I love Christmas Eve day in Witch Falls!
Tai Chi this morning was the last time I slowed down until
now; and I’m writing this and doing my nightly computing while waiting for my
turn to play Santa – and maybe shake a few presents while I’m downstairs
anyway.
Dad had some work to do today, so after having a hot cereal
breakfast, he headed out for the office while Mom and I tag-teamed the
clean-up; getting ready for the day; and taking care of Ethan and Ehlana. When we were ready, we all went over to Uncle
Adam and Aunt Leanne’s to meet up with everyone for our morning shopping
adventure. I made a little side-trip to
get Rowen too, and then we had a short visit – mostly to welcome the McEwans –
before heading out again.
Since it came up again today, I’ll add a little side-note
about the comments Rowen and I have been getting this weekend about growing up
fast. I guess we’re not the pixies we
were when I first moved here, and we are about six inches taller than we were
last Christmas, but four-foot-nine isn’t exactly giant territory; and we’re
definitely still shorter and on the kid side of tweenie compared to most of the
girls our age.
While we’re on the topic of growing up; one of the news
stories from the McEwans was about Jonathan having a girlfriend back home, and
doing girlfriend Christmas gifts for the first time. I can sympathize with him for getting teased
by Aunt Leanne about that, but wish that I hadn’t been the one to break that
news story to Rebecca today. At least she
heard it from somebody who cares about her instead of through the grapevine
news network.
I’ll get to that part of my day, but let’s back up to the
morning shopping. We were doing that
early mostly to make sure that we didn’t get to the Olde Bakery too late to get
our Santa-approved cookies and reindeer treats.
The shopping at Palmer’s, Taylor’s, and the rest of the stores was just
an added bonus – really! It would have
been nice to have Violet along with us today, but Chrissy, her sisters, and the
other girls in Uncle Adam’s family really are fun to shop with too; and Rowen
and I had a blast.
We all had lunch back at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s, and
then Rowen, Ethan, Ehlana, and I had some running around to do; delivering
Christmas presents to some of our favorite people. We had multiple gifts for Naomi, Aiden, and
their parents; dropping off the first at Naomi’s home, and the second at the
Olde Bakery. Half of our stops were
along Witch Falls Road,
and we made our last stop the Inn so we could combine
dropping off gifts for the Stones with a hot chocolate and bakery treat snack
break.
Rebecca wasn’t happy to hear about Jonathan’s change in
social status, but I hope the Christmas gifts that Rowen and I picked out for
her, and the bonus holiday hugs, helped a little. It was another all hands on deck day, so we
were able to personally deliver almost all of the gifts we had left; and that
was a bonus for me. Michael was off on
his afternoon break, and hanging out somewhere with Tim, so Ethan, Ehlana, and
I left our gifts for him with Rebecca on our way out after our little warm-up
break. I was hoping that would help me
avoid any teasing from Aunt Leanne about giving Michael a Christmas present;
but that was too much to expect; and even being crazy-busy with a house full of
family didn’t keep her from hearing all about it from Miranda and Stephanie
sometime before or after the Christmas Eve service at church; and then teasing
me about it when she and Uncle Adam were over for our bi-yearly Christmas Eve
gift exchange.
I’m getting ahead of the story again, so let’s back up a
bit. While we were delivering gifts this
afternoon, Mom was free to do a little work, and run a couple of errands. Dad was finished work for the day by the time
we got home from the Inn, and the six of us spent the rest of the afternoon
playing until Rowen needed to meet up with her parents and brother at the
store; Mom and Dad started working on dinner; Ethan and Ehlana supervised them;
and I went upstairs to grab a shower and get ready early for the Christmas Eve
service so I could take care of Ethan and Ehlana after we ate and cleaned up.
I’d picked up several dresses for Christmas, and had saved
my favorite for tonight. Let’s not
discuss what Aunt Leanne had to say, and just note that I was very happy with
how I looked tonight. By the time Ehlana
and I were finished playing dress-up, she looked beautiful too; and Ethan was
very handsome in the coordinating outfit Mom had picked out for him to go with
Ehlana’s dress. The only thing I need to
say about how beautiful Mom was tonight is that she and Dad were the last to be
ready to leave; and we won’t write about why they were running late.
We did make it to church on time, and Grandma and Grandpa
had saved us seats. The sanctuary was
full again tonight, and though I heard a few kids complaining about going to
three services in two days; I loved being there, celebrating Christ’s birth,
with the people I love the most.
Tonight’s service was quiet and subdued compared to the teen Christmas
concert, and it was also heart-warming, simple, and beautiful. The Pastors told the Christmas story, with
the musical performances and carols woven in so it was almost a Christmas
cantata.
There wasn’t a reception after the service, but it did take
us quite a while to make our way out of the sanctuary again while sharing
Christmas best wishes and embraces with our friends and neighbors before
heading home again. Grandma and Grandpa
came over straight from church too, but Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne needed to go
home and get things settled there first before joining us. The bonus for me with that was having Aunt
Leanne too busy to start on teasing me about Michael while we were still in
public.
Before we go on, though I’d really rather skip writing about
that whole thing, let’s air out Aunt Leanne’s Christmas fun at my expense. First of all, I gave Michael several
contemporary and jazz saxophone music books; not books on, or about, sax. For anyone who has played a school
instrument, the custom, padded neck strap should be an obvious good gift idea;
and does not subconsciously suggest anything.
No, I did not ‘pre-soften’ the reeds, Aunt Leanne, and I really wish you
hadn’t continued down that thought-path for anywhere near as long as you did. Maybe next year, I’ll stick with something
safe – like video games; though I’m sure Aunt Leanne would still find a way to
turn anything I do into a matchmaking opportunity.
Enough of that. While
we were waiting for Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne, Mom, Dad, and I put snacks and
drinks together while Ethan and Ehlana kept Grandma and Grandpa
entertained. We were all in the living
room and settled in by a little after ten o’clock; and I played Santa and
handed out the gifts being exchanged between Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and the
rest of us. I loved the clothes and
jewelry that Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne gave me – even with Aunt Leanne’s
suggestions about how Michael would react to seeing me in the soft sweater,
blouse, and pants. I didn’t need to be told
that the blue sapphires in the earrings were not a coincidence, but they’re
beautiful; and maybe Michael won’t ever find out that my Aunt picked them out
for me with him in mind.
My favorite part of the evening was watching Ethan and
Ehlana open their gifts – both the ones that they’d be able to show off in
public; and the gifts that were more appropriate to their actual
abilities. Uncle Adam probably picked
out the new microscopes and the big science lab kit, while Aunt Leanne took
care of the toys and clothes. It’s too
bad that we can’t show off the pictures and videos of Ethan and Ehlana doing
science experiments and checking out some slides that Uncle Adam had made up
for them to play with in their microscopes.
I can hardly wait to see them in action after the lab is built and
opens!
We didn’t really have enough time together before Uncle Adam
and Aunt Leanne needed to get home again, and Grandma and Grandpa were ready to
get started on their one more sleep ‘til Christmas. Ethan and Ehlana were in bed by
eleven-thirty, and I’ve been cuddling with Mandy since midnight. Mom and Dad should be nearly finished with
their end of playing Santa, so I’m going to wrap this up; get my things ready
to take downstairs; and hopefully get around to a short Christmas nap by
one-thirty or so.
Say ‘merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night’.
“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
