The Christmas holiday is finally here!
It was party time at school, and though the official class parties didn’t start until after lunch; we played and had fun all day. Rowen wasn’t able to hang out with me after school, but I did stay to visit with her at the computer store for a while before going home. We both wished that we could do a sleepover for our first night of vacation; but Rowen was going to be as busy with her family this weekend as I was going to be with mine – and she was going to help out at the store as much as she could too.
Ethan and Ehlana made sure that I wasn’t bored without having Rowen around. They wanted the full school update first, and then we played in the lounge; listened to Christmas music; and had a long telepathic chat while Mom was busy with a little computer work and getting dinner started. We weren’t doing a dinner and a movie night, but Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne were coming over for dinner. When Dad and Aunt Leanne got home, the twins and I joined the party in the kitchen; and from then on, it’s been nearly non-stop action all night!
I was drafted and put to work while Ethan and Ehlana were put in charge of entertaining everyone before and during dinner. We didn’t end up having all that much time to relax and enjoy the meal before the Rice family pulled into town a full hour earlier than we’d expected. The ‘grandparents’ were spending the weekend with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne, so they went over to their place with Grandpa Richard and Grandma Carrie to help them unload their car and get settled in before coming back to spend the rest of the evening with us.
They had lots of time to do that, since it took nearly an hour to get Uncle Rick’s SUV and Violet’s car unloaded and everything moved up to the second or third floor. Chris, Martin, and Dawn were exempted from a fair bit of that work due to the nature of the packages, boxes, and bags being moved, and the boys were particularly happy to go play video games in the lounge after putting their own luggage in the room across the hall from the lounge that they’d be sharing this weekend.
Once that round of controlled chaos was finished, we had nearly another hour to visit and play before the Granite Park members of our family joined the party and we had to get back to work unloading two more vehicles. Jaimie and Kaitlyn were going to be staying in the third-floor bedroom across the hall from Violet; though I won’t be surprised if Violet and Aunt Grace end up with cuddle buddies in their rooms instead. Jayden was going to be in Ethan’s room again, and Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, and Aunt Grace were on the second floor with the rest of the ‘aunts and uncles’ (or parents).
Violet’s day went from good to great when Dillon came over after work at the Inn; and he made it just as everyone was getting settled into the living room again and the work was pretty much done for the night. Ethan, Ehlana, and Jayden were very popular cuddle buddies, and they all stayed up later than usual. Jayden was wide awake because he’d slept quite a bit during the drive from Granite Park. It wasn’t until Kaitlyn fell asleep. Dawn and I had been hanging out together and playing while the adults had been talking; splitting our time between the living room and lounge. We helped Uncle Blaine with getting Jaimie and Kaitlyn changed and into their beds while Mom and Aunt Alison took care of Jayden and the twins. ‘Their’ beds tonight did end up being Aunt Grace’s and Violet’s beds; though both of my little cousins were on their own for the first couple of hours after falling asleep.
Dawn and I got ready for bed then too, but we stayed up and hung out in the lounge with Chris and Martin for a while before leaving them to their all-night gaming plans; climbing into bed with Mandy; and having a long bedtime chat. I was playing on my computer while we did that too, but Dawn’s sleeping now, so I’m taking care of this journal entry and a few other things before calling it a night too. We’ve got a busy Christmas Eve day, with morning shopping; afternoon family time; and the Christmas Eve service that the teens were leading this year.
Two more sleeps ‘til Christmas!