fleeting family togetherness

My family left me this morning. It was 5 am, and they were off to drop my sister off and the airport and continue on to drive to Saskatchewan. It happened so quickly, and i was so fuzzy from the early hour and too many beers the night before, that I still think I'll go home tonight and they'll be there. Drinking wine and having appies by the fire. Heartbreaking that I won't see my sister until April if I make it out to meet her in Montreal.

It was, however, a memorable and fun Christmas. Christmas Eve, after church and stopping by a few family gatherings, we made it back home to start our annual margarita party. We popped in a tourtière, a family tradition for Christmas eve, anticipating being hungry into the late hours after noshing on mostly appies and sweets all evening. The first pitcher was gone quite quickly after our introductory game of Things.... and turning it into a drinking game didn't make the bottle last longer. (I did however, discover that the answer 'hookers and blow' worked for every question). By time we ate the tourtière, I'm really not sure anyone really was sober enough to remember the taste or anything. Running out of tequlia, we decided to start making the margaritas with vodka. UGH.

Minus a small fight that night and the next morning (induced by the mass amounts of alcohol consumed), my sister had a hungover hankering for the leftover tourtière. There was only one problem. We couldn't find it anywhere. Someone was lucid enough to remember that we didn't eat it all, and even if we did, there was no sign of the foil pan. We looked under couches, in fridges, garbages and bathrooms. Finally, I spotted a a bon ton meat market bag out the back door in the snow. Sure enough, the remainder of the tourtière was in there face down. My sister ate it anyways, as the cold preserved the meat, and well, we were all just too hungover to care about the consequences of e coli.

The remainder of Christmas was a blur of family time, boxing day shopping (a sporting event for the women in my family) and drinking.

I am grateful for way more than three things this season, but i'll try to pare it down.
1. My immediate family is awesome. They like to have fun and party and are never chintzy in that area. Plus, we all love each other A LOT.
2. My extended family has intricate family drama that makes Y&R look tame. Always entertaining.
3. Realizing what's most important in my life as I get older and appreciating the fleeting family togetherness much more than I did before.