You know it’s going to be a good day when it starts with a
breakfast buffet at the Inn.
Dad and Uncle Adam sprung that little surprise on Ethan,
Ehlana, and I after seeing Mom and Aunt Leanne off shortly before seven. We couldn’t go there until the shoppers
heading for Crystal Springs left the Inn
at eight; but that gave us time for Tai Chi, and to get ready for work and
school. The guys must have set
everything up ahead of time, because there were quite a few Dads and kids at the
Inn with us – including Rowen and her father
and brother.
Knowing what our mothers were doing today was exciting for
quite a few of us at school, though football was still the top story today;
with the kids’ shopping trip on Saturday at number two. I should mention that the school is looking
more Christmassy every day now as decorations are put up mostly by teen
volunteers, and Christmas crafts and art projects are proudly displayed on the
boards or in the display cases outside of classrooms.
There was enough fun happening to keep Rowen and I
entertained today, but Mrs. Warren and the other teachers are quietly pushing
all of their students harder with our lessons right now too; knowing that
they’ll only have this week and next to do that before Christmas fever takes
over for the last week before the Christmas holiday break. The extra work isn’t a problem for Rowen and
me, though it did slow us down a little today because we had Alicia in charge
of us – and the twins – from the time we finished school until Dad got home
from work. That meant no Magi-assisted
studying, and we had a detour to KidZone with Alicia to get Ethan and Ehlana on
our way home.
We still had time for our Monday afternoon park play time,
and Alicia came along for that too.
We’ve had a bit of rain off and on today, but it was off while we were
at the park, and Ethan got to have his football time with the guys while the
temperature was still more like warm summer than early winter. The playground was a bit on the damp side,
but we dried off swings for the twins to use, and went for a walk along the
path to the falls and back before going home again so Alicia could put a
pre-cooked casserole into the oven to warm for dinner.
Dad was a bit late getting home, but we didn’t have any plans
for tonight anyway; so sitting down to eat a half-hour late wasn’t a big
deal. I cleaned up after dinner so that
Dad could get started on his homework; and Ethan went into the office with him
while Ehlana supervised me in the kitchen and we had a little girl-talk
time. When we were ready to join the
guys in the office, we brought drinks and a snack, and I settled in to get a
head start on my nightly archive studies while Ethan and Ehlana read books on
their iPads. By then we were getting
regular updates from Mom and Aunt Leanne, and though they were running a bit
later than planned, they were on the road for home by a bit after eight
o’clock; and back in town by nine-thirty.
They had some running around to do first, dropping off
travel buddies and their purchases plus a few extra stops to deliver larger
items that would only fit in the truck.
The last stops were along our street, so when Mom and Aunt Leanne
finally pulled into our driveway at nearly ten-thirty; they had Uncle Adam with
them to help out with unloading the boxes and bags bound for various places in
our house. I offered to help, but the
only jobs Mom would let me do were to put away the supplies she’d picked up at
Wal-Mart and take care of Ethan and Ehlana while she and Dad, and Uncle Adam
and Aunt Leanne, hauled Christmas presents upstairs.
Yes, hiding gifts from Magi Master kids is actually
impossible if we really wanted to know what we were getting for Christmas
early, but that’d take all of the fun out of Christmas Eve and Day for all of
us if we did that – not to mention that we could end up on Santa’s naughty list
too!
Mom and Aunt Leanne were both pretty much wiped out by the
time we gathered in the kitchen for a bedtime snack, drinks, and a partial
daily recap; so Dad put a half-hour time limit on our visit. Ethan and Ehlana used up about half of that
time; I kept my part to under five minutes, and then Mom and Aunt Leanne told
us about their day in the city – except for certain details that we won’t find
out about until Christmas.
Dad didn’t let us sit up and talk longer; Uncle Adam backed
him up and took Aunt Leanne home; and I helped get Ethan and Ehlana changed and
tucked in for the night so that we were all in our rooms for the night before
twelve. I still had some work to do
after snuggling in bed with Mandy; and have been keeping busy for over an
hour. I’ll admit to wasting a little
time dreaming about Christmas, and I added a few ideas to my shopping list for
Saturday; but I got my studying and nightly computing finished too. Tomorrow’s an after-school work day, so it’s
time to shut down for the night. I
should be in for a few comparatively quiet days, so hopefully I’ll be able to
rest up a bit and get ready for the weekend fun. I’ll get started on doing that right now.
Say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.
“Goodnight, Cassie.”
