Family Party

I think it is best to present the family party in its own section. The family Christmas party is not just any get together, it is something I look forward to all year and I start the countdown the minute I leave Amparo’s house. It is one of the few times that the entire family is able to get together and to me it seems even more important as we are all growing older and slowly the family is starting to move apart. I love traditions and this is one of the few that I can recall as early as I remember still being intact. As always the kitchen is reserved for the guys.

Sure there are some of the girls passing through, but if you ask anyone, Amparo gets a buy because she is busy cooking chorizos or bunuelos. The main attraction of the kitchen of course is the “holy water” or Aguardiente. It didn’t take long for this dangerous liquid to come out and it always leads to an eventful evening. I remember stories from my dad of the uncles and my grandpa shaving each others’ heads and some pretty intense conversations. If you hang around long enough you are always rewarded by exaggerated stories both from Al and Frank and it never hurts when you start to mix in Will and Tony. 

As fun as the kitchen is, it is vital that you take it in doses. If you are not careful one shot will quickly turn into 8 or 10 and no one likes a drunk on Christmas... we are classy. Remember the main event is the family and this was no normal party. We had a lot to celebrate; Jill and Carlos were visiting from El Paso, TX.

Also, Al and Mel just got married in September and it was their first Christmas as newlyweds. Perhaps the biggest news was that Al and Mel are not along with that accolade, Will and Lyn are finally newlyweds. In fact, I somehow got called in to do a toast in front of the entire family for them. Now for those of you that know me well I am not much of a public speaker and more often than not trip over my words. Well compound my past with a shot or two of Aguardiente and all I could mutter was a few short phrases in their honor. I attribute it to the fact that I was beyond happy to hear that they are finally wed and that they are so happy together, as I said that night… it is about time.

The night is a time to catch up with everyone that we normally don’t get to see and is a time for me to appreciate how lucky I am. I am honored to have such a loving family and I never forget how fortunate I am. For as much as we rarely see each other during the year we are all able to come together on this one night and act like nothing has changed.

It is fun to see the new generations growing up and to see how everyone is turning into truly wonderful people. Yet, as special as the night is, we have to remember that we are all Restrepos and there will be some chaos along the way. This year the chaos came in a wave known as Christy and fake tattoos. I can’t let her take all the credit, I too got in on the fun and before anyone knew it we were baptizing everyone with tattoos whether or not our victim was willing.

I don’t want to brag, but I love my family and I am so blessed to have them all in my life. More than anything my greatest Christmas present this year was being able to come home and spend even just one night with everyone.

Fallon being a ham for the camera