On Delay, On Delay

I made it home in one piece last week for the Christmas festivities. Airport waiting areas, irritable flight attendants and chatty pilots aside- all was merry and bright.

To coronate our first Christmas in our new house, my parents decided to facilitate as many people as possible during the four and a half days I was home. We hosted a dinner party for 22 on Sunday, everyone was assigned to work on a dish and then everyone ate family-style. Things were getting crowded in the kitchen, so my friend RW and I headed outside to my dad’s outdoor kitchen to create our chicken enchiladas. It was a whopping 37 degrees outside, and my brother and his friend were in charge of the margarita machine (which was also outdoors), so we all stole North Face fleeces from my dad’s closet and got to work.

Ten hours later, my brother and dad were manning the stove indoors, serving up made to order omelets country club style for my dad’s side of the family. The two of them have made eggs an art form. I never used to eat them before I tried the ones they made. They’d convert the pickiest of eaters.

Among the omelet eaters was my cousin and his wife’s youngest son JH, who is four-years-old. He wasn’t so much into the gourmet eggs as the gumball machine he found upstairs. Being the one who showed him how to use it, I was responsible for him when he came bounding down the stairs- herringbone pants, black blazer (with matching tie) and all, chomping his rainbow assortment of gum.

My bad.

The night of Christmas Eve was spent, as usual, at my aunt and uncle’s house in Plano, Texas, eating Mexican food and relaxing. I was, however, introduced to a fun new little game called Rock Band, which was up and running in my cousin KH’s room after dinner. Rock Band includes a guitar, a microphone, and best of all- drums. My attempts were quite dismal- even on level Easy. I was like the mom who is trying to be hip with her kids who are way more technologically advanced. A few months out of college and I’m totally out of the loop. I also have no rhythm, which contributes to my lack of skills necessary for Rock Band success.

Christmas Day itself was great- my family always goes to movies in the afternoon on Christmas, and this year we elected to see “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”. It was good- as sequels go, definitely good. Leonardo di Caprio is our usual go-to Christmas day Blockbuster poster child- Titanic, Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York.

A funny revelation I had over the weekend was the overlapping of my brother’s and my Christmas gifts this year.

The DVD of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix? Check.
Dressy patent leather shoes? (His were to go with his tux, for the record). Check.

Like brother, like sister. Or something like that. I wish I was also going on the ski trip he’s getting, but some of us have to WORK.

Our good friend CC is on her way to the city for a long weekend right now. Her flight was artificially delayed (she was told it was late, only to arrive at the airport to find it leaving without her) so we’re hoping she gets here in one piece. I’m sure that would be comforting for her to hear about now… after midnight, stuck at the airport in New Jersey.

We all had half-days at work today, so we got to play all afternoon. We met up at Rockefeller Center, which was a poor choice considering the influx of people that have already arrived in the city for New Year’s Eve. AV compared us to prisoners who get out of jail, and then don’t know what to do with themselves, and end up back in the slammer.

Lucky for us, after our busy day we got to come home to fresh groceries and High School Musical I & II on T.V. My first experience with HSM I was actually at CC’s house in College Station, where she lived with four other girls. My roommate MH and I had been over to watch Grey’s Anatomy and eat Pei Wei with our friend DM, and after the show the topic of HSM came up.

Neither of us had ever seen it- so in a fury of DVD cases and remotes and a few pillows, we were set for the night. Confused, MH and I sat in wonder at the fact that any time a musical number came on, all five girls would simultaneously appear to dance and sing along, and then subsequently disappear when the plot would pick up again.

I also can’t say we were that surprised.

"Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future."
–Gail Buckley