Monday, March 28, 2016

A Typical Party at Mom Rose's

The Christmas season of approximately the year 2006 was a memorable one for the Roses. A few years before, our aunt Rachael had begun the tradition of printing out holiday carols and forcing all of us to sing several at some unexpected moment of the night. Let's keep in mind that the Rose children involved here are a rowdy team of 6, who had had their fill of Rose family traditions by this time. The youngest member of the clan, Zach, had decided that singing "Joy to the World" at the dinner table, acapella, before we could eat our dessert was the last straw.

The song began unenthusiastically, as usual, but it was soon transformed into something quite entertaining by the surprising "ho's",  and "yoohoo's" in Zach's splendid falsetto voice that broke in at every pause of the song. Grandma Rose was not entertained. She started with a sneer, then a glare, then a pointed "Who is doing that?" towards the end of the table. We all knew that voice well, and shuddered to think what would happen next. Finally, she could take no more and paused the song. S

She demanded that Zach, in penance for his behavior, sing the entire song alone. He refused and ran into the tv room, screaming some combination of "I hate this family" and "you can't make me." No one was really upset by this... except of course Mom Rose. This was HER party.

I don't exactly remember how this party ended, but I do know that after that, somehow, the holiday carol lyrics always disappeared before it was time to sing. A few months ago, we were cleaning out part of Mom Rose's house. Deep in the drawers of a large buffet, in the dining room, we found the mother load of holiday carols left unsung. 

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