I do remember is all the flack he got for missing Christmas with us. It was all
in good fun, but let me put it this way: He and his family have not missed a
single Christmas at Mimi’s since & that was 13 years ago. We are serious about
EVERYONE being there. One year we had to miss the gathering because my
family lived in another state at the time and a blizzard blew through on the 23rd.
We finally had our “own” Christmas in our own house and, although it was fun
and relaxing, we missed our extended family greatly. I still remember calling to
talk to my cousins and the bitter-sweet feeling it was because I wanted to be
there with everyone.
As years have passed & our family has grown larger, this tradition as morphed
a bit. We no longer have Christmas at Mimi’s on Christmas Eve. It’s now the
Saturday before Christmas Eve. This year for the first time EVER, our Christmas
get together will not be at Mimi & Papa’s house. Our family has just gotten too
large, so we’re meeting in a community center. We’ve gotten a little more lax
with letting people off the hook if they can’t make it—a little. (I mean come on.
I can tell you the date for Christmas at Mimi’s in 2014 right now—December
20th. Plan around it folks. But things do come up—like the year I was 38 weeks
preggers and my OB told me I had to stay in town. I missed it that year.)
As extended families go, mine is extremely close. I never realize how lucky I was
to have this growing up. I just thought everyone did. But now I realize that we
are the exception, rather than the rule. There’s something special about knowing
if you need help or just a kind word, there are at least 59 other family members
who will provide that!
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We know the celebration is a success when someone laughs so hard they pee
their pants. (And that doesn’t include anyone wearing Depends.)
We in the third generation get a kick out listening to the 1st and 2nd generations
discussing their health and surgeries of the year….each one trying to top the other
one.
