the holidays and family

Holidays are never fun as a grown up. Well, maybe some people enjoy them but it seems like most of us spend the time dreading dealing with our family members, putting up with family members and then recovering from and rehashing hanging out with family members. For me, it is generally my sister and I who cannot seem to get along when it comes to the holidays. Not really sure why. I used to love Thanksgiving and Christmas. We always had a lot of people over, my mom went overboard decorating the house and I loved how everyone was happy and festive. Now it seems like no one is happy or festive and I just generally get annoyed with everyone.

So, my plan this year is to get away and see if we can be festive. We are all (mom, dad, sister and fam, and us) heading down to my mom's cousin's for turkey. Then Jeff, the kids and I will check out Portland. I'm looking forward to that since I've driven through many times but never bothered to stop. For xmas, we're off to Mazama where we are going to play in the snow, ski and generally have a groovy time. My parents are coming but they'd better be festive and fun (see above) and babysit the kids a bit so Jeff and I can have some time with each other. That would be novel.

I will definitely be missing my grandfather a lot over the holidays. His personality always made any gathering a party. He always cooked or helped my mom cook the big family dinners. I can't remember any holiday party that was any fun when he wasn't there. Hopefully, he can still be there in spirit.