Part 2 of my Christmas 2024 Reminiscences focuses on activities, not things: games we played, an extensive list of tasks Jeremy and Robin generously completed to help out Frank and me, and family gatherings we shared.
Games
Games were mainly trying out new Christmas gifts. Alex loved his new manipulative game for dropping circles into a playing board. Technically this was a Bingo line-up 4 and not a Connect 4 but it had two advantages. There was no bar beneath to slide sideways to release the stacked disks. Alex could contently play without inadvertently bumping the release and dumping the disks. He could start playing immediately and not have to check if the toggle bar was positioned correctly. Plus, how could I pass up those bright red and green colors for Christmas? Alex enjoyed it a lot; he enjoyed taking turns with Isaiah to play without the restriction of rules or color preferences. Isaiah, on his own, also liked the color patterns he created in solo play.
Alex loves his dancing Christmas tree. Even Jeremy danced along with Alex and his tree that sings a jazzy version of "Oh, Christmas Tree" while waving its arms, shaking its branches, and wiggling its bottom. You can see the tree performing starting at 2:00 in this YouTube video and ending at 3:01. Jeremy even jigged along with Alex as the tree sang and wiggled. After each performance, Alex is sure to give his tree a love. This tree is not a new 2024 addition, but has been a true Christmas tradition for Alex for many years now. Every year we take it to the St. Denis Home for a few weeks around the holiday to entertain the clients and staff.
We've had this inflatable ringtoss game for a few Christmases now and folks like the challenge. You can see the game in action, included two grandmas inflating it, in a picture from 2022 and in my post for Christmas 2022.
Sunday was the middle of the visit and we picked up Alex and went bowling. We bowled two games: the first was Oxenford versus Chambers; Robin won with a score of 113. Then we mixed it up and did parents/grandparents versus kiddos. It was a pretty balanced competition but, alas, I have no photo of the final scores. I could never time taking the shot without the orange rectangle overlay.The important thing was that we all had fun, and it was a pair of friendly games. Isaiah got a bit tuckered out a one point. Real nap or fake pose...? I'll never tell.
Jeremy, Isaiah, and I played a few boisterous rounds of The Hot Dog Card Game from Dog Man. It is a fast-paced game of memory and the player who "eats" the most hot dogs wins!
A very popular activity was operating a combination bank/slot machine that I wrapped up as a joint present for Frank and Alex. Alex loves banks so that aspect was for him. When Frank was a child, his mother loved to play the slot machines at the Rod 'N Reel restaurant during their summer vacation at the Chesapeake Bay so I thought that aspect would be nostalgic for him. Frank's family affectionately called the casual eatery the "Rotten Eel". To this day Frank vividly remembers their crab cakes... and the slot machines. This gift soon became solely Frank's, not Alex's; but Frank shared generously with Autumn and Isaiah who also became very engaged in the slot machine operation portion. The slot machine lights up, sounds a bell, and dumps out coins when a "jackpot" is hit. Who'd have thought a last minute $5.99 purchase at a local drug store would have had such an impact. I've included a link to the Rod 'N Reel Resort showing its growth since its establishment in 1946.
One of the jigsaw puzzles we assembled was a 300 piece puzzle called Christmas Stories. The details were really fun to locate and discover. I must reveal, although this was my gift, I did not have the opportunity to participate very much. I was pre-occupied with playing Christmas checkers against various opponents. I will sheepishly admit that after our visitors left, Frank and I did the puzzle again so that I could feel I'd given his gift to me sufficient attention.😉
Working hard
Another jigsaw puzzle, my gift to Frank, worked out really well as a joint venture. The 400-piece puzzle was arranged as four 100-piece puzzles, one each for a car of the train. They linked together when completed. The LEGO construction of the train added more interest to the image; it also added to each person's incentive to complete his assigned car.
