We did all the wonderfully mundane things a family is expected to do at Christmas - we opened our gifts and stockings as a group:
...we enjoyed a massive dinner together on Christmas day:
...and in fact, we are still enjoying the leftovers from what I called Merry Briskmas four days later (even better than turkey!):
... and maybe overdid it a little on the potatoes:
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| Photo, caption and potatoes: G. F. |
We drank a significant number of Tom & Jerrys too, both here and at Auntie Betty's.
And I feel we earned all those indulgences fivefold (at least) since there was a non-zero chance of Fenya or Bobby being stranded in Toronto.
Oh why? Because there was no one available to look after their dog Skye, who has anxiety issues and cannot be left alone, and you are not permitted to check animals at this time of year because the baggage area is not heated.
They got the largest under-seat kennel they could find and Skye (who could quite possibly be passed off as a large stoat) could turn around in it easily enough, but not fully stand up, as is required. They reconnoitered Pearson Airport the night before their flight and were told by the gate manager that he would allow it, but at the end of the day, it is the agents at check-in and the gate who would make the call, and can indeed turn a person away.
Which means if that individual is having a bad day, it is highly likely that you are going to have a bad day.
When the lady at check in said to Skye, "oh, you poor crushed thing," there were a fair number of dismayed expressions passing between my daughter and her husband. Without prompting, the dog demonstrated her ability to turn around within the carrier, and after some consideration, the agent begrudgingly allowed them to proceed. But not before needlessly reminding them that they could still be turned away at the gate.
So they kept their distance from the other passengers and vluntarily checked a carry-on when the agents asked for volunteers. This was in hopes of ingratiating themselves, but it also allowed them to board earlier than expected, and perhaps because the flight was so busy, nothing at all was said as they boarded and stuffed Skye's carrier beneath the seat in front of them. Of course, no real relief was had until they pushed away from the gate - unless you count the dog relieving herself in the carrier while perched on Bobby's lap and saturating the both of them.
Regardless, though, we were so grateful to have them both with us (Bobby had planned to stay in TO with Skye if it had come to that) that an unscheduled dog bath and shower for my son-in-law felt like a small price to pay.
The nerdiness truly began when they (all three, actually) were both able to join us in Rocky Mountain House where the three cousins played a Christmas D&D one-shot with my nephew Mark using some old characters of theirs. It is a dandy called "In the Black Midwinter" and features a ton of goofy references as well as a showdown with both the Krampus and Jülbocken!
But it really peaked for me when we arranged to play a session of our ongoing family campaign (or "fampaign", if you will) two nights ago with all eight players in a chapter-concluding boss fight!
Family time is obivously pretty crucial to me at Christmas, but playing D&D, in person, with my wife, two daughters, son-in-law, my wife's son as well as his own wife, sister and sister's fiance? From a scheduling perspective alone this was truly a mighty undertaking, and I am amazed and grateful we could pull it off!
We play the fampaign online around twice a month on average, across three (sometimes four!) timezones, but being together in the same kitchen for dinner and same basement for snacks and clickety clack math rocks and laughs was simply the best. We laughed more often and harder than we ever do over Google Meet, especially after I gave players the option of eating a random pull from the Jelly Belly "Fiery Five" collection to earn a re-roll.
Two players drew the dreaded Carolina Reaper, which was almost debilitating. Poor Glory drew a habanero (the second hottest) to save her clerid Anja Stormdottir after rolling a 1 on her Death Save - only to have the reroll turn up as a 1 as well!
Eherleschkeit kommt wieder I suppose...luckily the other cleric, Armida Plum, correctly assessed the seriousness of the mission and had thoughtfully prepared a Revivify spell which got her back on her feet.
At any rate, it was a tough battle that took several hours to play through and weapped up a little after one in the morning, but with no player casualties, and a lot of fun.
Sure, I also got a tremendous assortment of nerdy gifts, but the peak Christmas moment for me was playing a game I have loved for most of my life with people I love, at a time of year that our four households love.
