Christmas in a weekend

Christmas in a weekend

Four days. Five families to visit. And there you have our Christmas tour of Wisconsin, which is fast becoming an exciting, but exhausting Christmas tradition …

God help us when we actually have children in a couple years …

So away we go …

On Friday night, I arrived home from work. Joel, Stephanie and Millie arrived from Ohio, stopping at our place -- the halfway point -- to spend the night before all of headed to my parents' place in Madison …

Saturday morning, we woke up, showered, packed the cars and we were off to Madison, where we arrived two hours later to join the Rusch clan (that’s two grandparents, their six children and their six spouses, 14 of us grandchildren, our eight significant others and one great-grandson -- for a grand total of 37) for Christmas celebration No. 1. In what very well might have been one of our last Christmases together (we’re a big family, all of us growing up, getting older, our immediate families our expanding and we’re spreading out across the country, which, sadly, makes it harder for us to get together every year …) Mom pulled out never-before-scene slides of her and her siblings growing up, and we exchanged presents under the rules of Dad’s variation on “Deal Or No Deal.” (In a “deal” Kates and I got a DVD, “Invincible.”). And the conversation, as always, was fun and lively … ) …

By Saturday evening, and after Mom roped us kids into helping her clean the place, there were just seven of us left (that’s if you include Millie prancing around us and begging for love). We ate snacks and soon began Christmas celebration No. 2. Kates got gifts cards to buy some new clothes. Joel & Steph got the flatware they asked for. I got a sweet retro Cubs jersey. And us kids finally brought Mom & Dad into the digital age, giving them a DVD player and a couple movies to play in it. (Funny story: We bought Mom a special edition DVD of “Sound of Music,” knowing it was one of her all-time favorites. Then the movie actually came up during some conversation that evening and Mom mentioned it was her favorite. That made it so much more to watch her expression as she opened the wrapping paper on it later that night.) …

After a good night’s sleep, we were off on Sunday morning to Lake Mills for Christmas celebration No. 3. Dad’s side of the family. We loaded up Grandma’s house with the 14 of us, a new baby and three dogs, plus lots of food. Per tradition, the ham, cheesy potatoes, dinner rolls and green Jello were on the dinner table. And a couple hours later the $10 gift exchange began. (But this year, Kels and I decided to mix it up. Rather than everyone picking a number and selecting gifts according to the order of those numbers, we called out the numbers at random. Good fun!) My reward for participating in this year’s exchange: a giant canister of Planters peanuts and a 6-pack of Miller Lite beer. Nice …

Sunday night, Kates and I were up in ‘Tosa to meet Kates’ parents and for the beautiful and always calming 11 p.m. Christmas Eve service. I crashed into bed not long after we returned to the house and all of us were up around 9 a.m. to begin the Christmas morning gift-opening ritual, Christmas celebration No. 4. Kates seemed to come away the winner this year, piling up more clothing than she could carry. I came away with a copy of “Grey’s Anatomy: Season 2” on DVD and another good baseball book from John. And we’re still trying to teach Chloe how to open her presents the way Eli did so enthusiastically for so many years …

A drive about two hours north and Kates and I were in Sheboygan by early evening for the fifth and last of this year’s Christmas gatherings, this time with Kates’ dad’s side of the family. This time around there were 17 of us, three dogs and lots of food. And I got lucky in the gift exchange again -- my cousin-in-law Nelson (He knows me so well) came through, gifting me a Dave Matthews CD, a couple Shins CDs and the Star Wars III DVD straight off my wish list …

And finally four days and five Christmas celebrations later, Kates and I were making the long, three-hour drive back home …

We arrived home shortly before 1 a.m. Sunk into bed. And fell fast asleep.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.