Christmas Party for 57

The Kittitas County McDonald clan is busy decorating the Peoh Point Grange Hall before the rest of the family shows up for our annual Christmas party. We’ve gathered boughs by the pickup load, a 14 foot tall tree, bushels and bushels of Oregon Grape, reams of ribbon, red bows, silver bows, green bows. Bows bows bows.

As the guys get busy setting up that enormous tree, us girls start hanging garland around the windowsills then decorate them up alternating colored bows and Oregon Grape. Others are busy setting up all the tables we will need to fit our large extended family, 57 in all gathering together this year. We use the main hall cause the dining room just isn’t big enough when we all get together. The tables are set up in a huge U shape to seat as many people as possible on the outside and inside. Grandma and Grandpa are always at the head of the top table and then everyone else has different places to sit each year.

Chairs are set up and tablecloths laid out. Boughs placed down the center of the tables with more Oregon Grape to dress it up in true McDonald style. Candles are added and bows, bows, and more bows. The finishing touch is the handmade, personalized ornament set at each place which tells everyone where their seat is this year.

The lights are hung on the tree making the corner of the hall festive and glowing for our holiday celebration. Oodles of handmade ornaments are hung as well as, and you guessed it, bows and more bows to fill the tree in until the boughs are loaded. Done for the evening, we enjoy the ham and beans we’ve been smelling all day long before heading home for the night.

First thing Saturday morning dad runs up to the hall to get the fire going. Takes hours to heat up that big ol building. Long about three o’clock we make our one mile journey to the hall with all our presents wrapped with love and care. We’re the first ones there with grandma and grandpa not too far behind. Everyone else shows up in the next hour or two.

Each family walks in with arms full of gifts and food, faces glowing with holiday cheer as each hug is given and a warm “Merry Christmas” spoken. When the next family drives into the parking lot, we rush to help them carry in all their treasures. Soon the hall is filled with all of the McDonald Clan that could make it. There are precious few that can’t.

Once all have arrived, the kitchen crew gets busy dishing up all that delicious food we helped carry in. Once they’ve got the chicken and all the fixings that go with Christmas dinner on the tables, the bell rings telling everyone to get to their seat lickety-split. Of course, we already know where to sit because that’s one of the first things you do when you get there. And to see what wonderful ornament Grandma made for us this year. When everyone is in place, we all stand behind our chairs and hold hands to sing Blessed Be The Tie That Binds as the blessing for the meal. Then the feast begins. When a bowl or plate runs out of food, just head to the kitchen for a refill. Dinner takes a good long time because all the adults are jibber-jabbing so much. Us kids just want to get to the presents.

When the adults are finally done, everyone helps clear the tables. Dishes are stacked a mile high and leftovers find their way to the fridge, or outside in someone’s car because we ran out of room in the fridge and it’s cold enough outside. The washing of the dishes seems like it takes just as long as the meal. Laughter and stories abound while getting all those dishes done. So much funner doing them with your favorite cousin beside you.

The littles, anyone under 12 years old, are rounded up for the annual Gingerbread house storytime. Each year a story about Christmas is chosen and all the littles names are inserted into the story. When your name comes up, you get to take one thing off the candy house. After the entire story is told, it’s a free-for-all. Meanwhile another crew of people is busy tearing down all those tables and stacking them up in the corner. The chairs are set around the edge of the room for the bigs when they get to open their presents. This is also a good time to start taking all the family pictures. When one family is corralled, they stand in front of the tree and Uncle Vern takes their picture.

Soon as the kitchen is squared away the littles are called to the Christmas tree. Most are already there just waiting and dreaming about what might be in those packages. Each family brings you a present, so you get a lot of presents. Santa hands out the gifts, but you gotta wait until all the presents are sitting in front of you. Then when Santa says, “Go!” you open them all. Toys galore. It doesn’t take long before all those beautiful presents are reduced to a pile of brand spanking new toys to be played with. Moms and dads help their littlens gather their new toys and head to the dining room to play with them.

Next up are the bigs.

When you become a big, you draw a name the year before and plan out your gift to that family member all year long. What makes it even more fun is that you write out clues, a poem of sorts, to help your recipient guess who you are. Three chairs are placed right in front of the tree and Santa picks out three gifts and calls up those lucky first gift recipients. The poem is read, one line at a time, and if you guess right off the bat, you get to open your present. First years at the bigs tree usually don’t even guess who got them their gift, but the seasoned professionals always help them out. It takes several hours to get through all those gifts, but it doesn’t feel like it. Seems like we just got started when we are all done. But the party isn’t over yet.

There’s dessert.

Soon as you are ready for dessert you line up to make your way through the kitchen. The grange used to be an old school house, so the kitchen is set up for walking through, grabbing your plate, and winding up in the dining room. Pretty clever huh? Coffee is filling the entire hall with it’s bold, nutty aroma. Dad and some of the other guys come through last because they went outside for a long, long time. I don’t know if they’re peeing out there, or what. They sure get more jolly as the night goes on. The littles show off their toys again and everyone is jolly and full of Christmas spirit.

Now it’s time to dance.

The records come out and everyone takes turns choosing songs. Some Christmas, but mostly good ol fashioned country music. Mom and Dad are dancing fools. Dad is a good foot taller than mom so dad has to bend over quite a bit to hold mom in his arms. Dad then dances with Aunt Dode, Aunt Andy, and Aunt Jack, and so on throughout the night with people changing dance partners. I don’t get how they know how to dance with all those different people. But they do. Kids try to dance like the adults but we fail miserably. Soon it’s just too tiring and move back to the dining room, play a few more games and then figure out where to sleep. The dining room is now a giant bedroom with cousins snuggling up next to each other on the sleeping bags and quilts they brought with them for the night. The adults are chatting away long into the night with one more cup of coffee and long awaited conversations filled with Christmas cheer.