The Christmas Season

Christmas is a time that is somehow glows with the prospect of being with family and happy memories of years past. This year we are all hanging out in Knoxville and the whole family is here. The adults will be going out to dinner tonight while all the children are being watched by some friends. It is always a lively time when we are with Gayle's family: there's a dash of sarcasm mixed with a smidge of laughter and just a soupçon of serious discussion. It is always a good time and there is always a fair amount of food. Correction: There is a lot of food. There is also the requisite amount of head-scratching as all the ladies try to manage the meal distribution while the men all work on their laptops or talk like techies (only one programmer in the lot, but we are all geeks in our own right) until one of the children (or wives) kindly and gently, in a spirit of meekness and patience, demand our attention. In all honesty, they are generally very understanding and the other men are a lot better about being responsive and engaged than I am (case in point--I am blogging by myself in the corner while everyone else is engaged in conversation). As we listen to the family, there is a conversation about how the dogs circle and bark, how Dad's brother-in-law is building a garage in March, and that hot dogs and buns are on sale--and I am missing several going on in another room. If you don't like one conversation, you just mosey on over into another. It's free-form family living and one that we really enjoy. Doug just asked if I was blogging about how wierd our family is. I responded that I was. It is strange anymore for a whole family to still enjoy their time together even as adults. Everyone gets along with everyone else and if you put any two of us alone in a room, it would be perfectly natural and easy to spend time together talking. It's a wonderful strangeness and one I am perfectly content to continue.

Happy Holidays,

Dan