All we want for Christmas is...

{s} Celebrating the holidays is always full of family and traditions.  We knew this year would be different after the sudden passing of Mike's niece, Allie. Even though this was a difficult time, it was important to cherish our family moments together and reflect on happy memories.

Our festivities began on December 22^nd when we hosted the annual White Elephant Gift Party with Mike’s family.  With the family arriving later that evening, I had plenty of time to clean up the house and bake cookies as well as prepare bacon-chicken roll-ups ('cuz I am not a fan of the traditional sausage sandwiches they all swoon over).  

{m} Hold up.  Just to clarify, the sausage sandwiches are...AMAZING!  They were my mom's secret recipe that my family doesn't just swoon over--they would kill for.  Ok, now back to her perspective...

{s} I had to play Uber Driver for Hannah and Parker, who were double-booked this particular evening and had another holiday event to attend.  I was able to get back to the house before the first guests arrived; Chris, Kyle and the kids.  I think coats were barely off one second before the gobbling of the sacred sandwiches commenced.  Soon after, everyone else arrived and the eating was in full swing.  I would like to add that my roll-ups were also a hit...I see a new tradition forming.  

{m} Ok, I'll admit it--those roll-ups were pretty damn good!  Once the house was full, along with everyone's bellies, we migrated to the basement area to watch the kids rip open their gifts.  I knew things couldn't be good when Chris asked me before he arrived, "Is your ceiling made of that popcorn stuff?"  As it turned out, he bought them remote control cars that actually drove on the walls and the ceiling!  After nearly giving me a heart attack from all the NASCAR activity on my walls and trying to keep the children from scratching up the felt on the pool table, it was finally time for the classic White Elephant Gift exchange.

{s} I'm going back up for just a moment here...while the Pool Sharks were (literally) bouncing the cue ball off the table, I had to resume my Uber duties and pick-up Hannah and Parker.  Arriving home, it was a free-for-all in the basement; we had to play limbo under the pool sticks and dodge cars falling from the ceiling!  Now - returning to the White Elephant gifts...I believe most people are familiar with how this works; you find some piece of junk laying around your home that you wrap up and try to pawn off on some unsuspecting recipient.  Mike and I scoured the house for three gifts to contribute to the exchange: (1) Magic 8 Ball, (2) Selfie Stick and (3) LED Pet Tag.

{m} Based on the prior experience, we assumed our gifts this year would likely be popular, considering last year there was a cowbell, sugar packets wrapped in toilet paper, and a wrestle-mania DVD.  Little did we know, this year the family apparently purchased legit top-tier gifts!  After opening packages full of lotto tickets and a high-quality flashlight, Parker was the last person to select a gift, and opted to steal the $25 Red Robin gift card & coffee mug from my niece, Skie.  She then chose the final present, and naturally, it was our lame LED pet tag.  After realizing it was even worse than the deceptive shoe inserts box I packaged it in, she replied with a "Gee, thanks."  Just another Murphy's Law moment, but we kept our guilt silent to avoid the embarrassment of being the worst gift givers of 2018. 

{s} Well - I guess the cat's out of the bag...we are the worst gift givers of 2018!  We'll do better next year, folks, I promise.  Once the gifts were all opened, time was spent relaxing and talking.  Mike enjoyed listening to Kyle play the piano and even little Violet took a turn playing the ivory.  As I think about how chaotic the evening was, I would not have had it any other way.  It's in these moments that wonderful memories are made and I'm so glad I have this extended family to celebrate with.

{m} Before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve.  We spent the afternoon with Sarah's family.  I always enjoy their gatherings for a few reasons.  First of all, they've always made me and my son feel like part of their family from day one.  Second, they never disappoint with the food.  But perhaps my favorite part of being with her family is their humor mixed with the classic storytelling.  And this Christmas Eve went to a whole new level!

{s} I've always been told I tell great stories with the perfect balance between sarcasm and humor.  I never realized this was an art, it's just second-nature to me.  Growing up in a family of storytellers, this is how I spent practically every meal time; no one ever spoke in complete sentences because someone else was ready to jump in and complete it for you.  Between my brother's ability to impersonate voices, layers of sarcasm and multitude of hand gestures and facial expression, it's quite possible my family developed our own secret language.  The first few times Mike and Teegan were exposed to this chaotic way of conversation they both had the 'deer in headlight look' but I think they are starting to enjoy the show and will occasionally jump in. 

