Happy Birthday, Mr. Seager!
I didn’t really do anything to help Naomi’s father celebrate
his big day other than to wish him a Happy Birthday while we were at church and
give him the gift that Ethan, Ehlana, and I had picked out for him. Ehlana has Naomi doing a sleepover with her
tonight; Eli is with grandparents; and Liz and Philip have a kid-free
night. No more details for their plans
tonight are necessary!
I’m sure that the Seagers have had a good day, and mine has
been fairly awesome too – starting out with Tai Chi while Rebecca, Rowen, and
Mandy got a bit of extra sleep; and breakfast that Michael and his parents all
joined us for after accepting Mom and Dad’s invitation so they didn’t need to
cook another meal when they’d be doing that all afternoon for nearly everyone
else in town.
That made for a crazy morning with cooking, cleaning, taking
turns getting ready for church, and some girl hair-and-make-up time in my room
that Mom and Miranda helped out with.
Rebecca isn’t all that broken up about Jason, as I already mentioned
yesterday; but that didn’t mean she wasn’t willing to look her very best to
celebrate her return to single-girl status.
I happen to know that our collective efforts were worth it
after overhearing one specific comment directed at Jason by one of his
buddies. “You are such an idiot” pretty
much summed up my feelings perfectly, and though Jason wouldn’t concede the
point with a bunch of guys around; he didn’t look very happy today. There was at least one other guy who was very
happy about that news story today; but I’ll keep that little news nugget
private.
The teen service was awesome, and it was even more special
to combine the Thanksgiving holiday with the first Advent Sunday. While everyone really enjoyed the music and
skits, Michael and I – and everyone else who were working at the Inn today – had to leave as soon as the show was over and
get started on cooking everything for the first buffet at noon. I worked with Rebecca on the prep line until I
needed to be home to get changed and ready for the Christmas tree farm
adventure.
I won’t put that trip at the top of my best-ever-so-far list
for getting our Christmas trees; but it was really great – and I loved getting
to be there with so many extra people this year. Having Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Grace, and
Uncle Mark with us was really special.
Barb and Corey weren’t exactly thrilled with the picking out trees part
of the adventure; but even Corey had to grudgingly concede that the store was
very interesting – and they even bought some hand-crafted ornaments and some
treats to take home with them.
Rowen didn’t end up going with us, but she was okay with
that; because she went with Tim and his parents instead. They had the day off while Sarah and Lee took
care of things at the dealership and shop for the last day of the holiday
weekend. That hadn’t been in their plans
for today; but Tim’s parents had offered to bring a truck and join the party
after Rowen and I invited Tim when we saw them before church this morning.
Oh, and their story is definitely out on the grapevine now;
and Rowen was very happy today – especially when she and Tim sat together at
church; and held hands pretty much from the moment they met up until they split
up to go home for lunch. They were
holding hands a lot while we were at the farm this afternoon too; and even
shared a very short kiss in public when Rowen and I showed Tim the ‘First
Christmas’ ornaments we’d bought – one for them and one for Michael and me that
we’ll hang on the Christmas tree in my lounge this year.
As I mentioned, we had quite a few extra people with us
today; and we also had extra trees to pick out and bring home. We had a total of three trucks, and still had
to load them high with the trees. Dad had
five trees to deliver; including the surprise gift we picked out for Michael
and his family – and left on their front porch for them to find when they got
home tonight. The Landrys had a full
load too; including trees for the Emersons, and other members of their
family. They had Grandma and Grandpa’s
tree too; but only because it was easy for them to drop it off on their way
home.
There was so much going on this afternoon that I can’t
possibly cover all of it here; so let’s just include a few favorite moments.
Picking out our trees was amazing; and I especially loved
hearing the stories that Grandpa told us today about visits to the farm when
Dad and Aunt Leanne were kids. Barb and
Corey may not have liked walking around in the fields, but some of those
stories included her; and Barb and Aunt Leanne both had fun with that. The first Christmas ornaments that Rowen and
I bought weren’t the only ones this year.
Aunt Leanne and Uncle Adam bought one for Zack; Uncle Nick and Aunt
Deborah needed one for Leah; and though this isn’t technically their first
Christmas together, it will be Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace’s first Christmas
since they got married, so they bought one of the ornaments too.
