| Newfoundland 2003 |
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| Wednesday December 24, 2003 - 6:40pm Visiting and dinner are over with, and now it is time for a quiet, peaceful, Christmas Eve. Not. The "youngsters" (all rapidly aging now) gather at the Dwyers on Christmas Eve. I think Jane is going to come get us. I was going to beg off, until I realized that I most likely won't spend another Christmas here in Newfoundland. I should do as little "Nothing" as possible. So I'll go and have a few drinks with my cousins and their clans. Visiting went quickly, and we got away without ingesting very many calories at all. It being Christmas Eve, everyone was fairly busy, so we were able to keep our visits short. We lost Aaron after our first stop. I can't blame him, really... [continued now, at 8:00pm)... but I feel more of the obligation to do it. They are my family, and they are happy when we come visit. Our first stop was to Great Uncle Jim and Aunt Lil's. Aunt Lil looked good, and I suppose Uncle Jim did too. His mind is not looking as well. He asked me three times what my brother's name was. I remember when they had their store up in Maine or someplace when I was a little girl. Uncle Jim would let me put price stickers on things with the pricing gun and swat the flies. These were ridiculously delightful tasks in my mind. We also saw Great Aunt Floss, Great Aunt Emma (Uncle Joe wasn't at home) and Great Uncle Bruce and Aunt Daphne, in their huge and beautiful house. Now all the gifts are wrapped and dinner is eaten. I feel stuffed, barely able to fit into my black jeans, and short of will-power. We don't have to go to church tonight though. Freshwater shares a minister with the neighboring village of Victoria, and Victoria has him tonight. Dinner was salt fish, plus a few potatoes, frozen veggie medley and bread. Fish (meaning cod) is apparently the tradition Christmas Eve dinner. I had a little bit, hoping it might help supply me with some energy. It was salt fish all right! We also stopped into the Dwyers' this afternoon. Well, we had to, to pick up Aaron. The kids had just finished decorating the tree. Michael, who will be 4 next month, pointed out the candy cane he'd put on. He isn't shy at all. Hannah, who is 7, was more comfortable with me this time. She chatted with me about what she hoped to get for Christmas and the difficulties of having younger brothers. Emma, 6, talked with me a little, but Natasha, who turns 4 tomorrow, remained wary. The weather was warm today, and most of the snow has melted. It's expected to be even warmer tomorrow, so it will be a green Christmas here. Too bad. Now I'm just waiting for some sort of ride over to the Dwyers'. I'd like to go now, and catch a little taste of holiday excitement. It doesn't feel like Christmas to me, despite a packed mall, visits to relatives, gift wrapping, and enough lights to make Newfoundland visible from space. Who knows why? For some strange reason, Christmas hit me in September this year! |