Family Fun is All Relative!

Besides spending time with our children, we made that long drive north to spend time with our parents, siblings, nieces and nephews.  So the next 6-hour drive took us back to Oklahoma City through torrential rain and icy roads.  Roads around Tulsa were closed due to flooding from almost a foot of rain that had fallen in the last two days.   We were greeted by an ice storm that froze Oklahoma City in its tracks. Denisa braved the ice to take a few pictures of the ice that encased everything outside.

These roses that were blooming on a 70-degree day earlier this week were now frozen in time.

We arrived in time for Denisa’s family Christmas celebration.  All that ice tried to cancel our family get-together, but we are made of tough pioneer stock that arrived to this state in the Oklahoma land-run.  So driving on ice and snow was no problem, and we all made it there.  Denisa's siblings were there, as well as many of our nieces and nephews.  Of course, most of the pictures seemed to be taken of the youngest generation, as we always enjoy playing with our great nieces and nephews.  

Since we don’t have grandchildren yet, we must be content to spoil our sibling’s grandchildren.  We’re just glad they don’t mind sharing!  Denisa’s Mother likes to get a picture with her great grandchildren, and we had all but one on the couch this time.

After a great meal, we started playing games.  We have a tradition of playing a very competitive game of spoons when we get together.  Here we are smiling before the spoons start flying.

In case you don’t know about this "complicated" game, it involves passing cards to try to get a set of four cards of the same number.  The first person with a set grabs a spoon from the table, and everyone else does the same.  It sounds civilized until you know that there is one less spoon than there are people playing the game.

This shortage results in people diving over the table or crawling on the floor to get those precious spoons.  Everyone that has successfully grabbed a spoon stands around laughing smuggly at those less fortunate that are still grappling for one.

It can also result in a stand-off when two cousins have a solid grip on the same spoon.

The youngest generation isn’t allowed to play yet.  So they sat patiently on the couch, waiting to spring into action to retrieve the cards that are spilled onto the floor in the mayhem each hand.  Then they would report to Denisa how many they found on the floor each time.

You have to have a set of spoons and decks of cards set aside for this game because it is guaranteed that both the spoons and cards will be bent and broken by the end of the game.  We found ourselves playing near Denisa’s sister and brother-in-law, at the end of the table that we affectionately called the geriatric section.  Most of the players were twenty or thirty years younger than us, but somehow Denisa managed to stay in the game until it was down to the last four players from the original eleven.  But she was no match for these younger players that will sacrifice all for that precious spoon.  This year’s winner was our niece Beth, mother of two but still up to the Janzen family spoon challenge.  She's in the center of the picture below in the gray cardigan.  Congratulations Beth!

After the rousing game of spoons, our son Blake was the main attraction as the children lined up to be thrown into the air so they landed on the couch.  He got a work-out and they thought it was better than a carnival ride.

Early the next morning we were awakened by an earthquake that registered 4.3, and whose epicenter was only 3 miles from where we were sleeping at Denisa's sister's house.  It didn't knock us out of bed, but it certainly got our attention!  After spending time with Denisa's relatives, it was time to head north to the panhandle of Oklahoma for the Engelman family get-together.  That would include a drive through the area that was hit with the worst of the ice and snow storms in the state.  We saw miles of electrical poles that were snapped in two by the weight of the ice on the lines.

We also were stopped several times when the highway was closed to one lane to make room for the crews that were working to restore power to customers in the local area.

That four-hour drive brought us to the panhandle of Oklahoma where Mark's parents live. So far we have driven 28 hours and experienced floods, ice, snow, and earthquakes.  It is obvious that we think spending time with our families at Christmas is important enough to brave a multitude of natural disasters (and a lot of hours on the highway)!