This update is coming to you live from
Rowen’s bedroom; and she says “Hi!” to everyone reading this in the future –
including herself some day when she’ll be able to do that.
I’m here because we’re having a
pre-birthday sleepover, but before I get to that part of my report; we need to
back up to Friday morning for our double-update.
As I’ve already noted, Michael and I were
both up very early on Friday morning; and I was at his house in time to go over
to the Inn with Michael and his parents.
Rebecca stayed overnight at Lucas’ house; so she wasn’t asked to work
the breakfast buffet. Michael might have
been wishing that he was playing in the championship football game today, and
that would have been great too; but I was really glad to be home for the first
time in two years – and I’m not just saying that because of the shopping I got
to do with some of my favorite girls once I was finished for the morning at the
Inn. The work in the kitchen was
crazy-busy, but the breakfast buffet menu is fairly easy to deal with; so it
was the clean-up work that was just as busy as any buffet – and why I spent
more than half of my time working with Michael on dishwashing instead of on the
prep line.
The Black Friday shopping was more fun than
the early-morning work; and I’m happy to report that there wasn’t even one
fight or pushing match anywhere in town – unlike the scenes of temporarily
insane shoppers that have been posted on YouTube over the past two days. My family was not at the breakfast buffet
today; choosing to instead do their own thing – and sleep in where
possible. That worked out for me, since
they were just getting together to start shopping when I was set free from the
Inn to join in on the annual tradition.
After two years away from the event, you
might think that I’d make up for lost time and buy, buy, buy; but I didn’t end
up buying very many things. I couldn’t
leave Abby’s store without a couple of new dresses that will be perfect for
Christmas, and I bought a pair of shoes to match them at Taylor’s; but those
were my only major purchases. The Olde
Bakery treats were for a snack on the fly and an assorted box of favorites to
have in the lounge – and to bring here for my evening at Rowen’s house. My only other purchases today were little
Christmas gifts or things that I thought would make cute stocking stuffers for
some of the members of my extended family.
We shopped until around one o’clock; I went
home for lunch; and then Michael and I spent his afternoon break playing with
Ethan and Ehlana. After that, it was
time for both of us to get back to the Inn for the dinner rush. While I was busy with that, Ethan and Ehlana
got approval for a sleepover with Naomi and Aiden; and their best friends ended
up being dropped off in time to have dinner with Mom, Dad, and the twins. I’m sure that they had more fun with that
than I had at the Inn; and I’m not just saying that because I was on dishwasher
duty for most of the time I was working in the kitchen. Since we’d worked the open and breakfast
buffet, Michael and I were set free early; and we got back to my place in time
to watch the end of one movie and another one after that with Ethan, Ehlana,
Naomi, and Aiden before Mom and Dad ordered them to bed.
You already know about Michael staying for
a sofa sleepover, and there weren’t any complications with that last-minute
decision – not that I’d expected any parental intervention. There are some advantages to being
responsible and working hard to help our parents at the Inn or with the family
business. I don’t have much to report
for the time last night after my micro-update.
Michael and I snuggled under a blanket; played for a little while; and
then I fell asleep. I’d expected that,
so we weren’t terribly disappointed over missing out on another perfect
make-out opportunity; and we were happy campers when we woke up on Saturday
morning.
Life got crazy for us then because Mom and
Dad decided to take us to the Christmas tree farm right after breakfast instead
of the planned trip that we’d tentatively booked for the afternoon. The weather forecast was the reason behind
the change, and it worked out especially well for Ethan, Ehlana, and me because
it made it possible for our best friends to come along for the adventure. For me, that included Rowen and Tim as well
as Michael – which is why we took both the truck and minivan to have room for
everyone. We weren’t alone, since Grandma,
Grandpa, Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, and the kids came with us; and we had a
four-vehicle convoy heading out of town when we hit the road by eight-thirty.
What can I say about the Christmas tree
farm? Since my first year here in Witch
Falls, it’s been one of my favorite places for making Christmas memories. Today was no exception; and I really loved
getting to pick out trees for our families with Michael, Rowen, and Tim – as well
as for everyone else in our group.
Surprisingly, we managed to do that without taking any extra time on the
hayride, and while it took a bit longer to load the trees up because we also
needed to use minivan roof racks in addition to Dad’s truck; that was only a
bit of work in between the hay ride and our visit to the Christmas store. We bought more ornaments for the trees; picked
up boxes of cookies and jugs of cider; and enjoyed a hot chocolate or warm
cider and cookies snack break before heading for home again.
