One of the many joys of grandparenting is the happiness that comes from having family join together at Christmas. Mind you, it can be a royal pain in the ass logistically and mentally at times but the fact that family members actually want to come together at a time of typical stress is actually comforting.

Ever since Peg and I have been together, our joined family of three daughters seemed willing and happy to come “home” at Christmas. Even though one daughter had already graduated from college and the other two were students, we managed to be able to gather together. The pure wonder and mystery of it all is that it continued as they married and brought their spouses home, and now with combined 5 grandchildren we still all manage to come together at our home for Christmas. Even as we all live, and have lived hundreds of miles apart, the old house (now 91 years old) still calls them back.

We know that this will not last forever and at some point each family will begin their own Christmas tradition. However, each year together has brought more and more memories – especially with little ones enjoying the house and tradition.

This year we had all 13 family members staying together on Christmas night. That is a lot of towels, diapers, toilet paper, meals, spills, cheerios, goldfish crackers, crayons, barbie doll parts, laughter, tears, cartoons, disney movies, and one tv football game squeezed in between several viewings of Moana, Lion King, Trolls, and Octonauts. It’s interesting over the years to see the changes in kids’ joys from my generation’s favorite Rudolph, and Frosty to the current Olaf and Elf on a Shelf (that damn Elf).

Gates at the top and bottom of the stairs kept the littlest ones from venturing into trouble but alllowed the adventurest “flying dragon boy” to show his gate climbing skills with glee and usual parental shrugs. The grandkids demonstrated their prowess as princesses, light saber experts, flying dragons, wizards and just plain wiggly, huggable, lovable grandchildren. There are lots of visual memories such as the little ones taking turns sitting at the kitchen island counter eating their breakfast or taking shifts at the “kiddie table” for meals, or taking turns in the swivel/rocker/recliner to see how much it can spin, or seeing how many can fit around the old den coffee table and color at the same time. Who knew that a toy dinasour or a Harry Potter book could elicit squeals of delight. The looks of wonder as they would count the stockings on the mantel and finally see the one with their name . The stack of shoes near the entrance doors usually brought a smile (and another memory). Having lived in New York (every grand child but one was born in the same Upper West Side hospital in Manhattan), riding the subways, walking in Manhattan and Brooklyn, you learn to never wear your shoes in the house.

It will take weeks to finally finish putting everything and every room back together. So far I have swept up 2,837 pieces of glitter from a new Princess Anna dress that Santa brought to one of the granddaughters. Yes, it was ingenious of her parents to have her put the dress on at the grandparents house so all the glitter would be gone for the trip home! It took a week for me to find my missing tennis shoe (found it in a clothes hamper under a pile of towels!). We momentarily despaired thinking we had lost a favorite ornament from the tree – then discovered it at the curb still hanging to a limb where the tree had been dumped awaiting the city to remove! We have loaded 21 plastic storage boxes of Christmas ornaments and decorations to go to the attic awaiting the next year’s gathering. There are always the items that someone leaves behind that need to be sent on or kept in a safe place to be taken next trip, but we always make sure that the little ones’ sleeping buddies are always accounted for – that would be nightmarish – literally!

I would gladly sweep up ten times the glitter and pack dozens more storage boxes to see the absolute joy again of a wish to Santa being fulfilled by a gleeful, adoring grandchild’s face and the smiles of happiness from a parent knowing they got it right! Seeing our family gather like this every year – we know we got it right!