I Love This Time of Year

My weekend started on Thursday night when we arrived at my parents' home and spent the evening hanging out with my sister who had just arrived from Africa where she lives.
We had tons of fun and a few drinks to toast the season as snow began to fall through the night.
Friday was spent getting ready for the big family gathering which would take place on Sunday and I could feel the little boy in me getting really excited about this early Christmas gathering.  Even though it was 2 weeks before "real Christmas".
On Friday night we put the kids to bed and I taught my sisters and my wife how to play poker.  Realizing that my parents' house wouldn't have such devilish things as playing cards and poker chips, we eventually found a deck and used mini marshmallows for chips.  Whoever ended up with the most marshmallows won that game.
Sitting around, laughing and sipping eggnog with a wee bit of rum whilst listening to my favourite Christmas album "Kenny Rogers Christmas" I was enjoying every moment.
We turned in at about 10:45pm in anticipation for out big family gathering on Saturday afternoon and evening.
Around 3pm on Saturday our family started to arrive and with mom's house perfectly decorated, the smell of cinnamon in the air and Michael Buble's voice setting the scene, we had a great time together.  Laughing, eating, playing games and hearing what everyone had been up to for the past few months and years.
There really never is enough time at those gatherings is there?

Those gatherings where people make the extra effort and drive the extra mile really only seem to happen at Christmas time.  So I love this time of year and look forward to the next time we are all together again.