Imagine if one-tenth of the entire population of your home
town or city disappeared.
No, I’m not talking about some Hollywood-version rapture
scene, but it might have seemed like that for anyone who woke up late this
morning in Witch Falls
or the Ridge River district to find one hundred and
twelve of the kids and teens gone; along with forty-two brave and slightly
crazy adult chaperones. I wasn’t really
even thinking about how big the trip was going to be this year until we got to
the Inn for the breakfast buffet and saw the dining room filling up fast with
shoppers and a few extra family members that came for the food, but were being
‘left behind’.
My morning started out with a short Tai Chi workout and then
Rowen and I had fun getting ready for the day; including some extra time doing
our hair with some help from Patricia.
Owen had the tougher job getting Patrick and Scott moving, but we did
manage to make it to breakfast by five to seven. Rowen’s Mom was stuck working at the store
today while her Dad was driving Patrick, Scott, and three of their classmates;
and then spending the day trying to keep up with one of the groups of boys
along with two other fathers.
Breakfast was awesome, and I probably wasn’t the only person
to eat a bit too much – especially since we were travelling for an hour and a
half immediately after we finished up at the Inn. Mom and Dad were taking the van and truck,
and this time it was girls in the van and boys in the truck. Mom and Aunt Leanne had Rebecca, Ehlana,
Rowen, and me with them; and Dad and Uncle Adam had Michael, Tim, and Ethan
with them. No, I’m sure that wasn’t a
coincidence, since Aunt Leanne did have a lot to do with putting the groups
together; but at least she didn’t try having Michael sit with me in the back
seat – or Mom vetoed it if she did try.
I loved getting to spend the drive time each way with
Rebecca today; and I think she was relieved to be with us instead of going with
Jenny and Shane. She sat next to Ehlana,
and we all had fun chatting and playing while also watching and listening to
the Christmas music videos DVD that Aunt Leanne had brought along for us. When we got to the Mall, we needed to meet up
with Jenny, Shane, and Shane’s younger sister, Shannon; so we did that, and
then got started on the first part of our Christmas shopping adventure.
There may be some psychological reason for letting us loose
in the Mall first instead of starting with the toy store, but if tiring us out
is the goal; it didn’t work for the kids and teens in our group. Mom, Dad, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne
couldn’t say the same, but then they were trying to keep up with us while we
worked our way through the Mall; splitting up and then switching shopping
buddies regularly to allow us to get gifts for other members of our group.
Rowen and I were only split up while we were shopping for
each other, and spent the rest of the time at the Mall with at least two
adults. Rebecca and Shannon spent a lot
of time with us too, but Jenny and Shane managed to find reasons to be on their
own; and only stayed with us for about an hour in total until meeting up with
us for lunch in the food court. Michael
and Tim had some shopping time with Dad, Uncle Adam, and Ethan, and Tim spent a
half hour or so with Nora after crossing paths with her group, but even when
they were ‘with’ us, they either wandered around the same stores we were in by
themselves, or checked out nearby stores instead – especially when we were
looking at clothes. We needed to make a
few trips out to the van and truck to drop off bags, but that didn’t slow us
down much, and we took turns so that nobody was stuck with porter duty for half
the day.
Violet had driven down to spend the day with Dillon, Jake,
and Stephanie, and we met up with them for a little visit while we all shopped
around mid-morning; but they were doing their own thing at lunch; and we didn’t
see them again for the rest of the day.
I had the Mall-shopping part of my list finished by the time we stopped
to eat, but not everyone was ready to move on to the toy superstore yet, so we
spent another hour after lunch before moving on down the road to our second
stop of the day.
Aunt Leanne might be the most-fun adult to shop in a big toy
store with; and the two and a half hours we spent having fun with her there was
more than worth the too-frequent moments when she tried her not-so-subtle
matchmaking with Michael and me. Whether
she was trying out cool toddler toys with Ethan and Ehlana; playing with R/C
cars and robotic pets; or testing out the latest in video games; she kept all
of us entertained. I managed to check
off everything for the toy store part of my list too in between play time, and
Rowen and I were the first members of our group to check out and load our bags
into the van.
Our next stop was actually a short rendezvous to drop
Michael and Tim off at the restaurant where Lily was having her birthday
dinner. Dad and Uncle Adam traded them
for two teens, and then we moved on to Wal-Mart. Rowen, Rebecca, Shannon,
and I were mostly left to finish our Christmas shopping on our own; Jenny and
Shane wandered off together; and Mom, Dad, Uncle Adam, and Aunt Leanne had
everyone else with them.
I didn’t have much left to buy to finish up my list, and
spent more time playing and having fun with my friends; though they might wish
that I try to be a bit less fired up – especially whenever we’d get ‘the look’
from other kids and teens around us. You
know the one I mean, and if you don’t, look in the mirror for it; because
you’re one of the too cool people that use it on kids like me. :^)
We’d decided to finish our shopping instead of stopping to
eat first, so it was nearly seven-thirty by the time we loaded up again; hit
the drive-thru for food; and headed for Witch Falls. For those of us who weren’t driving, that was
a chance to wind down; eat; chat about our adventures; and sing along to the
Christmas videos DVD. Dad and Uncle Adam
needed to do some running around once we got back to town, but Mom parked in
our driveway, and let Rowen, Rebecca, and I do the running around to unload the
van and carry bags to the Emerson’s and Stone’s houses. Since Mom has these trips ultra-organized,
that really wasn’t as tough as it could be if every bag and box wasn’t tagged
before being loaded into the van or truck.
We had one last load to each house again after Dad and Uncle Adam got
home too, and then we all did a snack with coffee or hot chocolate that Rowen’s
and Rebecca’s parents, and Patrick, joined us for too.
That little visit and story time was fun, but we were all
getting tired by then, so it really wasn’t long before Mom and Dad were on
their own with Ethan, Ehlana, and me; and we all headed up to bed. I only did the basic bedtime computing
tonight. There were a few emails to read
and answer, but not much else going on.
I haven’t heard how Lily’s party went, but they should be on the road
for home by now; and I’m sure Rowen and I will hear all about it at church in
the morning. I’m really glad to be
snuggled in bed with Mandy instead of still out on the road; and not just
because I got to miss out on a night of boy-girl weirdness.
Okay, that is the main reason, and I definitely am happy to
not be in a vehicle full of tweenie couples cuddling and whatever for the hour
and a half drive home.
I do not want to go off to sleep with that thought leading
the way. Mom and Dad have a lot of work
to do tomorrow, but Rowen and I are going to have a play afternoon with Ethan
and Ehlana; and we’re going to set up the little Christmas tree in my lounge
and decorate it too.
That didn’t help, since writing about the tree has me
thinking about the gift mentioned earlier that Rowen won’t be getting under her
tree this year. Since the next big
Christmassy thing is the school dance next Friday, I don’t want to go there
either; though it’ll be nice to have Violet here for part of the weekend when
she comes home to go to the dance with Dillon.
I’m too tired to bother coming up with something else, so I’ll
just take a chance; wrap this up; and hope for the best when I do get to
dreamland.
Say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.
“Goodnight, Cassie.”
