Anita Campbell
County Reporter
There is a new movie out called “Christmas with the Campbells,” however, no movie could beat the real thing with “Christmas with the Campbells Warsaw Style.”
Our official Christmas celebration starts when Daughter #3 arrives from California with her crew. We usually only see this part of the family a couple of times during the year so I always want to make every day of their stay memorable. It was quite a shock for our little California granddaughters to be thrown into zero-degree weather when they left 70-degree weather in California. Grandchild #6 asked me when it was going to warm up and I told her maybe in March.
I had made my special Christmas cookies weeks before and stored them in an airtight container in the freezer so we could decorate when my little Jeremic granddaughters arrived. I also had made snickerdoodles and molasses cookies, but to my surprise when I took them out to decorate several cookies were missing. I knew I had a cookie thief in the house somewhere and I had a pretty good idea it was Pappy. Anyway, the day after the girls arrived with their parents, we invited grandchildren #2 and #4 to join us to decorate with grandchildren #5, #6, #8 and #9. I discovered they were remarkable cookie decorators and we had some remarkable cookies to share on Christmas Eve. I also caught Pappy sneaking a cookie while we were decorating so I am pretty sure I was right about who the cookie thief was.
On Christmas Eve as we were preparing to go to the Roberts’ house, Daughter #2 discovered more cookie thieves as the cookie crumbs led to two little girls. They didn’t just eat one cookie, they took bites out of four cookies! Both granddaughters #8 and #9 said it was Pappy but the evidence was all over their faces.
We had a fun celebration at the Roberts’ house as we ate lots of delicious food and played games all afternoon. Later we attended the Christmas Eve service at the Methodist Church and I enjoyed hearing my sweet daughters, granddaughters and grandsons sing the special music.
Then Christmas Day arrived! Watching four of my grandchildren check their stockings and enjoy their Santa presents took me back to those wonderful years of watching my own children. Then Daughters #2 and #3 helped me prepare the big meal for twenty-four of our growing family. Daughter #1 and her family arrived and we started with the wonderful appetizers she brought. #1 Son and his family arrived so I kept the family entertained while they waited for the food with a new game called “Talking Points.” The object of the game is to get people talking about different subjects. My favorite question was “What are some good qualities about your siblings?” I was very happy to hear all my grandchildren say very positive things about their siblings. They like each other more than they will usually admit.
After Daughter #4 and her crew arrived, we ate dinner. I wanted everyone to have a place to sit so the older grandchildren went downstairs, the littles sat in the kitchen and the adults ate in the dining room. It is a bit of a tight fit but we managed. I felt like I had prepared a wonderful meal but the younger children seemed to only eat rolls and more cookies.
After dinner, we started opening presents. We have a rule that we start with the youngest and go to the oldest with the grandchildren. When it was time for Grandchild #7 to open, we couldn’t find his gift. We looked everywhere but it was not to be found. Finally, #2 Son-in-law discovered the cookie thieves were also gift thieves, Granddaughters #9 and #10 had opened a present in the basement then hid the evidence. The present was found and all was right again. Then when it was time for Son-in-law #1 to open his gift, we couldn’t find it. I was sure I had wrapped it, but it too had disappeared. Then when #1 Son opened his gift, he discovered his brother-in-law’s gift inside his box with his gift. I may have been drinking wine during the gift wrapping, but we found the missing gift again.
Finally, after much eating, gift exchanging and playing, it was time for bed. As the Roberts’ family prepared to leave, Grandchild #4 could not find his shoes. I had warned everyone not to leave shoes on the front porch because Jake (our dog) is notorious for taking shoes, boots, even occasional packages and chewing on them. We searched the house and Grandchild #4 thought he had found them. “I don’t know why but someone put my shoes in a suitcase upstairs,” he announced. Just then Son-in-law #3 piped up and said, “Connor, why are you taking my shoes?” The search continued for Grandchild #4’s shoes. His mother finally discovered one shoe in the backyard and another in the front. Jake had struck again. The good news was that the shoes had not been chewed. The Roberts left; however, Son-in-law #1 returned soon since Grandchild #4 couldn’t find his Switch game. We searched the house again, only to find it was in the snow in the front yard. Somehow, it fell out of Daughter #1’s pocket when she was searching for the lost shoes. Game was fine and everyone went to bed.
The next missing items were very sweet books that our little Jeremic granddaughters had made for Nana with their art work. I was sure that I had put them away but I couldn’t find them. I started going through each sack of trash that we had collected during the gift unwrapping but I couldn’t find them. I told everyone no bag of trash was to be burned until I found those homemade books. The next day they were found in Grandchild #6’s suitcase. She thought she had let me see her artwork and she was going to take it home.
Next day was “Game Day.” We started with Trivial Pursuit. It was the Millennials against Generation X and Baby Boomers. We added a Generation Z to help us out. We had a very old Trivial Pursuit game so Grandson #1 thought it was too hard although he helped us out a great deal on sports. It was a highly competitive game but the Generation X team won. Grandson #1 thought I had an advantage since I lived through most of the history questions. I did impress Grandson #1 because I knew Wilt Chamberlain's parents were only 5’8” tall and he was 7’1". I guessed because Wilt Chamberlain was the only NBA player I knew.
Next, we got into a very competitive pitch tournament. Uncle Hadley came by and Grandson #3 wanted him as his partner since he heard of his wild tricks. It was like old times because my parents and grandparents always seemed to be playing pitch and they taught us when we were very young. It was fun that the four oldest grandchildren could play with the older generation and we had some really wild rounds but Daughter #1 and Daughter #4 came out as the winners.
Our last game of the evening was “One Night Ultimate Werewolf” and that was fun because we were able to include seven of the grandchildren in on this one. It was an eye-opening game, because we discovered that this group was able to deceive the adults very well. Very few times did we guess who the werewolf actually was.
When we were ready to go to bed, #1 Son and his family headed out to their RV parked in the front yard which reminded us of “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” We teased #1 Son that he just needed a bathrobe and cigar to become “Cousin Eddie.” At about 4 AM, the young Campbell's ran out of propane so they were glad to run into the Campbell headquarters to warm up.
As I started breakfast for this crew, I discovered a crock pot of barbecue weenies still plugged into the wall near the backdoor. I guess we ran out of counter space so this person thought the floor was a good place for the crockpot. Needless to say, the cats feasted on weenies that morning.
While we fixed breakfast, our five grandsons unloaded a trailer load of wood for us and stacked it on the front porch.
We scrambled two dozen eggs, four packages of bacon, two packages of sausage, two bags of hash browns and a big skillet full of gravy. Nothing was left over. Pappy had gone to check the cows and missed breakfast so I fried him a couple of eggs.
All too soon, the young Campbell's and the Morrison's headed back to the Kansas City area and the crew that was left played with their new toys together.
In the evening, we hired Granddaughter #1 to babysit and we took the Jeremic, Roberts and Adler parents out to eat pizza and throw axes at the Train Station. Everyone had a great time and the Adler duo came out as the team winners.
After everyone went to bed, I sat in my chair watching my Christmas tree go round and round and I reflected on the blessings of my sometimes crazy but always fun family and I whispered a prayer of thanksgiving to my Lord. Christmas at the Campbells was more special than the movie version.