Our goal with leaving then was to beat the
snow and rain in the forecast to get home and deliver all of the trees; and we
managed to do that. Rowen and Tim went
home with my grandparents because they had their own tree and Tim’s on their
roof rack. Dad, Michael, Ethan, Aiden,
and I were in the truck and delivered trees to the Draper’s, Seager’s, Stone’s,
and Ayres’ homes before finishing up with delivering our own tree; and then
Michael went home to get cleaned up on his way to the Inn to help with the rest
of the lunch rush shift.
After Michael left, I helped Mom with
making lunch; Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Adam, Aunt Leanne, Zack, and Brianna came
over after that so that we could decorate the tree; and we spent an amazing
three hours doing that together before it was time to split up again. For me, that meant getting cleaned up and
heading over to Rowen’s house for the rest of the night. She was home by the time I got there; and we
cooked an easy-dinner for her family that we had nearly ready to go by the time
her parents, Patrick, Scott, and Tim joined us – after the stores closed for
the night. Being on the cooking crew
worked out well for us because Patricia put the boys in charge of the
post-dinner clean-up. Patrick complained
about that, but we didn’t feel too sorry for him; since we had kept up with the
cookware clean-up as we went along; so they only had to deal with the
dinnerware, glasses, and cutlery from a spaghetti dinner with salads and garlic
toast.
Michael couldn’t join us for dinner, and
had to work until close, so after the boys were finished with the work in the
kitchen; they opted for some video gaming and college football action while we
waited for Michael. Since I mentioned
football; I’ll note that Clairmont regained their high school football
championship on Friday over Hillcrest.
Tim was all over that; and has mixed feelings about it. He wishes that Hillcrest had won so that our
team could claim that we’d at least been beaten by the eventual champs; but he’s
also happy that Clairmont won because he’s hoping to repeat another feat that
Kyle managed by defeating Clairmont while they’re defending champions.
For the day you read this sometime in the
future, Tim, I love you; but quit trying to one-up your cousin! You’re an amazing guy and can blaze your own
trail.
Rowen says she loves you too; and smacked
me for admitting that I love you too – even if that is only here in my journal.
;^)
Go ahead and tell Michael on me,
Rowen. He loves Tim too – even if guys
aren’t allowed to admit stuff like that to each other. We both love you quite a lot too; so deal
with it, sister-of-my-heart.
That last bit was more a narration of our
conversation at this moment, and Rowen is having some fun with me; but it’s
getting late and I really need to move this along.
The boys played their games and watched
Football through until about an hour after Michael caught up with us. After that, Patrick and Scott decided to
leave us alone in the living room; and Michael and Tim picked out a Christmas
movie for us to watch while snuggling with their respective girlfriends. A Christmas movie for guys generally means
that stuff needs to get blown up and there also needs to be chases, fights, and
bad jokes and acting. All of that and
more is available in that Christmas classic – ‘Die Hard 2’; with Bruce Willis saving
the day yet again at Christmas. I can’t
complain about that choice too much, since the guys generally get to watch more
than their fair share of chick flicks with us – including the Hallmark Channel
movie we watched for our second movie choice of the night.
That was a nice way to wrap up our evening
with the boys; and they were much more interested in the cuddling and some
kisses during the second feature than they were during the action flick.
A pair of sofa sleepovers wouldn’t have
gone over well at Rowen’s house, so Michael and Tim went home at one o’clock;
and Rowen and I made sure that our respective boyfriends were able to stay warm
for the walk home. Once we’d seen them
out and on their way, Rowen and I got ready for bed, and once we were tucked in
for the night; I started in on my bedtime computing while Rowen surfed YouTube
for everything from Black Friday horror videos to cute Thanksgiving day moments
that were either hilarious or heartwarming.
We listened to some Christmas music too; and I’ve been doing a full
computer and email check after taking last night off from anything more than a
quick email check.
Since it is technically Rowen’s birthday
now, and it was before the boys left; Tim had a small teaser gift that he gave
her while we’d split up to say goodnight to our guys with a bit of privacy; and
I’m about to give her another little gift once I’m done with this that I hope
she’ll love – even though it’s also small compared to the main gift that
Michael and I will give to her tomorrow.
I’m starting to nod off while listening to the Christmas music and
writing this; so I’d better just wrap this up and do that before I’m out for
the rest of the night.
In addition to it being Rowen’s birthday,
we’ll also have to deal with stores being open for the last day of the holiday
weekend; it’s Advent Sunday; and I’ll be helping out at the Inn for the four
buffet sittings that will start at noon.
Michael and I will need to somehow also fit in joining Rowen’s birthday
dinner at the Inn – the last buffet of the day so that her store owning or
working guests can be there to help with the celebration. We’ll work that out somehow, even if it means
working late after that with the clean-up in the kitchen; but I won’t be doing
any of that if I run out of steam and fall asleep on the job or at the dinner
table.
We wouldn’t want that, and Rowen will want
that gift before I crash for the night; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
