Puzzles and Poker

Christmas has been packed back into the boxes for another year
and the fake tree wrestled down to its corner of the basement. It was our first Christmas in the new condo and it went surprisingly smoothly in spite of the smaller space.

          We still wanted to see everyone even if we didn’t have room to sit them down to a meal, so we began with an afternoon open house. I thought it worked out especially well since people could come and go, and were still able to move on to other branches of the family afterwards.

          Our kids and grandkids made it from distant and not-so-distant states, and we found a place for everyone to sleep. Daughter’s family in the upstairs, son and wife in the master bedroom, and Grandpa and I in the basement. 

 

We were very cozy even if the view left something to be desired. 

Three boys in a condo even went well. We have the Basketball Hall of Fame (for the older set),  the Eric Carle Museum (for the younger), and a new Star Wars Movie to thank for that.

I narrowly beat our 8 year-old grandson at chess while the 15 and 13 year-old left with a new skill. Grandpa dug out the poker chips and talk of royal flushes and inside straights filled the evening. I just hope no one has to write an essay about what they did over vacation.

 We also put the $4 puzzle I’d bought to good use. Someone would pass by the table where it had been started and then lose all sense of time until they found that one piece that completed a particular section.

Today My Guy and I are simultaneously organizing our pilgrimage to Florida while holding our collective breath. We are about to receive an offer on our still-unsold house tomorrow. Stay tuned.