2013 Home for the Holidays Special edition of LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com Page 41
Home for the holidays, National Lampoon style
If you get the chance this year, laugh with your family
A
lthough there is a 10-year difference between
us, my younger sister and I each met the love
of our life and began sharing our lives with our
new mates at the same time. We also left home at
the same time, which led to a wide gap of space
between all of us for the first few years of our
marriages.
My sister and her husband left our little Jasper
County community in Illinois and moved to Penn-
sylvania. They were in Pennsylvania when my
nephew was born in the
summer, so he was sever-
al months old when they
came home for Christmas
and we saw him for the
first time.
My dad had passed away
several years earlier, and
mom had for the most
part “downsized” Christ-
mas at her house. But
with the newest arrival
coming for Christmas, she
got a little carried away
on the gift-giving.
Years earlier she had
given up the large, freshly
cut Christmas tree and opted for a much smaller
put-together tree. She had assembled the tree to
stand on top of an antique sewing machine sitting
in front of her window. The tree was adequate,
and she had it nicely decorated. The dumbfound-
ing part of the story was the mountain of gifts that
started on the floor in front of the sewing machine
and grew until they were crowded all around the
tree, pushing against its bottom branches.
On Christmas morning, with everyone gathered
in the living room in front of the magnificent pile
of gifts, the atmosphere was happy and relaxed.
For the men in our lives, it may have been a little
more stressful than for us girls. They were, after
all, still new to the family and still learning about
the weirdness that made their wives and mother-
in-law “special.”
Mom was the official supervisor of the event and
sat in her best spot on the sofa telling everyone
what to do – typical. My sister was the designated
gift distributor and happily took on the task.
As brightly colored pack-
ages were passed around
and opened, the guys were
gifted with gadgets and
gloves, canned nuts, and,
as a tribute to my grand-
mother, a box of chocolate-
covered cherries.
Sis and I received more
practical gifts: pillow-
cases, kitchen towels and
utensils, jigsaw puzzles
for cold winter snow days,
and a couple of whimsical
items just for us.
My nephew was the one
who really scored. Dozens
of packages were laid before the little guy, only
a few months old. As the papers came off, there
were little toys and rattles, magic toys that made
noise with flashing lights, tiny clothes just his size,
and so much more. Of course, as a baby his great-
est joy was in chewing on wrappers and playing
with bows.
When the whirlwind of unwrapping was finished,
we exclaimed over our gifts and expressed our ap-
preciation to our mother, who had overdone it by a
long shot. We began cleaning up the mess, and