While I loved Grandpa’s stories, I also really loved getting
to make brand new memories with him and Grandma – and especially the moments
that included Ethan, Ehlana, and Zack. I
know that Grandma and Grandpa love to travel – especially to warm places in the
winter – so I’m really glad that we were able to do this with them this
year. I’d say that we should move this
to the Thanksgiving weekend every year when they’ll be home anyway; but it was
really crazy-busy at the farm today; and it wouldn’t be easy to pull off on the
weekends when the whole family is home.
We should do it again sometime, though, to make sure that the
grandparents and grandkids all get to have that experience together at least
once.
We were away from Witch Falls for nearly four hours, so Mom
and Dad set me free as soon as we got back so that I could freshen up, get
changed, and head back to the Inn to help out there for another hour and a half
or so. The third buffet was half over by
then; so I was just in time to help with getting everything cooked for the
fourth and final buffet. As usual, the
customers for the first two buffets had mostly been visiting family and friends
who wanted to get in on the buffet action before heading home. The third buffet was a mix of locals and
visitors; and tickets for the fourth were sold almost entirely to our families,
friends, and neighbors.
I would have stayed at the Inn
longer tonight, but I had to choose between doing that with Michael and Rebecca
and trimming the tree with Mom, Dad, Ethan, Ehlana, and Naomi. Grandma and Grandpa stopped in for part of
that, but they were also at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s house for dinner and
some tree trimming there too – along with Uncle Adam’s parents and grandparents
– so we needed to share them tonight.
Decorating the tree and living room was both a great way to
end the holiday weekend and kick off the Christmas season fun; but it was also
time for me to get back to the real world tonight too – and my usual school
night work and studies. That included a
Magi lesson with Mom after Grandma and Grandpa left and Ethan, Ehlana, and
Naomi were tucked in for the night. That
was another hour of fun time while Dad finished up the work he needed to have
finished for Monday; but it was a bit tougher to get motivated for my language
and archive studies after coming up to my room – especially when I started by
multi-tasking that with some Jacuzzi time.
The work needed to be done, though, along with spending more
than an hour on some family business projects; and that’s why I’m still awake
and playing on my computer when it’s past three and I should be sleeping.
It hasn’t been all work and no play. Rowen and I had a fun little chat, and she
told me all about her tree-trimming fun – at Tim’s house. Michael exchanged some text messages with me
too; and I had long emails from all of my favorite college teens. Violet and Dillon got back to their
residences safely and had a great weekend in Woodvale. Stephanie and Jake probably had way more fun
than she wrote about in her email for their Thanksgiving weekend in the Big
Apple. Christina and Josiah are back at
school now too; and it sounds like their McEwan family Thanksgiving was a
success. They’ll all be focused on the
upcoming final exams now; so I’m glad that they were all able to have some fun
before getting into the next couple of weeks of hard work.
Finally, before I wrap this up; let’s take a quick look at
the week ahead. Tomorrow is Rebecca’s
fourteenth birthday. That – and the need
for most mothers to have a holiday weekend recovery day, is why the Mom’s
Christmas shopping trip is going to be on Tuesday this year instead of
Monday. Mom was going to do another
airport run tomorrow, but Uncle Adam decided to take the day off so that she
didn’t need to take Barb and Corey back there for their flight home. Aunt Leanne and Zack are staying home
tomorrow too because they’re going on the shopping trip.
The kids’ Christmas shopping trip on Saturday will be the
other big event of the week around here, though I’m sure that Dawn is as
excited about her impending twelfth birthday on Friday as she is about wrapping
up her party and sleepover with meeting us in Crystal Springs for the day on
Saturday – along with Jillian and the rest of her best friends. As of now, there aren’t as many women going
on the shopping trip on Tuesday, but Mom and Aunt Leanne expect that the kids’
group will be about the same size or slightly larger for the trip on
Saturday. I’m sure that everyone will
have fun, but since this will be the first time that Rowen and I have done this
with our boyfriends; I’ll predict that we’re going to have a best-ever day –
and the entire week is looking pretty good right now.
We have Rebecca’s birthday party tomorrow night, and I’m
only going to get a few hours of down time as it is now, so that’s it for
tonight; and I’m out of here.
Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
