Christmas at Home

After all of the Seattle travels, I had four days to get my house ready for my grandchildren and their father and stepmother for a slightly more than two-day visit over Christmas.  The grandchildren were flying from Seattle to O'Hare in Chicago on Christmas Eve, where they would be picked up by their dad at some ungodly early hour, then would ride the four-hour trip to Indy.  What's in Indy?  The grandparents.  Both sides.

A word about relationships here.  (I know I have written about this before, so forgive me if I repeat myself.)  My grandchildren's father is my former son-in-law.  His parents, because of his marriage to my daughter, are good friends of mine.  We also attend the same church.  When our kids split up, we made it our mission to make certain that the grandchildren weren't handicapped by ego-centric hard feelings.  We acknowledged that both of our children had made mistakes in their marriage, and we decided to take the high road.  They continue to be supportive of my daughter, and I continue to be supportive of their son.

The other grandparents (Judy and Phil) have a small house, the same as I, but through improvements and additions, our homes both have four bedrooms.  The difference is that I live alone in mine, but they are three people--a son lives with them--which takes up two of their bedrooms, and boxes of belongings take up their other two.  Thus, when Nathan and Kendra--my grandchildren's father and stepmother--come to visit for whatever reason, I open my house to them.  Whether they are coming for a family reunion, the Indianapolis 500, a holiday, or whatever, they have a place to stay, with or without my grandchildren.  It is never my intention for them to include me in their plans.  I try to accommodate their needs, but they more than cover those, themselves.  Kendra always leaves things better than she found them!

The family arrived on Christmas Eve day just before noon.  The grandchildren, who had been flying all night and on the road all day, so far, said hi and went right to bed.  Later, they went to Judy and Phil's for supper, and we all met up to go to the 7:00 PM service at church.  We got there 30 minutes early, but it was too late!  We ended up having to sit in the overflow section in the narthex.  When the service was over, the family split for the door before I even got myself put together.  They beat me home!

Kendra is converting to Judaism, and Christmas Eve was the first day of Hanukkah.  When we all gathered at home, she brought out her menorah (with tiny little oil cups for candles), and we gathered for the traditional prayers.  The kids got their first-day-of-Hanukkah presents.  I popped popcorn while they played a card game.  It was nice!

On Christmas Day, we all went to Judy and Phil's for a delightful dinner and gift exchange.  I came home after a bit, but the family stayed for awhile.  (I like that, actually, because I feel that they all need a chance to visit without my intrusion.)  Everyone played cards again after lighting the second Hanukkah candle.  We had a good time.

The next day, the 26th, they prepared to leave.  Kendra was having problems with her car stemming from an oil change a couple of weeks before that.  They found a Jiffy Lube to address the problem before leaving Indy.  (Turned out that the oil was over-filled by a quart.)  In any case, they all got back to the Chicago area safely.  Yay!

On New Year's Day, the grandchildren flew back to Seattle after a successful week of being with their father and stepmother (and old grandparents).  In spite of all of the twists and turns of this season, I can't remember a reason to be happier.  Christmas 2016 was one of the best ever!