Family fun time

Glad to be back in Warsaw after a couple weeks on the other side of the pond celebrating the holidays with the family. As many have said to me, "You're so lucky that you have a big family where everybody gets along with each other." I consider it more the product of our easy-going natures, honed over many years. It wasn't always like this ya know. There was more than a decade of tantrums, brawls, and declarations of "I hate you!" before the natural détente that accompanies the transition into adulthood (see: maturity).

Some of us, myself excluded, have arrived at the point in our lives when we can sit back and laugh (or be horrified) as we see ourselves reflected in our own kids doing battle with their siblings and cousins. I certainly found it amusing to be a curious onlooker watching my brother wrangle his two youngsters for the duration of the Christmas break. He failed to see the humor and was more than willing to point out how "relaxed" my lifestyle was and that coming home to witness the "family circus" was a potent form of subconscious birth control.

I must admit that observing two of my cousins (both 4-5 year old girls) wrestle over a sled with the end result being one kicking the other in the "privates" does not send one scurrying to the nearest Barnes and Noble for baby books. But it is always amazing that we can eschew all other commitments (i.e. in-laws) to coordinate our three-ring Christmas Eve. It gets tougher every year but this year's version was the biggest in history. 37 people, one fetus, and a couple dogs:

Two days later, most of us were able to reconvene back at my brother's cabin, or as I like to call it, The Family Funtime Resort. The occasion we were celebrating was my grandmother's 86th birthday, along with the arrival of a huge dump of snow on Christmas day. Paul, Dave, and I spent the afternoon excavating and constructing our own luge track which ran from the cabin, past the gigantic snowman, all the way to the lake. It was well worth all the effort as we spent hours outside recapturing the glory days.