Christmas Weekend 2018

The Friday before Christmas, we worked a bit of a shorter day to make up for all the impending hustle and bustle of the weekend. My intent was to leave early Saturday morning, so we could make it to Hammond by mid-morning. I was mostly successful in that we left around 8 and made it to Hammond by around 11. But first, coffee. 

One of our first stops was going to visit my Grandpa. He was recently moved to a nursing home and has really been struggling with his back pain. This was my first time ever going to a nursing home, and I left with an urge to really want to volunteer at one in the future. He was in the middle of his lunch when we got there, so we waited near his room at first. My mom and I headed over to the cafeteria after a while to check on him. While we were talking, another resident came up and was asking my mom if they would have Bingo today. My mom kept leaning forward and asking her to repeat herself, more out of confusion than anything, and the lady suggested that my mom turn her 'machine' up i.e. her hearing aid.  My mom was just like "oh, I don't have one of those."  I was so tickled by this exchange. The lady warmly wished us a Merry Christmas and shook my hand.

I don't think Grandpa trusted me to push him in his wheelchair lol, but he eventually let me take him back to his room since we weren't sure how long we'd have to wait for a nurse otherwise. As we left, another resident asked him how he was doing. He couldn't hear her, so I repeated her question to him. She couldn't hear his reply, so you can see how this exchange went haha. I definitely got the impression that these people were reaching out for connection, and I can only imagine how lonely it is to be in a place like that for an extended period of time.

Grandpa was so sleepy, so we couldn't visit him long as he was literally falling asleep in the middle of a sentence while sitting in his wheelchair. The entire place was very warm, and he is on medication to help with his back, so I'm sure that wasn't helping. 

I wanted to spend the whole day with my parents because I know they often end up feeling short-changed when we visit since we're trying to squeeze in time with so many people while we're there. We played Quiddler, Skip-Bo, Uno, and Jumanji. Sadly, it is getting more and more difficult to find games my mom can play comfortably. Her glaucoma has progressed to a severe stage. It doesn't seem like there's much that can be done about it at this point, so I just need her to keep taking her eye drops so the condition doesn't worsen. I'm worried about her, and it makes me very sad. 

Since my parents had never made it down for last year's Christmas, we brought our gifts up this year. I had a couple of things purchased recently from Africa for my mom, but the main gift I had was a memorial item for my dad's mom. Last year was the first Christmas without her, so I had wanted to give it to him then, but I think it's safe to say that we're all very much still missing Gramma. 

Sunday was our jam-packed day of family visit after family visit. We started the day at my mother-in-law's where I finally got to hold my new nephew Anakin since I wasn't sick this visit. 

We were only there for maybe a couple hours, but we enjoyed our visit and were wishing we had more time. But we needed to be in Glenview by 1-2, and that's at least an hour's drive. I think we ended up getting to Gina's house around 1:30, and we had lunch with his family where we had the most delicious vegetarian zucchini quinoa dish. After we finished eating, Gina handed Francisco one of his gifts. She had taken the time to put together a photo album of photos of his childhood and his father. It was so touching.

Joaquin, Tori, Juan Carlos, Julien, Me, Juan Pablo, Grandma Yolanda, Gina, Pati, Missy, Francisco [I do not know what Grandma Yolanda is doing lol.]

One of the primary reasons we had come back up to Glenview for Christmas was to see Francisco's cousin Missy who was in town for the holidays. She lives in California near San Francisco. This was my first time meeting her, and Francisco hasn't seen her since he was a teenager. His cousin Julien was also visiting from Washington although we've at least seen him in recent years. 

Again, the time went by too quickly, but we had one last stop in Chicago after this. We probably ended up leaving there around 4:30, and it was around a half hour drive to my cousin Brenda's house. 

They were just starting to get dinner going, so we split into our natural roles. Francisco went to assist in the kitchen, and I went to play with Corrine, my cousin's daughter whom I finally got to meet!

My cousin Jennifer came with her two daughters, Brittany and Lelani. Brenda and Andy whipped up a simple but tasty chili that we all dug into along with some margaritas.

From there, it ended up turning into a game night. I wish we had taken some pics and even videos of all the fun playing Rollick and Catchphrase, but I know I ended up having a blast.  So much so that we ended up staying out till like 11 PM, which everyone knows is way past by bedtime. I figured that was my last Christmas stop, so darn it, I was going to end it on a high note. 

Christmas Eve morning, we had enough time for a couple of games before we had to hit the road.

We figured we would rather drive home Monday over spending most of Christmas Day on the road. I was wiped after such a fun weekend, so Francisco ended up crawling in bed with me around 7 AM to wake me up Christmas morning. Our pile of presents this year was the smallest it's ever been, but we've really been moving away from buying stuff more and more. That said, we are thinking we may have gone slightly lighter than we would have preferred, so we may kick it up a notch next year. We're still figuring out how to have the most balanced, value-added Christmas with minimal stress lol. 

I love our little Christmases at home regardless.

We did a puzzle, played Overcooked 2 (one of Francisco's presents to me), watched Naked and Afraid, my new favorite show, and just lazed about the rest of the day.

Having to work the day after Christmas isn't ideal, but at least it was a quiet, easy day since a lot of people are out this week. 

Last year, I ended up feeling really sad that none of our family were able to visit for the holidays. My parents might have still made it this year, but I didn't want to risk it, and I know Gina had asked more than once if we could come for Christmas. While I love hosting and having family over, it's just more important to spend time together whatever that takes. I feel like I've been so focused these past few years in wanting to have us hosting be the new holiday tradition, but that just hasn't caught on. I don't know what future holidays will look like, but I know I want to share them with people we care about. Cousins, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, nieces, nephews, siblings. It often doesn't work well to do something on Christmas Day, but I still want to make time for our family whenever wherever, and the holidays are always a nice excuse for family time.