29 Going on 79

Christmas at the Towers household was particularly fun this year since everyone was home. Madge and I arrived on Tuesday after spending the morning and afternoon with Andy in Cleveland. Kevin and Jess arrived on Wednesday and of course Sissy, Ren and B were already there. I set up my suite in the basement this year and luxuriously spread out all of my gear and relished the fact that no one goes into the basement which means making my bed isn't necessary!

Our church has three services on Christmas Eve and we decided to attend the family service for little kids at 7:00. Because it's so close to B's bed time, he didn't even go with us - so we were at the kid's service sans the kid. On Christmas morning roles were once again reversed and Mom and Dad had to wake the kids up. By the time Sissy, Ren and B arrived after breakfast, we were ready to start opening up presents. B was a little more excited than last year to check out his loot! And of course we rounded out the day by hitting the local theater for a movie - Kevin, Jess and I saw Valkyrie and really liked it. You can check out my review here.

Ren's parents were in town from D.C. and came to Mom and Dad's house for dinner on Christmas night. Our very first Christmas with the Zhangs was great and pretty interesting - it was the first time we had roast duck for dinner and the cultural encounters were pretty funny to watch between the parents. A few years later and not much has changed, but both families are pretty comfortable around one another. Ren's dad prefers not to speak English very much and my sister has warned my parents countless times to avoid any lengthy conversations that might make either of them uncomfortable. So of course, Mom's notable conversation attempt was when she asked Nan about the current budget issues at his job at NASA. Nan launched into a long discussion of something Mom wasn't entirely clear about and when she enthusiastically said "oh, that's interesting" she obviously missed his point because he emphatically responded that no, indeed it was not interesting, and tried to explain further. Desperate for an activity that everyone would enjoy but didn't require lots of talking, my parents popped in a DVD - the first season of Golden Girls. Soon after, Sissy, Ren, B and the Zhang's took off to make little B's bedtime. Despite the occasional language barrier and conversational gaffe, the evening was exceptionally pleasant.

Dippin' Dots are perhaps my favorite frozen treat and sadly they're often only available at stadiums, arenas and theme parks - not my usual stomping grounds. With the allure of Dippin' Dots and overpriced beer, I couldn't turn down my Brother's invitation to watch our hometown hockey team, the Rochester Americans or as they're known locally - the Amerks. Sitting in front of me was a randy group of four - all sitting with one seat between them. The largest was in front of Jess, wearing head to toe Steelers gear with his girlfriend in front of Kevin, wearing a gorgeous scrunchie in her hair. In front of Dad and me was the most hyper and out of control teenager with a fistful of Mountain Dew and a Ritalin rock that made me dizzy. The crazy Rochester accents that were swirling about were way more exciting than the hockey game though I found myself cringing at being in such a large crowd of people that were so different than me. I became a bit of a xenophobe and had to stop myself from thinking that I as cooler than everyone around me! Jess' brother is a sports announcer and texted her with the news that we were watching the hockey team with a record that placed them third to last in the rankings. Strangely enough they won! So the game was fun - but much more so for the atmosphere and of course the Dippin' Dots!

I spent the rest of the weekend playing with Sissy and B; putting a puzzle together with my saint of a mother who hates puzzles; and visiting with friends from high school. It was a great holiday and relaxing week!