Let your heart be light

It's Christmas morning and the family is gathered in the living room. I am Santa, proudly wearing the hat and passing out everyone's presents. Part of my father's gift from me was a couple of six packs of specialty winter-brew beers.

Because we like to keep it classy up in here.

As I bring the large bag over to him, the clinking of the glass bottles is clearly audible.

Dad: Oh, jeez. Clink, clink! Can't imagine what's in there.
Catherine: Well, Dad... you only have a couple of real interests, and we pretty much have to cater to those.
(beat)
Dad: Oh...the emptiness of life...

These types of off-hand comments define our family holiday experiences. We all burst out laughing, even though at the time the comment seemed sincere. We just don't ask. He mentioned later in the morning that I would be repeating the same phrase all in good time. Further proving our affection and tendencies for all things sinister, a couple of Thanksgivings ago, someone mentioned that Raffi died, a musical staple of the kid's childhood and the adults' parenthood. Dinner came to a complete halt, people began screaming belligerently, voices cracking with emotion. Raffi couldn't die! We had to pause the meal to fact-check on Google. (You'll be glad to know that Raffi is still with us.)

This most recent Thanksgiving, we were playing Apples to Apples. The adjective was "awkward" and Cassidy submitted "The Challenger Explosion" as an answer. It was so out of place with all of the other answers, and so strangely hilarious, since it was sort of the opposite of awkward and really just tragic, but nevertheless, it was the winning submission. The next game we played was in two teams. What did we name those teams? The Challenger and Columbia. Click the links if you don't remember, and either rejoice or be horrified by my family's sick sense of humor and insensitivity. These are the holidays at my house.

I hope you all have a lovely holiday, and enjoy the presence (and presents) of whomever you spend it with. I've just come back from my trip to Louisiana, so please wait with bated with breath for those entries. I'll try to be a better blogger, as I've got three weeks on my hands with absolutely nothing to do.