We've got relatives coming for Christmas. I mean ALL the relatives. 
They're coming in shifts, like waves hitting the shore. When one packs 
up to go, another group will come rushing in. This is different from last 
year. At least they're not all coming at the same time. Our house (it's 
still my house because I still live there) held all of us quite comfortably, 
but that was before my siblings had full families of their own. The 
additional husbands and wives and children don't all fit at the same 
time these days.

The wave-theory Christmas has it's own complications, though. 
Everyone wants us to do Christmas with their group, so we're 
having the first gift exchange tonight with Jon & Emma (and Alison, 
Rebecca and David) before they get ready to leave tomorrow. Then 
we'll exchange gifts (probably on or near the 25th) with Ben & Melissa 
(and Joseph) when they're not at Melissa's family home doing their 
other gift exchange with her parents. Then Mark and Liz will come in, 
and we'll do another gift exchange with them a few days after Christmas. 
The really ironic thing is, all of us know Christmas isn't about gifts and 
material things. We all have excellent grounding in what's really important 
during this season - they all just like to watch us be happy as we open 
what they spent time and thought to get for us, I guess.

It's been a terrible time for the cat. Mom and Dad and I are used to our 
quiet, peaceful house, and our quiet individual and group pursuits, so 
we've been shaken up a bit by the near constant roar Jon's family creates. 
My nieces and nephew are all adorable, bright, intelligent and mostly 
cheerful, but it takes a bit of energy just to pretend to keep up with them. 
The cat, who hates all life forms besides the three of us (and sometimes 
my sister), isn't dealing with the extra activity well at all. She's kind of big 
(barn cat), and has no problem telling people exactly what she thinks of 
them (in hisses, growls and whapping), which scares the girls and sends 
them running for thier mom or the couch, whatever is closest. Little David 
is not old enough for his sense of danger to tell him that chasing the cat 
around could be very bad for his health, so he just laughs in his delighted 
little way as she hisses and lunges at him. To her credit, she's caused no 
injuries thus far. She's spending much of her time shut in the basement or 
hiding in my room. I don't see this changing until after the new year, poor thing.

After this tribe moves along, the next will be a little quieter. Ben and Melissa 
have one child, and then Mark and Liz will be quieter still, as that niece is still 
an infant, and not yet mobile. And I really enjoy visiting with them... when I'm 
even home. The only day I get off work is Christmas itself, so I haven't really 
seen much of the first wave anyway - I just get woken up at random intervals 
during the night as small children wake up crying or coughing or scared and 
knocking on the door of the guest room where their parents are also un-
successfully trying to sleep.

What I really want for Christmas is time with my parents to relax, exchange a 
few simple gifts, listen to music, eat a little good food, and enjoy the quiet 
contemplation this time of year is really meant for. But then I feel a little guilty 
at not wanting to include all of my visiting family, as family is really the entire 
point we're here on earth at all. But hey, since they're all coming through 
anyway, I can't actually exclude them, so I don't have to feel guilty... I just have 
to survive until our home is back to normal and the cat can come out of hiding.