I’ve officially hit holiday overload!
Dawn and I ran around all morning with Jaimie and Kaitlyn; helping them to get ready, have breakfast, and pack their bags before going out in search of Boxing Day sales for a couple of hours. Rowen joined us for that while her parents were busy at the store, and she came to the lunch buffet at the Inn with us too. Uncle Blaine and Grandpa Duncan wanted to get on the road right after that; so the goodbyes didn’t take long, and then Dawn, Rowen, and I were set free to do whatever we wanted until dinnertime.
We played at the park for a while, and stopped in at the football field to talk to some of the girls that were watching a football scrimmage that Chris and Martin were playing in with some of their friends.
The two boys had some of those friends come back to the house with them, so we stayed out of their way except to deliver snack refills to them for Mom and Dad. Dillon was working the buffets at the Inn, so Violet spent most of the day with the parents and grandparents. There was a break in the third floor action for dinner, but by seven-thirty; Chris and Martin had all of their friends over – including Rebecca and Jenny.
Though Dawn and I weren’t hanging out with them, having so many of my older friends over did mean that we couldn’t go to bed early; though we were ready to do that by the time Mom and Aunt Melissa took Ethan and Ehlana upstairs for the night. The grandparents, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne went home then too, so we ended up cuddling with our Dads and watching television for a couple of hours. Violet had Dillon to cuddle with once he came over after work; and Mom and Aunt Melissa joined us once the twins were sleeping in their cribs; and they’d admonished the gang in the lounge not to wake them unless they were prepared to babysit all night too. I was only a little amused when they advised us that at least a few of my friends had looked like they thought that staying and babysitting all night might be a lot of fun. I’m fairly sure that Dawn never wants to think about her brothers like that either!
Anyway, the party in the lounge did eventually wind down starting at eleven. Dawn and Mandy are both sleeping now, and even Chris and Martin decided that they’d had enough gaming for one long weekend; though they’re currently raiding the pantry and fridge while I’m doing this. Hopefully they won’t stay up too much later – their parents and grandparents decided to hit the road right after breakfast tomorrow; and Chris and Martin are not much fun to be around in the mornings after they’ve stayed up most of the night. Rowen and I have a busy play week planned that we’re going to get started on shortly after Dawn and her family head for home, so I’m going to end this here, and catch up on a few weekend details with tomorrow’s journal. Nighty-nite!