{m} Oh, let's just say this time, we definitely enjoyed the show!  As Gary told his story about his water heater issue, he started using the typical Stewart family hand gestures.  However, as he was explaining about the long pipe and the gas leak that was spewing out, his gestures suddenly took on a whole new meaning--especially for a room with four teenage kids who began chuckling uncontrollably!  Within seconds everyone was in tears of laughter.  Poor Gary was confused as to why his story about how he had to replace the water heater was so hilarious.  Then it clicked.  His face turned as red as a tomato and he let out an embarrassed belly laugh, joining in with the rest of us.  This story would now become the legendary tale of Willy and the Hand-Jive and his X-rated water heater!

{s} Yep, that's my dad!  My oldest niece, who's in college, summed it best when she stated, "Holidays are much more fun now that we are older!"  I won't bore you with the details of the 'Battle of the Radio' that was underway throughout our entire visit.  Let's just say my mom had holiday music playing in the background...my dad would turn it up....my mom would turn it down and my brother didn't help things with his "I can't hear the music" or "That radio is really loud" comments (only said so he could watch them scurry around the house to adjust the volume).  Now for the traditional family Christmas photo.  This year we opted to take it outside because the weather was nice.  I set up the tripod, had my new blue-tooth photo remote synced to my phone and we were ready to roll.  Except - minor distraction with the squirrels playing tag in my parents’ front yard.

{m} After a memorable day with the family, we dropped Teegan off at his mom's, and Parker and Hannah were picked up by their dad, leaving Sarah and I to spend our first Christmas Eve together without the kids.  We had it all figured out.  It was going to be a pizza and wine night, followed by the construction of Teegan's new bed and Parker's new desk.  The plan was to enjoy a little down time and then have their gifts all ready for them when they arrived Christmas morning. Worst case scenario, we would be fast asleep by midnight, right?

{s} We ordered the pizza and since we had a 25-min wait, I suggested we drive around looking at Christmas lights.  We had a nice time ogling over the large homes and hopped out of the jeep to take a few selfies (careful to step around the goose poo around the pond).  After picking up the pizza and arriving home, I think we both had the same mindset - eat fast so we can get to work and then spend the rest of the night relaxing.  We officially started working at 6:30pm.

{m} The first step was removing the old bunk bed and desk.  It was a bit of a pain since many of the bolts holding the bunk bed together had been stripped, preventing the allen wrench from working.  Then there were the various findings under the bed.  Money. Candy from God knows when. Silly putty stuck to the carpet.  I'm surprised there was no creature living under there! We were done with Teegan's room and new bed by 8:30pm. Unfortunately, we had no idea what we were in for with Parker's desk.  Rather than kill ourselves trying to haul in the 300-pound box I had stashed away in the garage, it was a piece-meal effort to carry each piece into the house individually.  It was only after seeing all the hundreds of parts that we realized that in order to give Parker his gift on Christmas, we would need to build Rome in a day!  Needless to say, we were up until 3am putting this damn thing together.  Sarah passed out on the floor somewhere in the middle of putting the drawers together.  But it was totally worth it!  Their rooms looked awesome and we were finally ready for Christmas.

{s} I'd like it noted that we never even uncorked the before mentioned bottle of wine and I merely passed out out of exhaustion. 

We rolled out of bed at 9:30am on Christmas morning and we had a leisurely breakfast.  The kids would all be returning around 1 o'clock so Mike finished adding the last-minute touches to each of the boys' rooms and I started the prep-work on the ham dinner we'd be having later in the evening.  At precisely 1:01pm Christmas, part deux had officially begun.  We wanted the kids to take time opening their gifts so begrudgingly, they took turns...one by one, opening presents; secretly, I think they all enjoyed this method.  When all gifts were opened and the living room was scattered with wrapping paper, we told the boys there was one last final gift for them each.... Hannah had already opened her big-ticket item; a North Face Hunter green jacket she'd had her eye on since Black Friday shopping.  Both boys were very happy with their bedroom make-overs and Mike and I were totally satisfied with the outcome.  I had to even take a photo of each room to capture the moment (and use later to show them what a "clean room" should really look like).

{m} Christmas of 2018 was quite enjoyable, but it was also bittersweet since Allie's passing was still fresh on our minds.  Sarah was super-thoughtful and special ordered personal, memorial ornaments for the family to hang on the tree each year in her honor.  Reflecting on the year, for me it was all about family.  While it's hard to get everyone together (mostly due to distance), I feel like we are all closer now more than ever.  I chose to focus on this during the holidays and look forward to taking this with me into 2019.  I am a very lucky man to have all these amazing people in my life.