Family time!

Every year I look forward to Christmas Eve at Aunt Martha and Uncle Renner's place. Christmas wouldn't be "Christmas" for me without it, and I can't remember a year when I didn't go. The traditions have evolved slightly over time (it's been a couple years, for instance, since Martha taped our names and chores to the glass door facing the main entryway), but some things never change. Martha always cooks a fabulous meal, and most of the Anderson clan is usually there. The menu varies somewhat from year to year, but we always have Rumagrout, a Norwegian dessert consisting of white rice drenched in a thick sauce of butter and heavy cream and sprinkled with sugger and cinnamon.

The food is wonderful, but my favorite thing about Christmas Eve is seeing all my family in one place. This year's attendees were patriarchs Arne and Rusk and their progeny, including: Renner and Martha Mitchell and their children Abigail and her boyfriend Scott, Mary, and Stuart; Jeffrey and Martha Odland and their daughter Jane (eldest daughter Ellen and her husband Carlin in CA); Kimball and Margaret and their children Soren (that's me!) and his wife Emily Jean Duffelmeyer, Emily Lucille, and Gretchen; Lucinda and Roy McBride and their daughter Lacinea; Susanna and Doug Erickson and Susanna's daughter Maley (son Sedge in OR); Whitney and Susan and their daughter Julia and her husband Luis and daughter Giovanna Bella (eldest daughter Laura working); Colin and Kitty and their daughters Katie and Amy; Amy and her friend Garrett and Amy's children Travis and Olivia; Martha Oneida and her boyfriend Dave Anderson. David Anderson, son of Arne's brother Pat, was also present. Is that it?

We had arrived a little late, as we had hung out at the airport until about 5:30 waiting for Gretchen's flight to arrive from Portland. Emily Jean and I had arrived from Detroit around 3:30, and Emily Lucille had arrived some time before that. We didn't make it to Renner and Martha's until a little after 6 pm. But I still got to see everybody.

My little, year-and-a-half old cousin (or rather, second cousin) Giovanna Bella is an absolute doll! She was toddling around all evening, her hair tied up vertically in two, sprouting pigtails, saying "Mama? Mama? Papa papa?" She wanted to know where her parents were, but wasn't particularly concerned at their absence, and seemed happy enough picking crackers out of the basket on the coffee table, taking a drooling little nibble, and then putting the cracker back. Just as I predicted, I was her favorite cousin! I'd sweep her up in my arms and whisper in her ear, "Dáme un beso," and then she'd lean in toward my face and give the sweetest little kiss on the cheek. Made my heart melt.