:Debby on…Home for the Holidays

Remember that movie? Home For The Holidays.?There’s been any number of holiday movies produced about family getting together for the holidays. If I remember correctly Home for The Holidays centered around Thanksgiving. There’s the classics like Miracle on 34th Street, but I prefer holiday comedies, movies that make us laugh at the quirkiness of that unit called ‘family’. Christmas Vacation is one of my favorites. Last year, upon the recommendation of my sister-in-law (due to a…’quirk’ in the family) I read Skipping Christmas by John Grisholm. Home For The Holidays. My euphemism for family dynamics, family quirkiness, particularly during the holiday season.

I often want to go home for Christmas. By home, I mean with my sisters in my hometown in rural Nebraska. The family I grew up in; where I’ve been part of the family my entire life, even though I haven’t lived in Norfolk since 1972. When things approach full-speed quirk, give me quirks I understand to my very core! The thing is though…(correct me if I’m wrong Kelly) we’ve never begun to approach full-speed quirk. And I doubt we will. We made it through sorting through mom’s stuff – ALL OF MOM’S STUFF!!  – with only a minor quirk or two. If we passed that test with relationships intact (and we did), I think full-speed quirk is beyond our comprehension.

I love my sisters. When we met for Sisters Weekend last September, it was so familiar… Into our jammies, talking until we fell asleep. When we were kids, still living in town, sometimes I would haul my mattress from my room so I could sleep with them in the room they shared. With sisters you don’t have to explain things. You don’t have to explain who you are. Or why you did something. Or try to figure out where you fit. You know where you fit. Kelly is here on the blog. I wish Lori were too.

Hey! Kelly! I’m going to post our trees. Maybe it will inspire her to join us! And don’t go all quirky (I won’t make it through if my sister goes quirky – I’ve had enough for one holiday, thank you.) but, I’m going to share a paragraph from your email…

Do the rest of you see how tall that tree is?! A couple of stories!

And here’s my tree. I love this stupid tree. Grandma had a tree like this. She decorated it with pink bulbs, complete with a color wheel. When I was little, that was the prettiest Christmas tree ever. Mom hated alluminum trees (well, really…they are tacky, tacky). But she sent me this one….

It represents childhood memories, a gift from mom. The blatant commercialism of the holiday. It’s a quirky tree!

And sent by Kelly several days later…

Here’s a picture of Lori’s tree.  She told me she hasn’t taken the time to learn all what can be done with a camera and the computer. 
So here it is if you would like to include it on your blog with our trees.