For all you intrepid Bloggeristas here, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

The world here in Vanwall-land has changed so much in the last year or so, it's hard to keep things in some sort of order. We used to have a coupla little boys running around underfoot on Christmas mornings, waking us up at the crack of dawn - or even before - to watch them tearing into the colorful presents Chris and I had so carefully wrapped, some only the evening before! They were and are polar opposites: one blond, Brian, wisecracking, and a wrapping-trasher, ripping off the paper, ribbons, and bows to get right to the heart of things, almost as if he was afraid it would vanish somehow if he waited an instant more; the other, Sean, dark and saturnine, quietly and methodically disassembling each wrapping as if by some arcane instructions. They have always scoffed at each other's methods, and this only spurs them to be more exagerrated in their unwrappings, to the point where it's comical - just the thing to bring a laugh for a Christmas Day.

This year is different, tho - their other lives have begun to take precedence over our old ways. Both have girls, wonderful beautiful girls, who love them, and that simple fact has made a certain seperation from us inevitable. I recognize the signs of young love turning into a more serious, realistic relationship - the casual acceptance of the fact that two have become like one, without awkward moments and misunderstood glances - they are sympatico, and their easy physicallity when the they're snuggling on the couch when they think were not looking, or the way they just look at each other and communicate volumes in that short glance - I can see that Chris and I are now spectators, all our work leading up to this, and all our advice and guiding, (hell, butt-kicking sometimes!), has only gone so far, and now it's time to push 'em off without our training wheels, to balance along on two wheels for as far as they can go. They're both pretty athletic, so I figure they'll go pretty far with only a coupla door-handle scrapes and a tramlining-fall or two, and we hope these two wonderful young women will be there for them, but mostly, that both boys have learned they have to be there for their girls, too.

This has become evident this Holiday, as being with two families for all special occaisions is really an almost impossible schedule to maintain without stressing out, and even tho the boys have made a wonderful, extra effort to be there with us as much as possible, I'm kinda glad they've made decisions to be with their girl's families the primary objective this Christmas and New Year. Yeah, it's kinda lonely, and yeah, it's necessary - Sean is getting married in five months, and even tho he nominally still lives here, he has been spending most of his time with his fiance. This year we get a longer Christmas than ever, as the boys will be celebrating on different days, and then hitting the road to be with their other families. Sean's was yesterday, opening their packages with meticulous care, and that big sap and his fiance, Clarissa, went and bought us things even after strict instructions not to! Save it for the wedding, dammit! Oh, well, I got the brand new limited edition "Calvin and Hobbes" complete collection, and I was so floored I almost shed a tear. (That boy has my number - for Father's Day one year he bought me the Criterion Collection DVD of 'M' - yeah, I'm weird that way)

Chris had ordered some Pfaltzgraf china a few months ago, and two of the platters arrived broken - they were the last ones available, so she was pretty bummed. Well, Sean and Clarissa somehow found two replacement platters! This helped salve the empty-nest feeling when they left, and I guess we better get used to it - the realization that they've gone and grown up was never more stark than when we closed the front door after they left. Brian and his girl will be over tomorrow for their turn as "The Kids", with wrapping strewn about and then they're off, too. Neither couple will be here for our usual Christmas Morning dinner, sniff. I still see the two little boys, light and dark, loud and quiet, sitting on the living room floor surrounded by paper and toys. Christmas will never be the same after this year, I can see that, and I'm glad both sets of young lovers are making a fine effort to make it easy on us. Of course, this won't help Chris's seperation anxiety one bit. I'm pretty sure I can handle closing that front door again as they walk down the driveway to their car, but it'll be a little tough, I'll admit.