Christmas has come and gone.  Not a lot of drama this year.  Papa Kennedy was released from the hospital a few days earlier from his kidney stone operation.  He learned in the hospital that he is diabetic and had an atrial fibrillation, which was corrected before he was discharged.  And his diet was the only real topic of conversation of any possible drama at the elder Kennedy household.  The siblings have all decided that mom is an enabler, as she keeps bringing him food with sugar in it.  I hear that a diabetic diet is difficult to understand, and clearly mom and dad are struggling with it.  I can see that dad has no idea what he should eat, and I feel his pain on this.  Bob and marcia seem to understand what he should be eating and want to be helpful, but we will all go away in a few days, and mom and dad will need to be able to fend for themselves.

Still, despite dad being tired and just released from the hospital, they put on a great holiday for their children and grandchildren.  We all had a great time with each other.  And then the eight of us went to Marcia’s mom’s house and Marcia’s aunt’s house.  I fell asleep on the couch at Marcia’s mom’s house.  I didn’t mean to, and it was awfully rude to do so.  I woke up shortly before we were leaving, and started talking football with Rick.  I really enjoyed talking with Rick and it was just a short visit for me.  I wish I had not been so tired or at least not given into it.  I felt bad, they were expecting lots of guests from his family and from hers, but it was just us, and Bonnie stopped by.  There was lots of leftover food.  Anna Rose left him there to wait to see if his family would post, and came with us to Joan’s.

We had a good old time at Joan’s house.  Pop was very interested in Jack and even held him for a while.  The kids are getting older, almost old enough for the bar games in the basement.  Liz and Noah played foosball and pool!

The kids were very well behaved throughout the day.  And they were helpful.  I am so proud of the way they are acting lately.  I love my job as their father.  Such a wonderful time, Christmas is.  And I intend to use my time off from work to dedicate it just to the family.