Happy 14th Birthday, Dawn!
In a year when getting driver’s licenses is
such a big deal for my friends and classmates, it’s fun to report that my
cousin’s best birthday gifts this year were flight time and flying lessons that
will help to keep her head in the clouds and her dreams of being a pilot alive
and well for at least a few months. That’s
her preferred main gift for every occasion now; and it seems to be working out
for her just fine. The even better news
is that it seems, according to her instructors, that she is also quite
talented; so her choice of future career and passion is backed up by a true
ability for the job.
Michael and I did not send her a coupon for
flight time, since that’s a bit out of our official budget, but we did send a
gift along with the card and flight time gift that Mom, Dad, and the twins sent
for her; and she seemed happy with both presents when she opened them while we
had a phone chat with her at breakfast today.
That was the extent of our involvement with her birthday today; but I’ll
add that she also had Jillian stay for a sleepover last night; and they were
having a birthday lunch and afternoon at the movies with their family and
friends today that was likely quite a bit more fun than the work day at the Inn
that kept Michael and me busy here at home.
Compared to birthday party fun, I don’t
really have much to write about for my own day at all. Waking up cuddled with Michael was great, and
keeping him for Tai Chi and breakfast was good too; so that made for a fun
start to our day. We were busy at
church, particularly with Sunday school because we – the teens – worked on the
Christmas musical instead of having classes.
While working on sets or costumes was a big part of that for more than
half of the teens; Michael, Tim, Rowen, and I were all put to work on
practicing the script. It is a musical,
so learning the lines for the various scenes isn’t really that tough, but then
I do have the photographic memory thing going on; so maybe that isn’t fair to
make that part of the work sound so trivial.
That part of the preparation is coming along great, though; and I’m sure
we’ll be ready for the first full rehearsals that will be starting next week.
As usual for this time of year, the service
went long; so Michael, Rebecca, Jenny, and I had to hurry to get to the
Inn. Yes, Jenny was there even after
spending the night at Peter’s house; and it was nice to see him at church too;
since he could have just brought Jenny home and left again. I’d say that he’s getting rather seriously in
love with Jenny; and I love seeing her dating someone that is just as
interested in her life as she is in getting to know him and his family and
friends. He didn’t offer to apply for a
job at the Inn, so he hasn’t totally lost his mind over Jenny; but that choice
might actually be a bonus point to the good for him – not that I’m suggesting
that you have to be a bit nuts to work at the Inn on buffet day.
It does help, though! ;^)
Seriously, the work at the Inn hours of my
day is really nothing to write about. We
were a bit under-staffed today, and while we had some cameo moments of fun here
and there; the work was exhausting and occasionally overwhelming as we just did
our best and plugged away until each job was done – over and over again. Miranda had a full house for lunch; more than
two full buffet sittings for dinner; and a gang of very tired workers by the
time we had everything done for the night and could close the Inn at around
ten-thirty. Michael and I didn’t even
really get a major afternoon break because we used that time to do our weekend
homework and eat a late lunch before getting back to work early to help catch
up on the dinner prep line ahead of the first buffet sitting.
After getting home, Mom did my Magi lesson
with me; I took care of getting Ethan and Ehlana tucked in for the night so
that we could have at least a bit of sibling time today; and now I’ve been
tucked into bed with Mandy and working on my computer for the past three
hours. I didn’t get everything on my
bedtime computing to-do list finished, but I’m running out of steam fast; and
did at least get my language studying and family business work done. The archive assignment would have just put me
to sleep; so it’ll wait until I can get around to it tomorrow.
While I was busy all day, Mom and Dad worked
around home or in the office; and Ethan and Ehlana spent their afternoon with
Naomi and Aiden at Naomi’s house – or outdoors playing for part of the
afternoon. I can report that they all
had more fun today than I did at the Inn; but let’s not go into any details on
why that was true for my parents when they were supposedly working all
afternoon while also having an unexpected batch of consecutive kid-free
hours. As always, and something that
does need to be repeated here in my journals now and then, if you must use your
imagination on that; keep those thoughts to yourself – especially if I’m still
around and you know me whenever you’re reading this in my future! ;^)
Okay, I’m just about done here; so let’s
take a quick look at the week ahead; and then wrap this up with the Christmas
song choice of the day.
It’s going to be a very busy week, starting
with the Moms’ Christmas shopping adventure to the city tomorrow. No, I don’t get to skip school to go along,
but I will be helping out with Ethan, Ehlana, and our cousins after school
tomorrow; so that’ll keep us busy while the women in our family are away. In addition to our practices on Tuesday,
Michael and I have a friends’ birthday party to attend too – though we’ll only
be able to stay for the dinner; and maybe not even all of that. Wednesday is a work night, but we’re also
planning on going to Rebecca’s basketball game after school; and the busy will
continue on Thursday thanks to a bonus practice for the Christmas musical at
the church that’s going to be a full run-through; but not a dress
rehearsal. We have the seniors’
Christmas party with the band on Friday afternoon; the school Christmas dance
on Friday night; and the Maple Valley Christmas parade on Saturday.
Wow, and I thought this past week has been
busy!
If that isn’t enough on the go, most of our
favorite collegians will be getting home this weekend. Since they’re also busy writing final exams
this week; I’ll take a wild guess that they’ll all be ready to come home and
get a break for the next month or so.
Jake and Stephanie won’t be coming home, and we’ll really miss them a
lot over the Christmas holidays; but then they’re also going to be having a
remember-forever kind of holiday adventure traveling around Europe while they’re
off from school. While the adventures
are something I’d love to do, I’m also okay with admitting that I’m not
interested in being anywhere except right here at home for Christmas – and hope
I never have to be away from home during my favorite family time of the year.
Okay, that just leaves the Christmas song
pick of the day; and I think it’s time to let the girls take over the song list
for a while; since Ariana Grande and her friends got that off to such a fun
start yesterday. Next up is Fifth
Harmony; and their version of ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’. I’m not sure that any guy actually buys that
line, and many of them that might likely learn to regret it if they don’t have
a gift or three under the tree for their special girl; but let’s just enjoy the
song for the fun and harmonies and skip the debate over the potential to
mislead the unsuspecting men of the world.
Have fun; Merry Christmas; and, until next
time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
