Bringing the Family Together: Holidays and Emergency Room Visits

Why is it that these two things, (holidays and emergency room visits), seem often to coincide, in my life? Perhaps it's because my mother went into labor with me the night of Mother's Day, nearly twenty-four years ago? Still, I have waited, with my family, as my niece had her leg put in a cast one Easter, I spent a Valentine's Day, two years ago, visiting Mr G in the hospital and waiting for test results, (a virus, but they kept him overnight, as it nearly killed him), Mr G an I, just this past Mother's Day, rushed to the hospital after his grandmother fell down some stairs, and this Christmas, my father-in-law broke his arm. Actually, he broke it on Christmas Eve, but this meant a very chagrined, (he loves to cook almost as much as my father, and my husband), father-in-law had to sit on the sidelines while Mr G and his sisters handled the turkey, stuffing, and other such accouterments. (I am often accused of "marrying into a family that cooks," on purpose, as, while I love to bake, my idea of "cooking a meal" tends to result in me slapping whatever meat or cheese I have between two slices of bread and calling it a "sandwich." If I really want to mix it up, I will use both meat and cheese. Also, as my father and mother both enjoy, and are quite good at, cooking, and I spent all of my undergraduate college years working in a restaurant where the cooks liked me enough to try to force-feed me, as I rarely stopped for an actual meal break, I have grown far too accustomed to having very good food without having to cook it. I do cook at my house; we share such duties...My meals are just not as yummy as Mr G's meals.)
So, as I said, Mr G's family decided to go through with the holiday celebrations as planned, for the most part. It turned out to b a much more low-key celebration than they originally intended, but that was perfectly fine by me, as I was still a little worn out from my family's Christmas Eve party and Midnight Mass. I even got to wear my jeans, and my brand-new favorite t-shirt: A maternity shirt, from thinkgeek.com, that advertises that I have a "Geek Inside." That was my present from my sibs. I find it so hilarious, and, frankly, it'll probably turn out to be true, what with the parents that are raising the little fella. I will admit that my favorite gift exchanges are nearly always the ones I have with my siblings. With the exception of my older sister, we all think in an eerily similar manner. We have our differences, naturally, but we share a sense of humor and an affinity for certain ideas and stories. (For instance: I and my younger brother share a passion for anthropology and Egyptology, we all find British humor to be the most brilliant thing ever, barring Benny Hill, the entire family has a deep love for science fiction, and my older brother and younger sister are both completely addicted to Hong Kong cinema. We all also share a hatred for mathematics, even though my youngest brother and younger sister are truly gifted at it.) Thus, I have never once, in all these years, given them a gift that's fallen flat, something I can not say for nearly anyone else in my life. (Mr G and I have just enough similarities that we don't laugh at each other's interests, and actually share many of them, but we remain different enough that a conversation with the both of us will never leave you feeling as if we are a single entity.) I truly enjoy the giving of gifts much more than the getting, (though I did receive some awesome things this year), so it's important to me that I can know a person so well that I will know just what will bring them joy. (Granted, in my family, it's usually books.)