holidays

All the kids were home for dinner tonight, just by chance.
It was nice.

I feel serious empty nester syndrome lately, which is weird because I still have a kid living at home, but we're used to lots of kids at our house.

This year people seem ready to jump into Christmas.  Last year was so blech, so I'm happy that so many more people seem festive this year.  

Paige asked me tonight how we were going to do Christmas this year.  Same as ever, I replied.  She says, "Oh, so we're staying the night with grandma and grandpa and heading to great-grandma and great-grandpa's on Christmas day?"  Hm.  I hadn't thought of that.

I visited my grandpa today; I try to visit him every Wednesday, but I didn't see him at all last week.  he was happy to see me.  He says Wayne and I are the only people who stop by to visit him.  He seemed especially melancholy today.  We had a bad windstorm Monday night; he lost power around 9pm and didn't get it back until 2:30pm on Tuesday.  I should have called and checked in on him, but I didn't think about it.  Sometimes when the wind blows, it can sound like a person moaning.  That can be disconcerting for one who has recently lost a spouse.

So I'm not quite sure how we're doing Christmas this year.
But I do know that my grandpa is supplying the wine for Thanksgiving. We'll tackle this first holiday before we start contemplating the logistics of Christmas, I guess.