When The Older Generation Tries To Take Selfies

On Saturday, we had a shindig for my momma's big birthday. Almost all of her extended family family was there. We had a lot of old friends show up--and I'm not saying old because they are. And she had a great couple of hours visiting with people she went to school with, family we don't see nearly enough and friends who just love to share in our every day life. It was a wonderful day all around.

My Aunt Kay drove up on Friday from Dallas. She and my mom and their friend Connie had a hotel room and apparently stayed up all night drinking cigarettes and smoking cheap booze while singing their high school fight song and alma mater until they passed out. Or something like that.

My Aunt Kay and Connie are quite a bit younger than my own momma. In fact, my grandmother thought she had a tumor in her belly and had an x-ray done just two months before my Aunt Kay was born. It was at that time that she found out she was pregnant yet again ... just ten short years after her last pregnancy.

As we waited for the party to really get started, my Aunt Kay and my own momma decided to take a couple of selfies. My own momma is still learning how to work her phone so my Aunt Kay said she'd take the selfie and then send it to my own momma. Not that my own momma would be able to retrieve it.

Notice that my Aunt Kay is not looking at the camera but at me.
It's because she could see me better than the camera.

My sister and I giggled at them trying to take the selfie because, from where we were standing, it didn't appear that they were doing much picture taking. 

Finally, my aunt just asked me to take the picture.

"I can't get close enough," she said as if she were a twelve-year-old looking to update her Facebook profile pic, "without putting on my glasses."

And ... that's the real reason why you don't see many selfies of people over 45.

Stuck In The Middle

There are lots of thoughts and comments and views on the Sandwich Generation--you know, those of us who have aging parents who require our attention and children still at home who require our attention. We're stuck in the middle. One the one hand, it's a pleasant place to be with three generations able to be close enough to learn from each other and know each other's stories. On the other hand, there's not enough sangria in the world.

Dirty, Dirty Santa

Prior to my tossing the brownies, we played a wild game of Dirty Santa. Typically, Dirty Santa starts off the same way. Four or five grown, educated adults will count all the Dirty Santa participants and then set those numbers into a slightly complicated algorithm which will determine exactly how many people are playing Dirty Santa that year--give or take one or three. Then each adult who is playing Dirty Santa will draw a number. This will determine the order in which we select our presents. Finally, before we actually begin the game, we'll clarify the rules about stealing presents. Basically, anything goes from year to year, but it's always good for an argument or two to clarify the rules.

Tossing The Brownies

My aunt threatened to spank me yesterday. Oh yes she did. What? You're lost? Let me start from the beginning.

This weekend, we celebrated Christmas with my own momma's family. She has two brothers and one sister. They each have two children. Each of those children has a significant other except for one. Each of those children also has two children except for two of them who have three children each and one who has four children. Oh for heaven's sake. What am I doing here? Writing a math problem?! Well, math was my friend this weekend. But, the point is when we all get together, we have a lot of people. And if each family brings two dishes to our Christmas potluck, we have a lot of food.