I just got back from the Flickinger family Christmas gathering. I really wasn't looking forward to this event. We've been going to my grandmothers house on Christmas day every year since i can remember. My father is one of six kids in his family so there are lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins. It used to take forever to go around and have everyone open their gifts. But the last few years, there are fewer children there and some cousins are married and spending the day at other places so the crowd isn't that big. Even my sister wasn't there this year as she decided to spent the day with her boyfriend. For the most part, it was pretty boring.
The highlight of the party was the informal tradition that i had almost forgotten about. It usually begins with one of my uncles sharing a story about something that happened when he was a kid. Then the stories just start flowing out. My dad's family was large and dirt poor. Plus his parent's were no Ward and June Cleaver. There are tales about sibling fighting sibling and bizarre accidents that result such as a tin can lid stuck under a finger nail and a car run into a house. They talk about how awful their house was, how you couldn't flush the toilet without bringing up a bucket of water upstairs from the kitchen and how they took turns risking their lives to light the coal furnace. Each memory is funnier that the last. And while we heard must of the stories the year before, we still laugh out loud.
Posted by Matthew at December 25, 2003 05:36 PM