¡Feliz Navidad!

Christmas is, by far, my favourite time of year. This year’s was the most perfect in a long time (except for one teensy incident which is a topic for another post, tomorrow).

During the week leading up to Christmas I was saying the age old mantra to myself—five sleeps till Christmas, four sleeps till Christmas, etc—and then it finally came!

My family celebrates on Christmas Eve. As a child this meant that I got my presents a full 12 hours before my friends at school. Now I see it as a celebration rich with family tradition and ritual. This year we had 25 people celebrating together at Grandma’s: my two grandparents, my parents, Sister, me, three aunts, two uncles, nine cousins and five partners-of-cousins.

Everyone arrived at Grandma’s, the doors to the dining and lounge rooms securely locked from the curious eyes of the little children, and we sat around and had a chat with drinks before dinner. As children we were not allowed into the room with the Christmas tree until the dinner bell was rung. Nowadays, most years Sister and I go down a few days before the 24th to set up the tree, the outdoor lights and the decorations, so some of the mystery has been lost for me, but the look of awe on the faces of the children makes it all worth it.

When the dinner bell sounded, we all assembled before the nativity, a fifty-odd piece scene carved and painted by my Grandfather, to pray. After the prayers everyone wished one another a Merry Christmas and my Grandfather read the Christmas story in Slovak, followed by the same reading in English by Rick. After this, everyone sat down to dinner, which was followed by the Opening of the Presents.

My baby (two and a half year old) cousin is a present opening machine. She opened every gift within her reach, whether addressed to her or not. We had a great night simply revelling in each other’s presence.

After dinner I called my seven year old nephew, Lance, to wish him a Merry Christmas. I explained that my family celebrates on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day, that we had 25 people here in the one house, all having fun and he asked "Are there any cute guys there?". I was stunned. Has his mother passed down a recessive fag-hag gene that we were unaware of? I answered that since everyone is my family I don’t look at them that way and quickly changed the subject. Of course, the truth is that yes, there were cute guys: Cal was there, of course, as was Bin’s boyfriend, Alex, who are both gorgeous; my cousin Ade has a rugged Latino look that is gorgeous too. And then there’s me. But apart from that, the men of my generation aren’t anything special in the looks department. Shallow, yes, but it was Lance who asked, not me, and he knows that there can be a disparity between outer appeal and true inner beauty.

Anyway, I went to bed slightly after midnight, feeling the luckiest guy around; even though I was in a lot of pain all night, on the constant (and sadly ever-increasing) drug carousel. Every four hours. I see the doctor on the 28th.

But I am one of the lucky ones with the gift of such a beautiful, if somewhat dysfunctional, family that I love dearly, despite its faults.

Merry Christmas to you all.