Well, we did it! We put together a full Christmas day celebration, complete with turkey feast (all right, turducken) and gift opening and lot’s of visiting. It was a visit with my folks I will always cherish, and worth every bit of the preparations put into it! Mom & Dad, thank you for taking the time to fly out here and spend a Christmas celebration with us! I appreciate you both, and love you dearly.

I want to take a moment and thank Ma (tutu) for the beautiful Hawaii calendar that she sent to us! That was so very thoughtful of you, and just the thing needed to swing me towards a Hawaiian vacation. We were down to a Caribbean Cruise and the Hawaiian Cruise, leaning towards the Caribbean as we have seen very little of the Caribbean, and had both been to Hawaii sans each other before our lives together started. Some of the photos on that calendar were nothing short of breathtaking! Although the hubby doesn’t know it yet, my vote now goes toward the Hawaiian Cruise, with a couple extra days in Hawaii, so we can meet you Ma, and DB and Bitchatude, and of course little Kamalani! Beautiful beaches, and meeting some of the most fantastic bloggers! What more could I want? 

Now, in honor of my parents visit, my most wonderful husband wrote another guest post. Which I’ll share this post. The first photo displayed was of my parents in my backyard a little while after they arrived. I went to take a shower and left them to their own devices for a few minutes. When I looked out the sliding door, they were standing there together, and I screamed at them to “not move!” Of course they moved and I told them to do what they were doing, and snapped the picture. I think my family is going to grow to loathe my desire to learn how to take photos. Until then though, I’m going to have a good time, manipulating everyone into the positions I want for picture taking.

The second picture was of my father, after I insisted he take his hair down for a picture. I have always loved long hair on men. I think I should have been born in the late 40’s so I could have enjoyed the 60’s! When my father decided he was done cutting his hair after years of having it ultra short, I thought it was a fantastic idea! I think long hair on men is symbolic of rebellion and bad boys for me. So seeing Dad sporting long hair, well I have enjoyed it!

Now I’ll quit rambling and give you Kevin’s guest post:

When Eddie Haskel turns 50

If you know who Eddie Haskel is, then you’ll appreciate what I have to say.
And even if you don’t remember the troublemaking Eddie from the old—very
old—show called Leave It to Beaver, maybe you still can relate.
In any event, some background on Eddie and me: Whenever the older teenager
Eddie went into the home of Wally and The Beav and found parents Ward and
June Cleaver standing in the kitchen or the living room, he’d immediately
shuck all his devilish behavior and politely say, “Good Morning, Mrs.
Cleaver, Good morning Mr. Cleaver,” masking his bad boy with a good boy
veneer. He inevitably would be plotting some dirty practical joke on Beaver
and his older brother, but all that impishness would dissolve the minute he
would meet the Beav’s parents.
I’ve always felt a little bit like Eddie Haskel when I used to meet the
parents of girlfriends I was dating, or was with the parents of my previous
two wives. Mind you, I wasn’t playing any tricks on those parents’
daughters, but I was enough of a bad boy to feel like I had to be extra
special good when I would meet the parents.
But what does Eddie do when he is nearly the same age as the Beav’s
parents? I ponder this question a lot--and have so since I met 3T four
years ago--because her parents are just a year or two older than me.
I remember when I first met them when we took a Memorial Day weekend flight
up to 3T’s former haunts in Washington State. I slipped immediately into
the role of Eddie-meets-June-and-Ward, but somehow it felt different. I
couldn’t shag the
realization of the fact that they were contemporaries. It was more like I
was dating the daughter of Ward or June.

I had the occasion this week to ponder all this again when my in-laws came
for what turned out to be a wonderful Early Christmas. My father-in-law is
about 2.5 years older than me, his wife a year younger. His hair is well
past his shoulders, which makes me envious because even when I did wear a
pony tail 15 years ago, it never came near the length of his glorious mane.
Now, I get along pretty well with both of them, the one exception being a
visit two years ago or so when I and my bride were trying to quit smoking
(note to self: never try to quit smoking when you are visiting in-laws).
But just as that visit was full of tension, this was a delight in every
way.
And I found more than ever that I reacting to them more as contemporaries
than as the “son-in-law.” Still, that little bit of Eddie in me, the part
that comes out usually when my bride and I are alone and being naughty,
couldn’t help but want to scream out, “Good morning DAD. Good morning MOM.”
Of course, that didn’t happen. You simply cannot call the parents of your
spouse “mom and dad” if they are just a year or two older than you.
So such is life when Eddie Haskel turns 50 and marries someone 15 years
younger. In-laws aren’t really in-laws to you. Instead, they are simply
contemporaries. And in the case of mine, good people and good friends.
And Eddie just stays in his cage until they leave.