It’s….That….Time Of Year…

There are just some things about the Christmas season that are predictable.

• People will break into random Christmas carols at random times.
• Charitable opportunities abound, from the red kettle to toy drives to the angel tree.
• An individual for whom you did not purchase a gift will give you a gift.
• You will receive at least one “What on earth is this?” gift.
• Family members will request favorite dishes for the big dinner.
• You will forget to purchase the critical ingredient for at least one favorite dish.
• Someone will steal the parking space you’ve been stalking for nearly 10 minutes.
• Something that is not usual will happen to make the holiday unusual.

To that end, the Hayley holidays were not at all unpredictable or unusual in any way, though perhaps, I didn’t receive any strange gifts. (Since we’ve not had our Texas family Christmas yet, I’m not entirely confident about making this claim just yet!)

This year, we had a Kansas immediate family get-together on our first mutually available day over the holiday – Saturday. Fortunately, because our holiday was delayed we were able to have a white Christmas. For this Texas transplant, any sign of the flaky white stuff is a very big deal – and a particularly big deal for my native born, native bred Texas mate.


After the gift giving, the extended family arrived for the holiday feast and Christmas crackers (we’re not afraid of funny hats and corny jokes!).



You may not have guessed it from reading this blog, but I am a unique person, fruit of a very unique and fun family.

Before everyone arrived, my sister Heather pulled her two children aside and explained to them that their cousin, Adam, would be coming for the meal and that he had a very different hairstyle. She told them that they were not to point or stare just because his hair looked different than what they were used to seeing.

Even with this preparation, Adella and JJ were caught a little off-guard when Adam and fellow bandmate Michael arrived with Mohawks spiked in glorious fashion for the holiday festivities.

Adella looked at her aunts and said, “There are spiky-haired guys here."

"Yes, there are,” we replied.

And with that, she continued about her day, talking about all of the guests – what they looked like, where they were sitting, what they were doing. But for a 5-year-old, it wasn’t too long before “spiky-haired guys” got to be too much of a mouthful.

When we finally all sat down to eat, half of the family was in the living room with the other half around the family table in the breakfast room. Midway through the meal, Adella looked around the dining table and said:

Hey! Where did the spiky guys go?

As Kelly has noted: “Our Kansas Christmas has been ‘raised to a whole new level’ that I’m not sure we will EVER ‘top.’”