Yesterday was our Christmas celebration with my dad and his family in Millers Creek, up in the NC foothills. It's never uneventful, and this year's highlights included:
1.) My grandfather left shrimp out
all night to "take the chill off" before people arrived for lunch the next day. My cousin was very gracious and delicate in explaining to him why
no one seemed interested in eating them warm,
Grandpa, I think most people actually like them chilled, while I just told him
that's gross and put them back in the fridge. They were fully cooked, so I guess it was fine. I mean, no one got sick or anything (not that too many got eaten).
2.) Anneliesegot to meet Grandpa (her great-Grandpa) for the first time, and she
loved him! Nathan has had a track record of bad moods up at his house, so I wasn't sure what to expect from Anneliese (this was the first time they had met). But they got along famously and she spent hours in his arms and they even
dozed off and took a nap togetherat one point after lunch. So cute.
3.) My dad helped my Grandpa out by cleaning out his gutters before lunch. Nathan and Grandpa threw snowballs at him while he was up on the ladder. Just for kicks. Ahhh, can you feel the family love?
4.) Even more miraculous than no one getting sick from warm festering shrimp is the fact that no one got sick from some moonshine they found in the basement that my Grandpa had apparently acquired in 1980 from a neighbor as a remedy for one of his cows who had pinkeye. You can't make this stuff up, people. The ones who drank it (and I count Mark in that number, although normally he's smarter than that) didn't feel so great, but no one was outright
sick. But here's the thing -- if you drink some clear liquid from a mason jar that's
probably thirty-year-old moonshine (but how do you know for sure, really?) and is rumored
to have medicinal effects for bovine pinkeye -- you
deserve to be sick.
5.) My cousin Brandon has been infamous for making a huge mess of a candy cane when he was a toddler, and he rolls his eyes when the story gets re-told every Christmas. He is the youngest cousin in my generation, so he has been anxiously awaiting the day when a new younger relative could take over the infamy. So we gave Nathan his first candy cane. He ate it. He liked it. But it didn't even come close to the sticky pink mess that Brandon made in his day. Sorry, Brandon. You apparently can't be outdone.
6.) There are now more "kids" than adults, but somehow we still have to sit at a folding table in the den to eat our food instead of with the "grownups." Are other families like this too?
7.) My sister danced with the "Jingle Bell Rock" Santa. This is a still from the video. It cracks me up.
8.) Somehow we got into a huge discussion (not for the first time) about who my dad and his sister dated when they still lived in their hometown and how ridiculous it is that they all have the same name. And this year the whole thing ended up with my dad's proclamation that "third cousins don't count!" And even though
I am sure I hope it was mostly in jest, his defensiveness was hilarious. Sean said we should put that on his tombstone. :)
For more pictures of our visit to Millers Creek, click on Nathan in the snow, below.
by
mgoetts
