tis the season

don’t let the face fool you - it wasn’t too bad.

i come from a huge family - i mean HUGE. my mother is one of 17 children. my father is one of four, but by the time i came around he was the only one left in town... so when i was young there was PLENTY to do around the holidays. since then things have changed a lot, the extended families have trimmed back a great deal due to the loss of grandparents and more spreading by the younger generations, so what used to be a series of dressy events where you saw 100 different people now boils down to a laid back dinner and watching my pre-teen nieces tear apart simple gifts.

and until now, i viewed all this as a hassle. and it was a long time ago... when i was young and just wanted to be with my friends, but now i miss seeing my cousins and aunts and grandmothers. i miss the big affair at my grandmother’s estate, the ocean of relatives, the spread, the two meals at the other grandmother’s house prepared in a fashion only my mother can currently replicate. and i know that some day i’ll miss seeing my youngest nieces hand out presents and go ballistic at candies and games. and most importantly, the simple joy my father finds in seeing his two grandchildren happy and around.

i had a good year... it wasn’t easy, but a lot of people didn’t get the year i had. they didn’t get to chase their dream, they had to work a lot and not get paid much and face the looming economic crisis worried about their kids or homes. i don’t know where my dreams will take me in 2009, and there was a lot of unhappy in 2008, but in the end, i’m still a very very lucky man.

-season’s greetings