Christmas Time

My earliest memories of Christmas as a family was when we would get to go to my Grandma and Grandpa Emmerich's farm house. All the cousins would be there, the house was so packed that you had to squeeze into the living room to even see Great Grandma Dodge. Grandma and Grandpa eventually moved into town, an even smaller house but the extended family continued to grow. I remember Grandma Emmerich sitting next to the stove in the livingroom and letting everyone come to see her vs fighting the crowd. The mom's and dad's must have decided the party needed more space so a couple years it was at the tavern (we owned it, just so you don't think we're a bunch of bar flies). The cousins were all there and we had a blast, Grandma had her sons bring her lazy boy chair there so she could sit in comfort while she watched us play.

I don't remember when it happened but we stopped having Christmas with the cousins. It was Christmas with just our family, I wasn't really sure why this happened, nor was I happy about it. Our family was growing too big for all the jumping around. With 11 children and then spouses and the grandchildren I'm sure Mom just had to put her foot down and insist that Christmas was meant to be at home as a family.

The year mom died we had to have a practice run for Christmas to see if we could do it. We had everyone there for Thanksgiving with us girls all cooking in her kitchen. It worked, we were set for Christmas just like we have done for so many years.... not that easy but we got through it and continued to have Christmas there until Dad sold the house. Now what, our hearts are again broken and there's no practice run. Dad had us at his and Joanne's apartment and it was fine, but crowded. Dad then moved away so going to his house was not possible.... again "now what do we do". We weren't ready to give up our Christmas together so we had to figure it out. Gayle stepped up to the challenge for Christmas dinner for all of us, she calls it Whoville since we just wanted a place to be together and it didn't matter if we had roast beast, boxes or bows. We just needed each other and a place for our memories to continue.

I now understand, Christmas is meant to be together and it's important to a Mom. I am willing to share my kids with their new families but I need some time with all of them in the house at the same time.