Saturday evening, my family had our family Christmas! Well, three fourths of the family had it, because two fourths of them do not get along with one fourth of them since Pap died in 1998. My mom, luckily, remined neutral in all the stupid infighting, and so did I, thusly, we're welcome with ALL the other three branches of the family. but enough of my family's drama....
Last night we got together to eath, socialize, hang out, exchange gifts and have a good time. We get together as a group at Christmas, and Easter, and some weddings, and most funerals. Oh and thanksgiving, that's probably the ONLY time all four branches of the family are together, but anyway, ALL of this is kinda outside of what I wanted to post about.
So, anyway, as mentioned, last night, there was eating, socializing, hanging out, exchanging of gifts, good times and fun. And I've got PHOTOS!
These two fine examples of young American teenager-ism (?) are my cousins Kyle (14) and Zack (17). I mentioned them and had some photos of Thanksgiving of them, but I have much more this time. And this is while we're all eating. We had ham, for sandwiches or just by itself, chips, deviled eggs (one batch made by yer olde Uncle Polt himself), mac and cheese, scalloped potatoes, bologna and cheese, some fruits and small veggies for dipping and sodas, along with a HORDE of homemade deserts. In the photo, no, Kyle is NOT having anything alcoholic to drink, that's just Pepsi.
After the meal, some of us retired to the living room to allow the food to digest while some others retired to the kitchen to clean up. one guess which room Uncle Polt was in! At any rate, I got this one of Zack sitting on the sofa opposite me.
And Zach again. These photos may not reveal it, cause they're not the best, but Zack is turning into quite the cutie. I mean, he's always been "little boy" or "puppy dog" cute, but as he's grown, especially in the last year or so, it's becoming obvious he's gonna be quite an attractive young man. What a heart breaker.
this would be Kyle holding my lil cousin Tereek (he's 3). And he's hell on wheels. i mean, he's incredibly full of energy, and totally curious and rambunctious, which is to be expected of a 3 year old boy. unfortunately, he gets NO discipline from his mother. he basically runs wild until his mom's father disciplines him. Although he does listen to Zack and Kyle quite well, which is surprising, but at least it works. And no, Tereek, is NOT sleeping or even sleepy. Soon after this photo, he ended up scratching my cousin Lexi across her neck with his fingernails as he wrestled with her and she tried to get away. *SIGH*
I managed to dictract Tereek for a bit with my camera. I took a few photos. Also, when my camera's taking photos, a small round section comes out, it's the zoom. he asked what it was. I told him there's a little man who lives in the camera, and when i take a picture, he sits out in that little round area and draws it really fast and then puts it on the screen in the back. He looked at me all round eyed and trusting. I even had him look inside the lens from the front side to see if he could see the little man sitting in there, and he said he did. He believed every word. ....I am
SO going to hell...
This is my little cousin Lexi. She was posing for me and decided to twirl a bit, thus I got her twirling.
I bring a Santa hat each to wear, but this I forgot it. My uncle had gotten a Penn State Santa hat for my cousin Brian, so Brian wore it to hand out the gifts. Unfortunately, it was a smidge too large, as can be seen here.
My cousin Cory (he's 8) and some little duck/penguin thing he got for Christmas.
This was taken in between the openings of some gifts. It is Kyle taking a picture of me taking a picture of him. Yeah, we're real artistic in my family.
This would be Zack once more, kinda zoning out while someone else opens thier gifts.
My cousin Tim, he's a Redskins fan...but we accept in the family anyway. We're a very accepting family. My uncle got him a Redskins Santa hat this year, that he wore to open the rest of his gifts.
My cousin Brian again, but this time without the too-big Santa hat.
This would be Grandma Polt, God love her. She's about 83 or so, but still lives alone and gets around well. We all had a good laugh, cause she gave each of us an envelope with $25 dollars in it. Well except for Brian, who she didn't have an envelope for, she ran out. And then when my aunt Carolyn opened her envelope, well, there was no money in it. geez, did we laugh about all that. But considering her age, Grandma Polt's doing pretty well, I think.
this is Zack next to Mama Polt, who's holding the newest member of our family: Jay. he was born December 5. He didn't fuss much, just slept and ate. He's a good baby...so far.
And this would be your Uncle Polt proudly holding Jay.
And finally, I wanted to get a photos with the boys before I left. I had Mama Polt take the photo. And Corey decided to be a ham, somewhat obscuring Zack's face, Mama Polt said, so she wanted to take another one.
So this is the second shot. Naturally, that's Corey in the front, and Me in the back center. Zack is on the left, Kyle on the right. And yes, even though being taller by about three inches, Kyle is only 14. He's a freak of nature. But a nice freak of nature, as they go.
Anyway, as I hope is apparent, we all gorged outselves, and laughed and got gifts, and just had fun. Course, I didn't mention the tantrums, the gossiping, the spankings, someone getting smacking the head with a plastic gun, the ornaments pulled off the tree, and other related issues.
But, I gotta say, despite the drama and other...issues, I by and large DO like my family. And we all more or less get along...but of course, we're not together like this very often, which is probably our saving grace.
POLT
My grandpa used to say, 'Women are like cow chips: the odler they get the easier they are to pick up.' - Cody Banks, Secret Agent
This is the spread Mama Polt put on for Christmas: turkey, mashed potatos, sweet potatos, stuffing and gravy, corn, sauer kraut, limas, rolls, and then for dessert she had fruit salad, homemade apple pie, ice cream, etc, etc, etc. Yeah, see how I HAD to eat too much?
Mama Polt also LOVES to make Christmas treats. She makes so much of it, she gives batches of it away. What you see in this photo is the three batches I took to work last Tuesday. Inside are sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and several other kinds; fudge of the peanut butter, chocolate and vanilla varieties; and peanut brittle in the bags. Despite three different batches, it was all gone by the time I got to work Wednesday morning (in fact, it was mostly gone when i left work Tuesday). My co-workers jsut gobble it up. Course, it IS really good. I always tell her when she retires, she outta start Mama Polt's Homemade Cooking, and charge for the sweets. I guarantee she'd never be at a loss for buyers!
This is Johnnie on Sunday night, in the fetal position and hiding his face because his 49er's lost and were eliminated from playoff contention. I'll not rag on him about it now, cause last night, my Cowboys played like a JV team....a bad JV team....at a school for the blind. I mean it was horrible. And frankly, if they're only gonna play this good, they don't deserve to win the division. Now, I have to hope they'll beat Detroit (not a forgone conclusion with the way they've been playing) and that Atlanta beats Philly so Dallas can get a home game. At least, they've already made the playoffs, so they're not fighting for a spot there. BUt it's bad. And sad.
