Thursday 8 December 2011

On the Fifth Day of Christmas...

... I really should make mention of a new holiday tradition.

First, I must apologize for falling behind. Sometimes, life gets in the way, but at least I'm starting to get caught up now (I hope)!

So as I said, I really ought to make mention of a new holiday tradition. It all started two or three years ago when my mother suggested that my friend Omar come over on Christmas Eve...

You see, Omar's family is Muslim, so I can understand if having him over for anything related to Christmas is a little strange. However, such really isn't the case. When mum had put forth the suggestion, Allie and I heartily agreed, but we decided to let my mum put forth the formal invitation.

I'd called Omar one night, not too long before Christmas Eve, probably to see if he wanted to go for a Timmie's run or something foolish along those lines. That's when I passed the phone off to my mother. I'm going to try to quote her as best as possible,  but presume that I'm paraphrasing at best.

Hey Baby! So, Christmas is a time that's all about friends and family, and since you're both, you should come over for dinner Christmas Eve. After all, it's not like you'll be going to Midnight Mass.

When Omar was done laughing, he accepted my crazy mother's invitation. I think he also said in there somewhere that some day, he'll go to Midnight Mass, on behalf of the white people in my household (which is all of us. Please don't be offended with the whole, "white people" thing. It's a joke with our families.).

When Christmas Eve came around, Omar arrived at our house. I remember mum saying that dinner was going to be nothing special that evening, just lasagna, and Omar was all excited because that's one of his favourite foods. He also showed up with an apple pie for dessert. After dinner, it was time for Allie and I to take over.

Allie and I have a game called Whoville-opoly. It's Monopoly, but it's How the Grinch Stole Christmas themed. It. Is. AWESOME! Instead of going to jail, you go to the Grinch Cave. Instead of having a car as a playing piece, you have the Roast Beast. See where I'm going? Now you know why I think it's awesome.

Omar, if memory serves, had never played Monopoly before. He seemed to really enjoy it. He, Allie, and I each wore silly Christmas attire on our noggins (he had a crown from a Christmas cracker, I had reindeer dealie-boppers, and I think Allie had a Santa hat), while watching bad Christmas infomercials on mute with music playing in the background. The experience couldn't have been that bad because last year, Omar came over on Christmas Eve, and we did it all again!

Another thing that was interesting last year was Omar also came over for Christmas dinner. His parents were out of country for a wedding, so White Mumma had him come back a second night in a row (yes, we Whoville-opolied the night before) for food and drink and merriment. Last year was also when my uncle bought me a couple of lightsabres, so guess which two Star Wars freaks had an epic battle in the driveway? That's right. Omar and I did. You know you're jealous.

We might not be hosting Christmas dinner at our house this year, but Omar will definitely be back on the 24th for more Whoville-opoly fun. Who knows? This might even be the year he goes to mass on our family's behalf. Yeah, you can totally tell we don't go...

That's my family's new tradition. What are yours?

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