Today it's my sister's birthday. She has the Second Worst Birthday in the World, next to mine, which is on the 30th of this month. She has to deal with all the people who can't get together right before Christmas, and I have to deal with everyone who wants to save their strength for New Year's. Hers is slightly less worse than mine, because at least on the 23rd, people aren't sick of parties and get-togethers. By the time mine rolls around, they only have the time and patience to deal with one more, and as they get older, they can't even make it to New Years.
I won't reveal her age, since that's not polite, but she is three years younger than me, and I'm pretty much in my late 30s now, so yeah, neither of us are anywhere near the age we were in that picture.
Janie doesn't really get called Janie anymore, but of course I will call her that until we part from these places. It's what big brothers do.
What the Sister does is host the holidays, and I'm headed there tomorrow. Seriously, eternal thanks to Janie for being the Married One with the Kids, because I certainly haven't done so well in that department. She gets to be the stable one, the Host, the person with the lovely kids and the lovely home, and I get to be the cranky eccentric who either livens up the party or comes close to ruining it.
And the fact that she still invites me into her home, well, that's a kind of Christmas Miracle itself.
Even though I almost set it on fire during our last Christmas spent there...
(I find this picture strange. It's like the photographer was so mesmerized by my shirt that they (almost) forgot to include my sister in the frame.)
Happy Birthday, Janie. Love you lots, and I'll try my best not to be a grumpy idiot this year.
