The bad news is that our movie night turned into college
football night instead. The good news is
that Rowen and I discovered a nice benefit of watching sports with our
boyfriends – curfews are automatically adjusted to allow for watching the end
of the game; post-game action where necessary; and a reasonable allowance for
the goodnight hugs and kisses.
Michael and I may need to be watching football from now on –
even when we’re not; if you know what I mean!
While we ended up having a pretty good night even with the
football action; my morning started out with non-stop fun too. On a whim, I decided to skip Tai Chi; got
ready for the day early; and headed over to the Inn to surprise Michael and his
family with a bonus set of hands to help with getting the first wave of the
breakfast buffet cooked and out to the dining room. The good morning hugs and kisses were worth
the effort; and working with Michael and Rebecca made that part of the morning
more fun for all of us.
Rebecca was also set free early to have breakfast before
going shopping too; though she did both with Jenny instead of with my family,
Rowen, and me. Michael opted to work
more in the morning and get most of the afternoon off so that he could hang out
with me while we were playing instead of shopping. I worked until Miranda let me know that Mom,
Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana had made it to the Inn. I ended up at a table with Rowen, Patrick,
Scott, Lindsay, Jessica, and the twins; and mostly collected the middle four kids
because their parents were either having breakfast in the dining room too or
busy getting their stores ready for the big sale.
Rowen helped out at the store a couple of times today too,
including before she came to the Inn with Patrick; but she was also set free to
shop with me this morning; have some afternoon snow play time; and hang out at
my house for the evening after the store closed for the night and she and
Patrick had a late dinner at the Inn with their parents and some of the other
store owner families. The Boxing Day
shopping is a bit less exciting for me now than it was the first year Mom and I
were here; but it’s still fun – and a lot more special to share with our
family, friends, and neighbors than the big city sales events are. Rowen and I actually talked about that a bit
this morning, and since she doesn’t have any personal experience with the
madness that can happen in the malls and big box stores on Boxing Day; we may
need to do that some year soon so she can find out for herself – and then we
can just go back to enjoying our own home town version of the third most
popular shopping day of the season.
I guess it’s time to make the most surprising personal
admission of the day. I only bought
three things all morning! There wasn’t
really anything I needed to get, and there really isn’t any point in buying
clothes to put away for later when nothing that fits now is going to in six
months or a year. Even Ethan out-shopped
me today, which is one of the reasons I’m writing this down; since there’s a
good chance that won’t happen again anytime soon!
We pretty much shopped until lunchtime, and then Rowen went
to the computer store to do some lunch break relief for her parents while I
went home with Mom, Dad, and the twins to have turkey sandwiches and soup for
our own noon meal. Dad spends time with
Ethan, Ehlana, and me every day – even if it’s just a phone call when he’s in
the city; but the no-work play days seem rare sometimes. That’s why today was special for all of us –
though Dad and Ethan weren’t quite as excited about the shopping despite buying
more than I did. With most parents off
work today, we weren’t the only family out playing in the snow; but we did end
up with one of the biggest groups on the hills when we went tobogganing. That’s because we attracted Patrick and Scott
to our group when they saw us there with Michael and Tim; and Michael ended up
with his cousins, Jessica, Ryan, and Sophia.
Philip and Naomi met us at the hill; and Aiden was dropped off by his
Grandma and Grandpa Draper. Add in a few
friends of the younger kids; and Mom, Dad, and Philip had quite a group to keep
up with. That hour and a half of
non-stop action was also when we made some of the best memories of the day too.
There was time for a bit more snow fun at home after coming
back from the hill; but then Michael and I both needed to get cleaned up and
ready to work the dinner shift at the Inn. It wasn’t really a busy night there, but as I
mentioned; there were quite a few store owners and their families having dinner
at the Inn instead of even trying to make up a
leftovers meal after a crazy work day.
It was certainly a lot easier than the breakfast buffet had been –
especially since that had gone on for hours before the switch to the lunch
menu.
