Well, I'll call the family Christmas party a success even if short-lived.  Arrived at 1:10 pm, shook hands/hugged and then began conversing with my sister-in-law's son-in-law (strange, yes?) and we hit it off right away.  My mom shows up early and leaves early - she doesn't want to drive in the dark and I don't blame her.  But she called me off into a hallway and told me she wanted to give me my Christmas present early.  She handed me a card. Strange, I thought, she usually gets me what I ask for, which in this case is a battery operated hedge trimmer so I don't have to go around with a pair of cutters spending a lot of time trimming plants that could be knocked out in a few minutes with the trimmer.

That's what I had asked her for.  Instead, I opened up the envelope, read the note and looked at a check sitting in there.  Not a small check, either.  I was stunned. My mother giving out cash and a lot of it at Christmas?  The thought has never even crossed my mind that she would do such a thing, it's simply not in her DNA.  I looked at her with a curious look, I guess, because she simply stated she was "distributing her wealth".  Lol.

Later on when presents were being handed out?  Yup, there was my brand new hedge trimmer, battery operated (I have a large enough property that dragging an extension cord around all over the place would not have been too fun).

I think it odd, though: a family that can't seem to pull it together enough to spend more than a very small portion of one day together out of an entire year.  I saw my middle brother for a couple of hours and that will be it for another 365 days.  Well, I gave him and his son some gift cards that I thought they would appreciate - and they did and they gave me a game which I intend on trying out.

Regardless, weekend not over yet and still have 3 more full days left on vacation : )

Ummm, okay.  I just realized that tenants are buying Christmas presents for others in the house.  I had no idea, really.  Meaning?  I better go out and get something for everyone tomorrow.

Merry Christmas!