The Dec-o-tater

I just returned from my trip north to celebrate Christmas with my family.  My sister, Mary Beth and her husband Tom, hosted the event and also threw in a Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning breakfast for me and my sister and husband who also came in from DC.  I mean, we are talking Christmas china, silver... the works.  The usual crowd of my mom's side of the family arrived Christmas Day and all of the traditions that we always do were incorporated.  We have added a few changes over the years, with a new cookie or two, or a new food item, but the routine is pretty much the same.  Eat, talk and laugh loudly, drink mulled wine, repeat numerous times and have a White Elephant gift exchange.

The gift exchange was particularly lively this year.  Some highly sought after and repeatedly stolen items included 20% alcohol beer smuggled in from Michigan, the Holy Toast maker which creates an image of the Virgin Mary on your morning toast, a souvenir tin of tea from the Royal Wedding and, the pièce de résistance, the Dec-o-tater.

My sister is a columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal.  After writing a story about our family's pet potato, http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/breckenridge/mary-beth-breckenridge-gifts-that-keep-on-giving-1.354247, a retired Portage County judge sent her a funky little potato as a gift.  And sure enough, it showed up as the following:

In addition, to all of the fun that my sister created for us, she also made a slide show of old family photos which ran on the TV screen during the day.  AND, we each received a copy.  I will share some of those gems in another blog.  What a nice way to remember all the family times and members who are no longer with us, or not able to attend our gathering.  It was so lovely.  I have learned to welcome that aspect of the holidays and no longer dread the sadness for times and people who are gone.  The memories get larger and more clear.  There can be such joy in loss, I have decided.



The day after Christmas was a bust, however. My grand kids had to return to Toledo instead of staying overnight with me when threats of a winter storm thwarted our plans.  In fact, after running a few errands in the morning before the snows began, I slowly made it back to the hotel where I spent the day, unable to venture out on the roads.  And today, after delayed flights, and sitting around in the airport, I finally made it home.  Despite the glitch in plans, the holiday was perfect.