Michael, Rebecca, and I were set free at seven-thirty; and
we all went back to their house to have a little visit with his grandparents;
mostly because they’re heading home in the morning so they’ll be back in time
for their own weekend family Christmas plans with Michael’s aunt, uncle, and
the rest of their families. We stayed
until Miranda, Jacob, Jake, and Stephanie got home; and then Michael and I
moved on to my house. We called ahead to
set things up with Rowen and Tim; so they met up with us before we’d even had
time to do the dinner recap with Mom, Dad, and the twins. We ended up doing Ethan and Ehlana’s bedtime
story and snack then, and had them tucked in for the night before it was teen
time in the lounge; and Mom and Dad opted for some quiet cuddle time and a
movie in the living room.
I didn’t find the football game all that interesting, but then
there were probably a lot of football fans feeling the same way watching either
of the games today. The Utah State
team and fans might take exception to that assertion, but let’s be honest and
admit that was a game that only the winners could love. The only thing that amazed me tonight was
that Northern Illinois managed to have an
undefeated regular season before losing their division championship and then
their bowl game tonight.
The hours of cuddle time with Michael and Mandy was worth
putting up with the sporting boredom; though even the boys were thinking that
video gaming or movies would have been better as the tedium dragged on. Michael and I are still in need of some
holiday alone time; but maybe we’ll have more luck with that next week. We loved getting to have that time with Rowen
and Tim, and we had no problem filling up the time in between football plays
with little chats about everything from favorite Christmas moments to
suggestions for what we can do with the few free days we’ll have during the
rest of our holiday break.
There weren’t any major make-out opportunities for Michael
and I or Rowen and Tim; but we did do the usual work split right before
Michael, Rowen, and Tim headed home that allowed us some privacy for our
respective goodnight hugs and kisses.
Mom and Dad had already gone up to bed by then, but we didn’t try
pushing our luck with the already-extended curfews – even though Tim did joke
about it.
Mom and Dad weren’t sleeping once I was on my own; so I
filled my Jacuzzi and hopped in for a soak.
No, I don’t need to comment on why they weren’t sleeping yet; so use
your imagination if you must and let me move on with the report. I’ve been multi-tasking while relaxing in the
hot, soothing water; and even took care of a bit of family business that popped
up through my email while doing my usual nightly checks. I’m going to get out of the tub soon and be
off to sleep not long after I have my hair done and finish getting ready for
bed; but let’s cover a few news tidbits before wrapping this up for the night.
Violet and Dillon are at his house again tonight; but
probably not there yet because they’re hanging out with Jake and Stephanie. They’re still working out their plans for
next week; and haven’t decided for sure when they’ll head up to Woodvale –
other than that they’ll be there for New Year’s Eve; and probably through the
rest of the week and weekend. They’ll be
split up for the next few days while the rest of the Rice family is here,
though I won’t know for sure until tomorrow how much that decision has to do
with Violet’s parents, brothers, and sister.
It could just be that they don’t want to add one more person to the morning
crazy we’ll have around here on Saturday and Sunday. I’ll keep you posted on that.
I’ll be spending some time helping Mom and Dad around the
house in the morning; and then be on kid control for a lot of the afternoon and
evening. Rowen’s going to help me out
with the kid play time, and stay for a sleepover with Dawn and me. Saturday will be the big family Christmases
and meals; with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne hosting the one for the
Carrington-Johnson clan while Mom and Dad host their second big meal of the
week. Michael’s going to be busy a lot
of the time at the Inn, but he’ll be with me for the most important parts of
the weekend; and I’m going to help out at the Inn
on Sunday after going to the first bonus buffet with my family before our guests
head home again.
That’s all going to make for a wild and wonderful few days
of action and family fun; so I really should go and get some sleep while I
can. Until next time...
...Live long and prosper, fellow Magi of the Light!
