Christmas eve started with a last minute shopping trip. I wish I could say it was to pick up a few last minute items but sadly, Christmas eve was my second day of shopping. Remember? I'm a procrastinator. I was done shopping at around three-thirty in the afternoon just in time to go to the grocery store and pick up a tenderloin to cook for Christmas eve dinner at mom's. I told her I would be there at four o'clock, I made it there at four-forty five which worked out just as well because my sister and her family didn't get there until five-thirty. While everyone was waiting for dinner to be ready the girls, Kiah and Lexi, gave grammie a new hair do. Out with the gray and in with the new chestnut brown, she looks ten years younger, not that she looked old but it is amazing what a fresh hair coloring will do for a person! After dinner we all gathered around the Christmas tree and exchanged gifts, talked and laughed. Everyone was happy with their bellies full, a great visit and new things to play with. Eight-thirty came fast and it was time for Jason, Kiah and me to go pick her friend Braxton up and head over to Jason's parents house for round two of Christmas eve.
Kiah told me, a couple of weeks ago, that her friend Braxton's family does not celebrate Christmas like we do in our families so I got the approval from the in-laws and invited him to spend Christmas eve with us. No one, especially a sixteen year old kid, should spend a holiday alone. Braxton is a sixteen year old boy from Kiahs school, they run together to train for the upcoming track season, pretty sure he is her boyfriend but she hasn't admitted it yet. Kiah is, as most teenagers are, embarrassed of her family and Braxton is petrified of Jason and Kiah's opa (because they have tattoos). They sat on the couch from eight-thirty until about ten talking, texting opening their gifts and watching everyone else open their gifts. Then it happened. Opa took Braxton to the "bone room" to show him around. The "bone room" is a separate room opa built in the backyard, an area which houses an eclectic collection of art. In this room you will find a variety of art forms from photography, paintings, pencil drawings, gemology, tribal industrial and herpetology. Some of these art pieces were crafted by opa and some were collected from various people opa has encountered throughout his life but needless to say, this "bone room" is an extremely cool place to have the opportunity to visit. I could (and probably will) write a blog dedicated to just this room. While opa was showing Braxton his prized collection I spent most of my time trying to explain to Kiah that as weird or crazy as she might think her family might be we are a bunch of fun, loving and talented people she should be proud of. Not to mention, if the people she chooses as friends judge her negatively because she has a silly family those friends are ones she can live without. Bottom line, the alternative for him would to be at home....alone on Christmas eve. All in all it was a great Christmas eve, great family visits, new friends and lessons learned. I hope the rest of my friends and family had a wonderful day filled with love and happiness as well!
