“Seems like you guys have a lot of fun at your house….” my 11 year old nephew said to me at the end of the evening last night. I nodded and told him he was welcome to come experience life at the Eggers any time he wanted. He lives in Tennessee, so while that likely will never happen, it was nice to hear. It was nice to realize how he was maturing since the last time I saw him. Rather than ask me what was “wrong” with Luc like last time, he was awesome with him.
December 26th brought us boxing day and the family Christmas. If you were around here last year you remember how miserable it was. This year we hit the right formula. A day trip to family headquarters, and the perfect thing for any family gathering…… bowling.
We are bowlers. We are very bad bowlers but we are an active family, so sitting around a house and watching TV isn’t in our blood. Get the extended family out and moving, create some teams and now….. now we’ve got ourselves some fun.
It was the Eggers versus the Workmans. Granny (my Mom), Amy and Cameron (my mother, sister, and nephew…. my brother’s kiddo). My Aunt Marilyn was there as the team photographer. If there was ever an Aunt in the world who has nailed the how to be an aunt formula perfectly…. it’d be her. She’s the greatest. My brother, my father and my other nephew stayed behind and worked to clean up my laptop.
The problem with bowling against the Workman’s was this: my mother and my nephew. Incredible bowlers. Curt Luc and I might have some talent on the triathlon field, but bowlers we are not. What’s funnier is that we actually bowl. Luc is on a bowling league and we go every 2-3 weeks for fun. But we are very very bad.
And we got crushed.
At one point I looked around the bowling alley and smiled. We were “that” family. The ones who were cheering obnoxiously loud and doing victory dances in our lanes. The ones you kind of look at from a few lanes over and think “Wow, those people are having a little too much fun for bowling!”
Is there ever such thing?
It was good to be with family (for once). My brother and I see each other once a year, we haven’t talked since last Christmas…. and I think that worked perfectly. We hugged, said our hellos and in 2 years we can do it again.
I think that the gift part of Christmas is my least favorite part, but this was one Christmas that I got things I really appreciated. My sister gave me some cooking tools as I am learing to cook. My father gave me season one and two of “The Office” , wonderful for my computrainer rides. My aunt gave me DVD’s of Christmas pictures from past years, family memories are always good. Santa is delivering a food dehydrator on Monday to the house and now I can make my own dried fruit and vegetables (rather than paying $5 a bag!!!!!)
At the end of the day it was wonderful to be home in our own home again. We’ve got a marble roller coaster set spanning three different rooms. We’ve got the Polar Express G Gague Train running constantly. We’ve got drums being banged on incessantly.
And we’ve got the Wi Fit Pro being utilized as Luc is conquering his balance issues. I still can’t believe I got him a Wii a few months ago, as there are no video games in this house. At the suggestion of a few of his specialists I got him one to help him work on his coordination. Believe it or not, it had helped. I am a mother who is out in the yard throwing the ball, holding the bike upright, but balance and coordination were not improving at all. Two months using the Wii and now Luc has the confidence to try it out there.
With the Wii Fit (pro of course…) he’s really working on balance, and building his confidence in the process. I am so proud of him.
So it was a good Christmas, actually good to see and spend time with family. To bowl and laugh. To gather and just be around each other….. for not too long…… the length of stay was perfect.
And then it was back home to our very fun life. Every day I look at these two guys and I hold on to these moments. The pauses between moments and the space in between. The sound of laughter as we miss the ski jump on the Wii and the thrill of the roller coaster marble track getting bigger and twistier.
The days I will refer to as the good old days. They are all the good old days though, aren’t they?
Filed under: Family
