Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve celebration yesterday. I think we had 37 people at home. Several others couldn't make it because of the weather....there is SO much snow here in Milwaukee.

Pictures will be coming soon both of the snow and of the family (I hope).

As always, it was wonderful to be with family.

Some highlights:
-We read from Luke 2 and sang Silent Night together
-Some family stories were told in passing:
How my sister Brage used to take a Barbie doll and pull down it's shirt to nurse.
How my sister Rachel used to take the salt pellets from the water softener and eat them. And how she used to rub her broccoli against the huge salt blocks before eating the broccoli. I think she has a sodium deficiency.
How I didn't want to nurse as a child and how this may have led to intimacy issues even today and not being married at 35.
-Tobias has this way of bringing a lot of intensity into these gatherings. At Thanksgiving, he yelled at mom: SIT DOWN, THIS IS YOUR TIME; YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE RELAXING. Mom: Tob...it is hard to relax when you're yelling at me. Tob: BE QUIET!...LET SOMEONE DO SOMETHING FOR YOU.
-Rob Jr. was a bit rebellious. We all think he is just like Rob when he was younger. We may all take restraining lessons again so we can hold Junior's arms across his chest on the floor, separate his legs and sit on him... for the years to come. In our short time together, he shoved, hit, kicked, cried, yelled, and head butted. At Thanksgiving, I told Rob and Claudie what an angel he was. They said I obviously hadn't met their child.

Even though I'm writing some personal and maybe not flattering things, I still love them all. And enjoy being with them.