Congratulations, Natalie and Derrick
Taylor; and welcome to Witch Falls, Katie!
While Katie was keeping my favorite doctors
and nurse busy for a fair bit of the day – and her mother and family too; the
rest of the action around town seemed to be all about Christmas. Before I move on to that, though; I’ll add
that Amy and Jared are two of Katie’s proud aunts and uncles, and while I
rarely write about them in my journal; Amy will always be one of my
favorite-ever teachers; so I’m always happy when good things happen in her
life!
My day started out with Tai Chi indoors,
and while it was great to have Dad home again for that; I missed having Michael
there too. Our workout was still fun,
and so was our breakfast in the sunroom; but then it was time to get to work
for most of the day. Ethan, Ehlana, and
I had chores to do; I helped with the ongoing holiday cooking adventures in the
kitchen; and we fit in some fun here and there with visits from Michael during
his morning and afternoon breaks; and from some of my aunts, uncles, and
cousins. There was just one shopping
trip that Dad and Ethan took care of; and they reported that the holiday
shopping was crazy in most of the stores – though they only visited the grocery
store and Emporium for some supplies that Mom needed for her cooking.
My last chore of the afternoon was getting
the lounge and my room set up for the babysitting and sleepover fun that is now
winding down as I write this; but then I just traded chores in for the actual
babysitting after that as the kids were dropped off starting at around five o’clock. Rowen came over then too; and Tim joined us
by five-thirty – in time to help with the kids while Rowen and I cooked up the
pizza and sides and my parents started to get ready for their night out with
their friends.
By six o’clock, we had all of ‘our’ kids
for the night, including Ethan, Ehlana, all of my in-town kid cousins, the
Seager and Draper kids, and Sophia Bassett.
We didn’t have Jessica and Ryan too because they’re spending the night
with friends instead of with us. That
was mostly a parental decision; though I’m sure that Michael’s cousins will
have more fun with their friends compared to playing with a bunch of under-five
kids.
Rowen and I had the first wave of food
ready to go by the time we had all of our kids with us; we had dinner in the
dining room; and our meal-time entertainment was also the majority of the work
for Tim, Rowen, and me as we tried to get the kids fed while keeping some of
them from turning the dining room into something that looked more like a war
zone than a formal gathering place for family and friends. Zack and Eli were especially enthusiastic
with their food, and while Tim really wasn’t trying to encourage them; there’s no
doubt that the two boys were doing their very best to impress him in ways that were
just scary and gross to all of the girls in the room.
Christmas movies, video gaming, music, and ‘normal’
games were all available entertainment options on the third floor after dinner;
and Rowen and Tim took care of the kids while I dealt with the dining room and
kitchen clean-up. Mom and Dad had
long-since left for the Inn by then, so I was on my own for that work; but
there’s a good chance that I had the easier job compared to what Tim and Rowen
had to deal with for the kids. Okay, I
wasn’t totally kid free while I worked, but Brianna was happy to hang out in
her seat and supervise while I worked; and Ehlana and Naomi only stopped in for
a short visit before going back upstairs to help out with our younger guests.
Michael was set free from the Inn at
seven-thirty; he grabbed a shower at home before coming over; and he was
already tired by then. Unfortunately for
him, most of the boys were still fired up; and his arrival just got them going
even more for a while. That meant that
he and Tim were kept busy playing for another hour or so before we managed to
round up all of the kids to watch a couple of Christmas shows and start the
wind-down process that eventually led to getting them all in bed and off to
sleep by a bit after midnight. Holly and
Hal Moose, a warm bottle, and some quality cuddle time with Michael and me put
Brianna to sleep first; and that was the start of the rounds of carrying kids
off to bedrooms and getting them tucked in for the night. All of the younger kids were sleeping by
eleven except for Zack and Eli, and while they tried to hold out until Ethan
and Aiden went to bed; they didn’t make it through to the end of ‘The Grinch’
before passing out – a fact that actually surprised me a bit considering how
much sugar they consumed tonight while munching on treats regularly since
dinnertime.
Ethan, Aiden, Ehlana, Naomi, and Sophia
were the last kids to head for bed after the end of the movie, and though Naomi
had cuddled with Ethan through most of the movie time; she did end up in the
correct bedroom with Ehlana and Sophia when we did get them tucked in for the
night. For the record, Ehlana didn’t do
much cuddling with Aiden tonight; and that was mostly so that he didn’t get
razzed by Zack and Eli the way they happily made fun of Ethan and Naomi. Ehlana was likely also thinking about keeping
things from getting weird for Sophia too; but then I don’t think that she
really cares right now if she is a fifth-wheel for their little group now and
then – especially when that also gives her the option to have some cuddle time
with Michael and me instead the way we did with her tonight once we’d run out
of younger kids to rock to sleep.
Speaking of that, Tim might be too cool to
admit this to his football buddies, but he’s pretty good with baby and toddler
cuddling too. He and Rowen helped to get
Caleb and Hailey off to sleep tonight, and while I wouldn’t dream of scaring
them anytime soon; Tim is going to be an awesome father some day.
Hopefully you won’t be reading this in a
future where I’m proven wrong about that! ;^)
Don’t take that train of thought into this
next one, but I’m going to wrap this up now because I’m planning on having a
sofa sleepover tonight with Michael; and I’m only writing this now while taking
my turn getting ready for bed while Michael’s doing dishes downstairs and Rowen
and Tim are straightening up the lounge and keeping an ear out for the
kids. I’m not getting out of all of that
work either; so I really should get back on the job soon too.
There are lots of details from tonight that
I haven’t included – like Tim’s occasional disappearances that involved
checking out the college football bowl game action tonight; or the specifics
from the play time that included rounds of hide-and-seek and other games that
Rowen and I set up with holiday themes and prizes. What is most-important, though, is that we
had a lot of fun tonight – and that includes the babysitters. A bit of Michael and me fun in the near
future will be nice too, but I’ll have to let you know how that goes for us
with the next update – assuming we don’t just end up falling asleep once we’re
cuddled together for that sofa sleepover.
My Christmas song for tonight is another
Fifth Harmony holiday tune that I hope you enjoy while I get started on what
will hopefully be a really great end to my day!
Until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
