Family Holiday

It's only been a few years that others have been brought into family holiday celebrations. Growing up, boyfriends, girlfriends and friends in general never got invited, not so much because our parents wouldn't allow it, but we were never quite sure how these guests would be welcomed. Family celebrations had, for years, been family and family alone. And frankly, it was easy to snap to any number of socially humiliating flashbacks when the thought of inviting a friend was entertained.

*Ring, ring*

Even before the end of the first ring, my sisters and I took off like a bolt of lightning to pick up the phone. Oh God, don't let Pa pick up the phone. More often than not, we were safe. But sometimes...well, sometimes...let's just say it was tempting to leap off the bowl mid-crap. But it would happen. He'd pick up the phone and grunt his greeting, "Yah...Who are you?" It sounded angry. It always sounded angry. Then, without covering the mouthpiece, he'd sound even angrier, "VAN!!!!!! PHONE!!!!" And my poor sisters. If it was a boy, forget it. Because then he really would be angry, and it sounded that way, "VANESSA!!!!" He'd growl it, "VANESSA!!!!" It's pretty impressive to growl that name. There are no "r"s in Vanessa, and yet he'd still find a way to grrrowl it.

And then there was my mom who, on the rare occassion friends would come over, had a tendency to hover. She wouldn't say anything. She would just piddle around, acting as though it was common practice to walk in orbit around me and my friends, rearranging the accumulated tchotchke in whatever room we happened to be in, "accidentally" picking up random bits of our conversation, but never contributing.

So this Easter was a little unusual. I'd only known him for four, maybe five months, yet there he was in the midst of a family holiday. Surprisingly, he seemed relatively comfortable despite my mom and dad doing the hovering thing in the dining room as my sisters, brother-in-law and I conversed with him in the living room. But it wasn't weird. My mom actually kept offering him more food, and my dad offered him more wine. They didn't talk all that much to him, not that I'd expected them to, but still they were far more gracious as hosts than I'd ever dreamed. Even more surprising since he was...Jewish! In our home during Easter and he was Jewish! I would have thought it more likely for my mom to parade around him with rosary in hand praying for his salvation than to have her offer him more lumpia or ham.

He was nice though, and I think he's going to be around for more family holidays. He and my older sister Virna seem headed for the altar. Still, it makes me wonder what will happen if and when I have someone to invite for a family get together. I'm pretty sure that will require the rosary.

Comments

[Steven.]

The rosary?

If your parents are as religious as mine, it's a good idea to build a small chapel on the side of the house.