Jeremy, Autumn, Isaiah, and Robin played Guess in 10 the Marvel edition. This card game has the players ask up to 10 questions to help identify the character on the playing card. It is really just a specialized, formalized game of 20 questions. Frank and I knew we would not have a prayer of a chance at knowing any of the answers; we are not of the Marvel world! I did gift Frank a version of the Guess in 10 the Disney edition where there was a finite probability we could be successful. We played it the following week with friends over a zoom call. Since we had the cards and our friends did not, they could only play the role of guessing. Alas, they could not even succeed in getting Mickey Mouse. Frank and I will have to play with each other. Not all gifts are winners...
The visit was not all fun and games. Robin and Jeremy worked their buns off doing tasks we suggested we could use help with. Robin had assured us that Jeremy liked feeling useful. We put an optional to-do list on the white board trying to be sure that Jeremy would feel "useful" but not "used". He studied it and then calmly said, "I think we do all that this week". The biggest job was getting all the baby stuff from the attic: a pack 'n ply, a high chair, a car seat, a booster seat, a bouncy chair, and an oak crib complete with frame spring and mattress. It is now in our neighbor's garage awaiting deployment to a needy family in Livermore. There was scope creep I must admit. A set of hard maple bunk beds with associated desk and chair also made from out of our attic, out of our house, and ready for give-away.
Jeremy made his mark other places as well, figuring out how and changing the light bulb in my sewing machine and in my sewing room ceiling light fixture. In our yard he trimmed the pepper tree and installed sprinkler head protectors and organized the outdoor shed. Amidst all this activity Robin and I managed to squeeze in a visit to my local quilt shop. After their visit, when Frank and I put away Xmas stuff, we were so impressed at how Robin had organized our attic. Today I dropped off lamps and a TV wall mount at Good Will, other treasures that had vacated the attic thanks to the efforts of Robin and Jeremy.
Family Gathering and Meals
Our first night we enjoyed a party pan of Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo I had pre-ordered from Strizzi's. Jeremy, Robin, Autumn and Isaiah had been up early enough to catch a 5:00 am flight from Oklahoma City so I expected them to be close to a zombie state by dinner time, even though we ate early. But the food went over really well. We recalled how a year earlier, when both Robin's and Dan's families had been in Livermore for Thanksgiving 2023, the dish (from Costco this time) had gone over well with one small hitch. The chicken had been layered on top and not mixed throughout. Since the six kids were served first, taking servings from the upper surface, the adults had fettuccine without any chicken. We did better this holiday. The Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo (with chicken distributed) lasted two nights and the other nights Robin and Jeremy cooked, or we/they brought in takeout. I was not chief chef at all!
New Year's Eve we all went to bed before midnight although the sound of mini-explosions made falling asleep difficult for a few. Every one was tired. I thought the pops and whistles were just noises from locals, but apparently the fairground, in the next town over, held fireworks. Autumn was able to watch them from her room, tucked in bed.
January 1st, our final night together we dined on a tilapia recipe Robin had made earlier in the week. It was so good we requested it again. There are two pictures that follow — one taken by Autumn and one taken by Isaiah. We wanted to be sure all were included. Improbable as it seemed with that number of folks, no one had an awful expression. We all seemed pretty happy.
After dinner, the night before they were to leave, rather than traipsing to a movie theater, Frank and I bought a copy of Wicked to view at home. This choice of venue was a smart option. We could take breaks and Autumn could sing along at the top of her lungs without disturbing a movie audience. Frank and I could have captions; we could go back to repeat certain scenes, or misunderstood conversations, or favorite songs. Some of the extravagant dance scenes with their extensive choreography and staging were impressive; we did not feel at a disadvantage since we did not see them on a big screen. Our large flat screen TV was big enough.
It was a great Christmas season. Although Frank and I were both a little under the weather with some temporary medical stuff, for short, intermittent stretches the Oxenford presence certainly lifted our spirits. The pressure of "houseguests" and "entertaining" was lifted and we all just hung out and enjoyed each other in a low key mode. Yay — what a great start to 2025!
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