Congratulations to Luke and Ashley Spencer;
their daughter, Paige; and the entire Spencer family!
It’s a good thing that we did have a doctor
in town while we were away on the shopping trip, because Donnie Spencer
apparently didn’t think that he should be required to wait until after the
annual event to arrive. That will be a
fun family story for the future, though; since his imminent arrival did mean
that some members of his family needed to cut short their trip to Crystal
Springs so that they could get back to town in time to welcome him into the
world! That news didn’t affect our
shopping fun at all; though I’m sure that Brianna will be happy to meet another
new future classmate and friend whenever she does get to meet Donnie.
While the new baby news was the top story
for the Spencer clan; the Christmas shopping trip was the event of the day for
a lot of people in town – including everyone staying behind and planning on
enjoying the big sale going on here to thank them for staying and shopping at
home. The breakfast buffet was the
launching point for our adventure, and since I was up early anyway; I decided
to meet up with Michael and go over early to help out with the prep work until
the rest of my family arrived at the Inn too.
That hour or so of work in the kitchen was fairly entertaining even
while we worked hard; but I felt better doing that since having Michael come
with us for the shopping trip meant leaving his parents a bit short-handed on a
busy day at the Inn.
Rebecca and Jenny had felt that way too;
and we collectively had a plan for helping out with that. Lucas needed to work on the farm this
morning, so Rebecca and Jenny stayed to help out at the Inn until he was
finished; he picked them up at the Inn; and then they met up with Peter along
the way to Crystal Springs. That made
for a late start to their Christmas shopping adventure, but then they got to
stay late while Michael and I came home early-enough to help out with about half
of the dinner rush and working until close.
That’s getting ahead of the story, though; so let’s back up again to the
breakfast buffet.
Mom, Dad, and the twins were at the Inn by
seven o’clock; and they were among the first members of the shopping gang to
get there – mostly because Mom wanted to be there to keep track of the incoming
and start getting the travel groups and leaders together. Aunt Leanne helped with that; but didn’t join
us until about twenty-past seven.
Michael and I were on kid control during the meal; so that time was a
blur of non-stop busy as we tried to eat our own meals while getting my cousins
fed and ready to travel again too. For
the record, Zack does not need to be such a mess during public meals; but he
takes his ‘public’ persona development very seriously and acts
accordingly. I’m sure there’s a very
good reason why he didn’t choose to grow up being a quiet, sweet little angel
for his parents! ;^)
We started to load up into various types of
cars, trucks, and minivans by a bit after eight o’clock. The total shoppers this year was down
slightly from last year, but we still had one hundred and twenty kids and
teens, and forty-four adults signed up for the adventure in the city. There were also forty-one vehicles – not including
Lucas’ truck, and while that might sound scary for the parents; Lucas was just
one of the teens that were driving groups of siblings and friends so that only
about half of the parents were driving without any adult sanity support.
Michael and I went with Uncle Adam and Aunt
Leanne so that we could help out with Zack and Brianna. Mom had a group of girls with her in the
minivan, including Ehlana and Naomi; and Dad had Ethan, Aiden, Patrick, and
Scott with him for both the drive and the day.
Our drive time to the city was entertaining and thankfully
uneventful. Michael managed to keep Zack
amused; and Brianna split her time between playing with me and having a nap so
that she’d be rested up and ready for the shopping. While we met up with Rowen and Tim once we
got to the Mall, and planned on spending most of the day together; we also
helped out with the younger kids in the collective group that Mom, Dad, and my
aunts and uncles were taking care of for the day.
We started that effort out by taking the ‘sisters’
with us and shopping for gifts for their brothers – a job that Michael and Tim
were happy to help out with while the younger boys were stuck shopping for
gifts for their sisters and other girls on their collective shopping lists. Our guys had a lot of fun with that; Rowen
and I enjoyed watching them play with my sister, cousins, and friends; and I’m
fairly sure that Michael and Tim have at least a couple of little girls crushing
on them today – even if Tim is totally oblivious to the attention. I didn’t include Michael in that last part
because he’s just too strong an empath not to be aware of such strong
feelings. I will add that he does a
pretty good job handling the junior adoration.
