Christmas adventures

Abigail with her great grandfather, on the eve before Christmas Eve.

By Allan Olson

We spent the Christmas holiday weekend away from home – nothing unusual for us, since our family is all up in the North country. Possibly a little unusual was celebrating two Christmases in the same weekend, as often we celebrate one family gathering early and the other on Christmas – but such was not the case this time.

We hit the road late Friday afternoon for our first Christmas celebration, and arrived up North at about dark, still in plenty of time to visit before dining on the delicious food. We stayed and visited and the adults exchanged gifts of Christmas goodies while the kids exchanged gifts. The surprise of the night was when my niece arrived – who we were last told due to her near-child condition would not be able to attend. However, she got doctor’s permission and decided to head up for the family Christmas. We finally called it a night and headed over to my parents’ place, where we spent the rest of the weekend hiding from the cold.

I managed to sleep until 8 a.m. on Saturday, which is kind of unusual on any day, let alone if I’m away from home. That afternoon, all of us except Nikolai, who was battling a cold, headed out to visit my wife’s Grandpa. We spent probably an hour visiting him in his new digs before others arrived; due to the small room, we departed at that time. The rest of our evening was pretty uneventful; we enjoyed supper and did some visiting before some went to bed and others watched the screen.

I was wide awake at my normal time (6 a.m.) on Sunday, and decided that to get some work done for this week. A couple hours later, the rest of the house was awake and I decided to put my stuff away and get ready for church. After church, I dropped half of the family back at home, and then the girls and I headed into town. Their grandma had something for them, and I wanted to get something from the grocery store. We made it back to my parents in time for lunch, and then we waited for the arrival of the rest of the family. My youngest brother had arrived shortly before we got home from church, and another brother showed up after the girls and  I got home from town. My niece and nephew were next to arrive, and my older brother and the rest of his family showed up just after dark. The house was filled with noise and laughter with all the cousins and family gathered for the big weekend. The kids were allowed to get into their Christmas stockings that evening, and enjoyed the candy and other fun items. They played a variety of games that evening, including one that my wife made with a bunch of fun items to unwrap from a giant ball of plastic wrap.

The house was alive and bustling by 8 a.m. on Monday, and we started unwrapping gifts shortly after. For me, the gift I received was priceless. As a child and into my adult years I had played a game involving dice and marbles called Superman – similar to Aggravation and Sorry. Several years ago I made one for one of my siblings, and another sibling made one for me. Somehow, during our move, my board got lost in the shuffle and was never found. 

This year, I decided that I wanted a new board for Christmas, and I spotted one under the tree (wrapped up) almost immediately. Without even looking or verifying that the gift was mine, I was just certain that it was. The surprise came when I opened it and I found “white marbles” in the home spot, which brought tears to my eyes as my mom explained that Grandma always had the white marbles, and she has been “home” for several years. After the torn-away gift wrappings were all cleaned up and stuff put away, I challenged my three brothers to the inaugural game of Superman on my new board. I chose white – a contrast to the blue I usually picked when playing my grandma. In the end, I lost and my brother Kevin defeated us all. Ironically enough, Abigail was playing his daughter on my parent’s board that my grandpa made for us years ago, and defeated her also.

We finally made it home Monday evening and unpacked the vehicle. The kids were given their gifts from us, and then we headed downstairs to watch a movie. After a couple hours of searching for the remote (that one of them lost) we gave up and settled in our room. I lasted an hour crammed into the bed with the six of us before finally escaping. The others finished watching the movie while I went off and drank some tea and did some other things. Perhaps on Tuesday, the remote will have been found and we can watch a movie in a little more comfortable setting.

Plans for this week include getting a vehicle fixed – yeah, another vehicle repair. Aside from that, I just plan to avoid the cold as much as possible – except for the cold ride in a vehicle with no heater. BRRR!!! Other plans might include watching some basketball, and perhaps we will have some friends over for New Year’s Eve.