Palest Ink

Christmas eve began a bit roughly. Larry was irritated with me over a small thing, and I allowed it to get me irritated as well. I started to cry in the car on the way down to his families house. It started being about the irritation between us, and the fact that it had stolen the little Christmas spirit I had been able to muster. After a few minutes, though, it became obvious there was more to it. Part of me was really sad at spending my first Christmas away from Neal. He may no longer be my sweetheart, but I still care about him and think of him as family. After a little while, I got that out of my system and managed to enjoy my evening with Larry’s family.

That night, after his family went to bed, we jumped into the hot tub. It was still snowing, and the contrast between the snow falling on our heads and the warm water was delightful.

Christmas morning was a flurry of gift opening, mostly the 7,000 gifts for April, the only child in the family. With a maturity beyond her 4 years, she meticulously examined each item, clothing or toy, before moving on to the next. This was humorous at first, until it became obvious that the mountain of presents was hardly shrinking after about an hour.

Gail, Larry’s mom, is quite generous and likes to include everyone equally, whether they are her child or not. She gave me several great books and cd’s, a sonic toothbrush, and a serger. I tried the serger out a little on Sunday, and am excited about how much easier and nicer my seams will be from here on out. My gift for her was a large framed portrait of her family. I took it about a month earlier, under the guise of needing it for my portfolio. She seemed happy and even a little surprised.

All in all, it was a pretty good time. I like that his family is pretty laid back, something mine has never been. Mostly though, I am happy that it Christmas is over for one more year, with all the stress that leads up to it.

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