Christmas eve at the Hernandez house is never quiet, and this year did not disappoint. The tradition is to have a "lechon" (young pig) whole along with black beans, rice, rioja wine, and lots of screaming kids. In recent years, the lechones we've been able to get have been poor, so my mom got a 22 pound (that's almost 2 stone, brits!) fresh ham. Other than this minor change, the tradition continued with a vengeance. The grandchildren are 1, 5, 5, 6, and 7, and LOUD.
baby Kosmo... the youngest Hernandez for another 5 months
(l-r) Cora, Sam, Phoebe, and Aika at the kids' table
Of course, things were a bit uncomfortable with my dad being gone... for starters, who now sits at the head of the table? People kept trying to get me or Ethan or anybody to do it, but honestly it would have just been weird. So, Ethan and I sat on the corners and left the head space empty. The meal was great, and after, we all went into the living room to hand out presents. My mother, true to her neatly buttoned New England upbringing, had always wanted to have a nice orderly gift giving process, but my father always threw presents across the room at the kids one after another. Now that she's running the show, she tried a new approach, which didn't exactly pan out. It seems that a wild screaming pack of kids is still wild and screaming no matter how nicely you hand presents out. Oh well.
Granny doing her best to keep things orderly
After presents, the grown ups went back to the dining room for pie and cognac, another little tradition of ours. Each year, my two brothers Ethan and Eban and I all give the other two a bottle of cognac or scotch. This way, we have 6 bottles to sample and dig into while the kids run around screaming. Nice! Reba and I had brought a couple of bottles from Paris, what a pain in the ass that was. Now that you can't carry liquids on planes, this means checking bottles of booze every time you fly, and wondering which have broken each time you get to baggage claim. Plus, you get to pay overweight fees as well each time you fly: extra nice. Whatever. It was worth it in the end, as both bottles were quite tasty.
mmmmmm: tradition
Another little tradition we have is buying the kids the most obnoxious gift possible, in an attempt to annoy their parents. I kept this one alive by buying the kids a box of assorted musical instruments... tambourines, wood blocks, kazoos, etc. A highlight of the evening came as a result of Ethan's efforts in this regard: he bought all the children air powered, circular clip nerf-dart guns. Once the kids got tired of them, the adults took over, and a pretty good shootout ensued. Eban and I went commando and got Ethan with a pincer attack.
nerf attack!
The whole gang seemed to enjoy themselves, and as always, I got a huge kick out of being around the kids. Christmas is never going to be the same without Dad around, but I think that we proved that we can still have a great holiday. Merry Christmas everyone!
Ethan and Christa
Eban and Aika
Me and Kyoko
Sam and Cora wrestling... Sam got his butt kicked
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1 comment:
I still talk about the Hernandez Christmas pig at least once a year... that pig is one of my most scarring, horrific memories. I mean, I eat meat and all, but I don't want in-your-face evidence that what I'm shoving in my mouth was once a walking, oinking, possible relative of my childhood buddy Wilbur. Jeez, man!
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