Christmas - San Antonio - 2005

What do you call it when you gather 52 people and 12 dogs and feed them a mountain of food and exchange a giant pile of presents? Must be the Williams' family Christmas! Actually, we all gather on Christmas Eve so that those with children can have their own Christmas morning fun and also so those with in-law families in town can spend time with them too.

This is Frank's Mom's living room where folks gather and if they are lucky, they get to sit in one of the six recliners or on the sofa (otherwise it's the floor or a folding chair for your fanny.) The guidelines for getting a prime seat are sort of adhered to and are as follows: if you're recuperating from surgery you can claim one, after that the elders get a chance, then those who are sick, then those who are sleepy (but only if it was from working the night before, not partying) and then it's a free-for-all. The other rule is "move your feet, lose your seat." If you get up to go pee you lose your claim to the seat (unless you're occupying it under the above conditions.) However, if you ask the person sitting next to you to "hold my seat", then it may still be empty when you return — that's assuming the person next to you was listening when you made the request (see the discussion below about multi-conversation skills.)

In addition to the living room, folks spread out in the dining room, kitchen and in good weather (as was this year) out on the patio All night long people move from room to room and seat to seat and there are dozens of conversations going on all at once. If you're from a small family (as I am) it takes awhile to learn how to carry on a conversation while half listening to all the other conversations going on around you. Frank's sisters all have excellent multi-conversation skills and it still amazes me how they can keep up with three or four different topics and participate in most of them. Of course, if you ask them later on for specific details on a particular subject, it's likely that they'll have a few facts mixed up.

This is Peyton enjoying his version of Christmas dinner. At only 13 months old, he's officially the youngest member of our family . I loved his festive, red & white striped Christmas pjs. They came complete with the phrase "Ho Ho Ho" embroidered on the butt.

Frank & I and our two little doggies. We didn't decorate our RV this year, so it was great to get to enjoy Mom's pretty tree (and especially great to not have to take it down and clean up the mess!) We'd gotten our dogs festive Christmas bandanas to wear, but they didn't appreciate them as much as we did, so they had them on for 10 minutes before they were history. Sigh....what's a mother to do?

The family gathering now includes about a dozen doggies. We've got an assortment of small dogs — Japanese Chin, Rat Terriers and Chihuahuas and they all get along pretty well. They get so many hand-outs all night long that they refuse to eat their boring old kibble for days afterwards. Ours are also so tired after a family get-together that they don't do much but sleep for a couple of days afterwards.

George and Grace (Chris' step-Dad and Mom) who were a bit shell shocked by all the noise and chaos. Scotty was also traumatized by all the big feet shuffling about, so he found a high perch to avoid being kicked and pretty much stayed there all night long.

Buster — the one dog who thinks he belongs at the dining room table. Sitting next to him is Mary (Frank's Mom) who isn't so sure that he does.