At our family Christmas Party last week we participated in an annual tradition of sharing a fine meal and exchanging gifts. The Kimball family continues to grow and it is becoming difficult for us to all fit into a single house. Yet every year, with practically standing room only, we get together because none of us can imagine not having that one evening together during the holiday season.
Everyone brings food to contribute to our dinner. The menu consists of turkey and ham with potatoes prepared a certain way, a very specific gelatin salad, and a changing variety of other dishes to go along. Afterward we open $10.00 gifts in a game of rotating gift exchanges. During this part of the evening someone always reminds the rest of us about the year of the “flashlight.” That year there was a match of wills between a grandmother and an eight-year-old that went on for quite some time over a flashlight. The grandson won in the end.
This year’s party was enlivened by a visit from Santa himself. As the youngest generation of Kimballs watched with rapt attention to Santa while he read a story, we looked on and enjoyed our little ones.
Tradition is a powerful force and I am sure that next year at the same time and in the same place four generations of Kimballs will once again crowd together to celebrate family and Christmas.