That part of our shopping fun took about an
hour; we – the teens – were then given an hour or so for our own shopping; and
then we met up again to take another group of kids shopping for gifts for
favorite adults. Rowen and I were able
to help out more with that group because we helped with the girl gifts while
Michael and Tim helped to shop for the father and grandfather gifts. We met up for lunch in the food court after
that; the meal time was a crazy rush; and then we headed out for our favorite
big box toy store. Michael and I spent
most of that time with Rowen and Tim; and then we headed for home with Uncle
Adam, Aunt Leanne, and the kids. Zack
and Brianna were shopped out by then, and Aunt Leanne was tired too; so that
worked out fine for Michael and me – and others too; since we avoided the need
for a return trip shuffle so that someone could bring us home in time to help
out at the Inn. We weren’t home in time
to help with all of the dinner prep work, but we were working shortly after the
first major round of appetizers went out into the dining room.
It was all work and not much play after
that, but before I go there; let’s cover the news I wasn’t around for while at
the Inn. Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne
dropped us off; took the kids home; unpacked the minivan; and eventually ended
up back at the Inn for a late dinner before doing a quick round of the in-town
sales. While we didn’t even see them in
the city; I know that Lucas, Rebecca, Jenny, and Peter made it to Crystal
Springs by lunchtime; and then they stayed and shopped until nine o’clock or so
before heading home again – with Jenny going home with Peter while Rebecca
eventually went out to the farm for the night with Lucas. Mom and Dad were part of the last group of
town shoppers to leave the city after wrapping up their day with a long stop at
Wal-Mart that included some supply shopping.
Dad needed to do a round of deliveries after getting back to town and
dropping off his passengers; so Mom had the minivan unloaded by the time he got
home. I found out about most of that
while having a bedtime chat with them after Michael and I finished up at the
Inn.
Getting back to that, I spent the first
hour or so of our time in the kitchen helping out on the prep line while
Michael jumped right in on the dishwashing; and then I moved over to work with
him for the rest of the night. For a
non-holiday weekend, the Inn was very busy; and that included a lot of guests
looking to dine out while also enjoying the shopping sale experience – just as
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne had done.
Speaking of – I also should have mentioned that Uncle Adam is taking a
turn at the med center talking care of Ashley and Donnie Spencer; and Aunt
Deborah is going to take an early-morning shift while Uncle Mark gets the rest
of the night off after a very busy day.
This update feels a bit disjointed;
possibly because I’m a bit distracted thanks to the thoughts I’m currently
having about keeping Michael for a sofa sleepover. Maybe I shouldn’t attempt to write journal
updates while cuddling with Michael, but I managed to get through the rest of
my bedtime computer checks while getting changed and while Michael and I got
snacks, drinks, and a movie ready to go before getting around to the cuddle
time. We’ve been chatting telepathically
too – including with Mandy; but I’m quickly losing interest in doing any
computing – or with watching the movie in progress either.
Since that sofa sleepover really is looking
great right now; let’s speed the rest of this report along and be done with
it. Michael and I worked until close; we
were late getting away from the Inn; and walked his parents home before
continuing on to my house. Mom, Dad,
Ethan, and Ehlana were pretty much ready to call it a night by then, but we did
have that visit with them and compared rest-of-the-day stories before doing the
bedtime thing with Ethan and Ehlana and then splitting up so that Michael and I
could have some alone time in the lounge and Mom and Dad could get some sleep –
which they actually did tonight.
As I’ve already mentioned, I got changed
and freshened up before Michael and I got everything ready for our cuddle and
movie time; we’ve done more actual movie-watching and telepathic chatting than
normal without much effort toward making out; and right now as I write that; I’m
wondering why I’ve been doing this instead.
I have no good answer for that, and while getting the computing done is
important; so is the Michael and me time that I haven’t been taking advantage
of so far.
I’m going to fix that little lapse in good judgment
right now! ;^)
Now that I’m on that track, with keeping
Michael for that sofa sleepover firmly in mind; let’s pick this fun little
Christmas song for tonight!
Okay, maybe Michael likes that video a bit
too much, but let’s not go there; and I do still think it’s a fun song and
video too – if not for all of the same reasons that my boyfriend has for liking
it. The good news for me is that he’s
here cuddling with me instead of Ariana Grande and her buddies; I can probably
help him out with a suitable distraction; and plan on doing just that right
now; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
