This weekend the FC and I went on a pilgrimage to meet my family. After eleven months (almost a year) he still hadn’t met my clan, and since we were going to France for Christmas (the usual time for family introductions) I had to put together a quick pre-Christmas visit. I just couldn’t wait until 2010 to finally share the very important person that was now living under my roof. (Though they’d seen him on the blog, for all they knew he could have been a hired model or a creature of my own imagination. It was time to make him real, for them and me.)
Our first stop on the journey was London Ontario where my sister lives in a charming old house with her boyfriend Adam. The visit couldn’t have been more perfect. We played three hours of Frisbee golf in the woods on Saturday morning (sorry to all the trees I pummeled with my disc) watched two movies Saturday night (including Die Hard 3) and munched on easy low key food including my sister’s delicious hummus, recipe forthcoming I hope. These are things we couldn’t have done during Christmas, which is too special for Bruce Willis, and too busy for three hour outdoor games, and where the big fancy meal, including appetizers and roast leg of lamb, always causes an undue amount of stress.
Though I’ll miss the tasty lamb, the amazing presents (everyone always goes overboard) and my family’s usual high energy hustle and bustle (Boxing Day shopping is nuts) ironically, this trip was way more relaxing than any “official” holiday. Leaving on Sunday afternoon, the FC and I felt like we’d just spent the weekend at a B&B, with just enough energy to pop by my Mom’s afterwards for some apple pie, aged cheddar and a glass of wine. I had debated inviting her to my sister’s in London, and I’m so glad I didn’t. That would have been another “event” involving further organization, meal planning and social multi-tasking, plus a two hour drive for my mother. Instead, Mom hung out with us on her own turf, and the FC made fast friends with her hyper-active golden retreiver Clancy (he really is a dog person). Mom also spoiled us rotten by taking us to Walmart and buying us an early Christmas present — a GPS – or what I like to call a “relationship-saver.” (The FC and I have trouble navigating.)
So here’s today’s recipe for love: Don’t wait until Christmas to visit your family; visit them now, or visit them later. Trust me, they’ll love you even more for making the effort at a time when it’s not expected, and you get to bond with them in a relaxed environment free of holiday stress.