This got to be quite the wall o text so I decided to divide it up into two parts with part 2 being Christmas Day which you can see here

http://mlpforums.com/blog/456/entry-8948-not-a-bad-christmas-day/

So Christmas isn't really the same for me when I was a kid, a lot of family has passed away or gotten divorced or what have you and things have gotten a bit more complicated so I often get a bit depressed around this time of year. Last Christmas was the first one since my father passed away that previous March, and the year before that he spent his Christmas in the hospital after getting an infection from not properly sterilizing something before performing Paritoneal Dialysis (hook himself up to a machine via a cathedar) on himself. He survived that infection but kept getting more and more until he had to be placed on Himo Dialysis which though had a much smaller risk of infection was so physically hard on him that his body eventually couldn't take it anymore and finally gave out.

Every Christmas Eve I used to go my Aunt Lina's house to spend it with my Dad's side of the family but have been unable to go these last 6 years because I have always worked either a 10AM-7PM or a 12PM-9PM shift on that day even back when I had my 4AM shifts. I was able to go this year because I have been out of work since December 1st because of a work related knee injury. While I didn't get to go under the most ideal cirumstances the injury was a blessing in disguise, sure the pain was bad at first but though was worse than my last knee injury was not anywhere near as bad as my first knee injury I got back in 2008. And it has given me a break from the crippling stress and burnout I have been going through at work and spared me from worrying about yet another holiday, stress which I have plans to deal with but I suppose that topic is for another day.

I have had some issues with my Dad's side of the family because I have felt the way they treated my Mom over the years was very disrespectful and did not like how they sold my Dad's house from under him after my grandmother (his mother) died. Sure it wasn't technically his house and he did get some money from it, but it was all he had and it was then up to me to step up with him and find a house together. Despite the disrespect and betrayal though there were some family on my Dad's side that were against that and were very good to him, me and my brother and one of them is my Aunt Lina. My brother was very nervous about the whole thing, though he missed a few years himself because of his time in the military he has gone a few years I haven't been there but part of him because of those same issues didn't want to go but was glad that he didn't have to go alone.

My aunt and a few others were happy to see me, according to my brother they always ask for me every year. Since it is an Italian family there was of course plenty of food and usual there were multiple courses. Because of tradition most of it was seafood, 7 seafood items as is common Italian Christmas tradition each representing the different sacraments of the Catholic church. Baked Calamari, boiled octopus, lobster tails, shrimp, crab legs and a few other things were on the menu. But what my brother and I most looked forward to was Ma's Chicken which is chicken breasts pounded out flat and coated with breadcrumbs made from homemade Italian bread mixed with Italian parsley, oregano and pecorino parigean and the honey baked ham along with of course the desserts. Pinalada (cookies and nuts drenched in honey), biscottis (hard cookies with walnuts), chocolate meatballs (chocolate meatball shaped cookies with nuts, choclate chips and vanilla icing), buttercreams cookies and bread pudding.

Of course it wasn't just the food, I got to catch up with a lot of my cousins and am happy to know that they are all successful and seem to be on the right track in life. And my brother and I had a nice talk with our aunt, she asked a few personal things which I brushed off but one thing that comes to mind is her asking my brother "when are you going to get married?" Along with a bunch of stuff about how she wants to see little *insert last name here's* which made me think, although I didn't say it hey what about me? I also had a nice conversation with Nico who is this really cool guy who married one of my cousins, he is into a lot of political and philosophical stuff like I am so I can always count on him saying something interesting.

There wasn't much to open because most of the kiddies are grown up with the youngest being 15, but this one cousin has kept this tradition my Dad started years back alive. The tradition started when my Dad got everyone lotto tickets and even had a briefcase full of cash so people could cash (he tended to hoard money) in any winning tickets right on the spot. While she didn't go so far as the bring a briefcase full of cash she did continue the tradition with the lotto tickets which I know sounds a bit strange to some of you but was kind of fun. I was there much later than I thought which made fairly tired on Christmas Day but was well worth it.