Our "Russian Christmas" Party!

  Anyone searching for the Spirit of Christmas
would have found it alive and well at my
daughter's house yesterday!
   Admittedly our family gathering just happen
to be scheduled for the day those who follow
the Julian Calendar observe their traditional
Christmas.
   And though not a "Russian" walked
among us this was "Christmas" at it's best!
   I grew up in a house with my one brother
and he was 8 years older than I!
   But my wife comes from a large family.
   And when any two or more of those
family members get together it quickly
becomes a party!
   This gathering included my wife, two of her
sisters, a brother-in-law, a niece, her husband,
their baby, a brother, a sister-in-law, our
daughter, son-in-law, another niece and
her son, two grand kids, our son, and two
close family friends. Add me and that's
19!
   Of course, as is usually the case, there
was food enough for nearly twice that many!
  There was wine, the women, and song!
  The girls provided harmony........that is they
all were in tune....well...let's say they joined
in "singing" tunes from various decades.
   They even knew some of the lyrics. A few
anyway.
    There were games. I didn't get too close!
But I know one involved cards placed on
the table quickly and prompted screams of
delight from my sister-in-law that drowned
out the play-by-play from the football game
many of the men were watching!
    I guess she was winning!
    But I suspect her shouts may have been
influenced a bit by the wine! I'm glad we didn't
include Vodka for the sake of Russian
Christmas!
    The house was filled with cross talk,
laughter and a lot of love!
    And isn't that what Christmas, "Russian"
or "Western" is all about?
    I hope you've experienced plenty of that
this Christmas season and that all of your
NEWS is good!