Knowing The Children
Changying laughed as the competitive men raced with the children and each other for the picnic tables. She was surprised to see Joseph with the noisy group of men and children and smiled seeing how the children all gathered around him before letting him leave to walk up the stairs to where they all stood.
"I will be down shortly, make sure the boys clean-up for dinner," he kissed his wife's cheek and moved into the house. One by one they followed their fathers lead and left their children to enter the house, and the women moved down to where the children still laughed and called out to each other. Changying hadn't got to know any of the children aside of BJ, so she stood back and watched as the mothers all chatted with their children quietly and kissed them all before returning to the house full of smiles and Christmas cheer.
The Christmas dinner was very traditional, and the family seemed to be quieter and more respectful in the formal dining room. The chatter was polite and quiet as they ate a six-course meal ending with strong coffee which Changying could see was sorely needed as the men began to wind down from having little to no sleep the night before.
The adults barely stayed an hour after dinner before beginning to turn in for the night promising to be up early for boxing day. Having eaten way too much and having drunk too much of the wine served with each course Changying herself was starting to fade despite the sleep she had managed to get both the night before and the afternoon. Once again she and Wang fell into bed and curled around each other finding sleep quickly.