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#Post#: 16581--------------------------------------------------
Cousin's Night and Christmas Eve 2019
By: Jack Date: December 24, 2019, 4:08 pm
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It's funny. Originally, Cousin's Night was mostly meant for my
brothers (and sister-in-laws) to have a quiet night for
themselves - a chance to have some wine, wrap some presents,
work on more little nieces or nephews... even do a bit of last
minute shopping.
This is my 11th Christmas doing this, and boy have things
changed.
I know I have fallen behind on a lot of blogging over the past
few years, so I should start by saying that Mike and Ben (my
step-brothers from many, many years ago), no longer live in
Bransom. They both still live in the Dallas area, so it's not
too hard for us to still get together from time to time.
I should pause to say that I'm not great with birthdays anymore
- having enough trouble just keeping my own kids' birthdates
straight, so I may be off a bit, but I'm sure about the basic
ages. Matt's kids are Campbell - 23, Shea (m) - 21, Rowan (f) -
17). Matt also has a daughter, Theresa, who is an adult She's
always lived up north with her mom, and I don't think I've seen
her in six or seven years, so I don't really think much about
her. Campbell lives in San Angelo, and wasn't able to join us
this year, but Shea and Rowan were both around. Mike's kids are
two adopted step-sons - Tate (23) and Donny (20). Tate will be
joining us tonight, but had to work Monday, so couldn't be here
for Cousin's night. Mike also has three biological children -
two daughters 7 year old Sheila and 5 year old Carol, and Mike
Jr. is 4. Sheila joined us for the first time this year, but
Carol and Mike Jr aren't staying away from home overnight yet.
Of course, my half-brother - Jason's - oldest son is Huck, who
is 23, works for me, and lives nearby. He joined us for
Cousin's Night, but didn't sleep over. He'll be back again
tonight. Huck's younger son is Kevin, who's 18 now and a senior
in high school. Their younger sister is Charlotte, who's 16.
Ben's kids are David, who I think is 24 (and who wasn't able to
join us), JP (19), and Lyndon (15). Amanda lives with her
husband and their kids down in Houston, but they rarely get up
here for more than a short visit. Aaron, my youngest brother,
is 34 now. I raised him from about the time he was 12, and we
have a hard to define relationship. He came to cousin night for
a long time, but quit a few years ago. He is coming tonight,
and says he has a surprise for me.
Of course, while a lot of my nieces and nephews (my kids'
cousins, as referred to in the night) are growing up and not all
of them come anymore, they've been more than replaced by the
grands and other cousins, like Ryan's kids, or Jason's kids.
Tonight, of course, is Christmas Eve. We're going to have a big
meal served buffet style - a lot like Thanksgiving but more
diverse food. We'll do a gift exchange (cousins each draw two
names and the adults usually exchange some type of family gift.
Besides my brothers and people like Ryan and Jason, most of my
adult kids will be here, as well as my mom, Mike and Ben's mom,
Mary, Dad's last wife, Rose, and some of the mom's of my kids
who are still involved in their boy's life (Bruce, Chandler,
Billy, Parker, and Kaden's mom are all joining us at least for
dinner).
It's big enough these days that we leave the tents set up and
serve out there, though we do the gift exchange in the living
room (a tight squeeze, but it still seems worth it).
#Post#: 16584--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cousin's Night and Christmas Eve 2019
By: kalico Date: December 24, 2019, 5:39 pm
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Have fun and enjoy your
Happy Christmas Eve....
Hugs kal
#Post#: 16594--------------------------------------------------
Re: Cousin's Night and Christmas Eve 2019
By: Jack Date: December 25, 2019, 10:38 am
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Everything went great last night and this morning.
I was able to post the last chapter of the serial before
Christmas, which was important to me.
Christmas Eve is always great, surrounded by family. We wait
while everyone shows up (most of them bringing more presents,
until the entire wall by the tree is covered). My older kids
and a few others helped serve beverages as the guests arrived,
and we just milled around and visited. People started showing
up around 6pm.
One thing that was rather frustrating is that it was 70F/22C
when they started arriving last night. Me and the kids all had
nice Christmas sweaters picked out, but we ended up mostly
wearing just regular shirts - in greens or reds (or both)
whenever possible. Ryan, Noah, and I all actually had
Christmas shirts we could wear.
We served dinner in the tents. We serve it buffet style, but we
had plenty of tables, so everyone could sit. They only sat 4 or
5 people, but they were close enough we were able to talk
between.
By 8pm, we started opening gifts. There are a couple of gifts
for those who are considered 'kids' (basically including
unmarried, young adults), and then the married adults tend to
exchange 'family' gifts. As the Patriarch, I'm allowed to give
one gift to each person - adult or child, so most of the kids
have three gifts to open, and all the adults have at least one.
They're not supposed to get me anything, but they usually sneak
something in, just so they can have an excuse to take pictures,
I think.
By 9:30 or so, we've cleaned up from that. The kids investigate
their new gifts or play games, and the adults mostly sit around
and talk. Those with the youngest children or furthest to go
usually take off after just a few minutes, but it's usually
around 11pm by the time the last people go.
After that, I got most of the kids in their room, and made sure
Curtis and Connor were asleep, then I got the Santa gifts set
out and the stockings stuffed. Daniel spent the night here last
night, but ran up to the store and got the van. He, Mike Guice,
and Boby helped unload everything and get it brought in.
This morning, the kids jumped into their stockings and examined
their gift from Santa. We don't wait on anyone anymore. My mom
says she just has too much trouble getting up and started in the
morning. As soon as they come out of the oven, we have
breakfast casserole, usually with Eggos and cereal. Everyone
finishes eating while Connor and Curtis go insane (and I think
Craig as almost as bad, but slightly better at hiding it).
Finally, it's time to open gifts.
Mostly right now, the kids are examining their hauls, and the
cats are exploring the boxes and wrapping paper. I am yawning
fit to bust my jaw, but I wanted to get the Afterwards to the
Christmas Serial posted, and make one last Christmas post before
I begin to plan for next year. In the meantime, I'm
HTML https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7aDut9SvUY
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