Heinrich Holidays

It’s never truly Christmas with the family unless someone gets pissed or cries. It’s a double bonus if you manage to get both. There were 11 of us this year at the house for Christmas festivities. When you put 11 people in a confined area who are all buzzed on sugar and caffeine, and had to endure both a family photo session at the local gold mine and 2 insane little boys (my nephews), you get a weekend to remember. We all haven’t been together in years, and my parents were so excited that they prepared for weeks before our arrival. Our favorite foods were made, the rooms were ready, and all the renovations to the house had been completed (mostly). Having become engaged only a week earlier, the ring was the first thing everyone wanted to see. The reactions were classic.

Mom: “That is obscene”

Dad (to my mom): “Don’t get any ideas”

Sister: “It’s bigger than the last one” (always tactful)

I think my favorite moment this Christmas was my dad getting his big present. After all these years of my dad getting the shaft at Christmas, as dad’s so often do, we made his gift the focal point of the weekend. My mom took him to breakfast and to run a few errands while the rest of us scrambled to set up his new 50” TV and cable. Yes, we got my parents cable TV and a DVR for Christmas. They have had a basic antenna and the same 5 channels since I was born. When they would visit, my mom in particular, they would marvel at all the things one could watch on cable TV, and they have even called me, in Texas mind you, on occasion over the past year to have me Tivo shows for them. We decided enough was enough, and they needed to enter this century.
We worked like crazy elves to get the job done, finishing just in time for their return home. My dad was shocked. He loved it, and didn’t move much the rest of the vacation. He did, of course, continually mess with all the cables, but that’s par for the course with him. My only fear now is that I will become “tech support”. The season pass feature, setting favorite channel lists, and recording multiple channels at once might be a little over their heads right now, but I guess we’ll see.