Before I get to the news from today; let’s
cover the movie night and sofa sleepover fun.
Mom and Dad joined us for the first two
shows – Holly and Hal and How the Grinch Stole Christmas; they dealt with
getting the four kids into bed on the second floor while the teens took care of
the clean-up; and then Michael and I saw Rowen and Tim out because they wanted
to have some alone time at her house before calling it a night. Some make-out time had been on our to-do list
too, but that didn’t end up happening because Naomi and Ethan had miraculously
ended up in the lounge again by the time we got back there; and they were
having a sofa sleepover too. While we
were tempted to carry them back down to their beds, they were really adorable;
so we left them there; fell asleep while watching a third movie; and had a
really great start to our Sunday with a wake-up call that included lots of
jokes about double-dating sofa sleepovers.
Tai Chi was outdoors and by the river, but
a bit chilly. Rebecca was at Lucas’
house overnight, so Mom and Dad invited Michael’s parents to join us for
breakfast; and we had bonus fun while doing that thanks to the junior sofa
sleepover buddies and a video chat with Jake and Stephanie. We had to hurry after that to get through the
clean-up and have everyone ready to go to church; and then we had a really good
morning at church that included some work for the teens during Sunday school
while we worked on props and costumes for our Christmas show that we’ll be
putting on the Sunday evening before Christmas.
That’s only two weeks away, but let’s not go there; since it’s late and
I have a lot to cover without getting side-tracked.
After church, Michael and I went to the Inn
and helped with the lunch prep work and rush until my family was ready to hit
the road for our afternoon outing to the Christmas tree farm. Michael was allowed to do that with me again
this year; but Rebecca stayed and worked the dining room as a trade-off for not
working until close tonight – while Michael and I did do that instead. Rowen and Tim came along with a group from
their families too, but while we had most of my family along for the trip;
Uncle Adam stayed behind to be around in case of any medical emergencies. I can’t possibly cover everything that went
on out there; so let’s just include the basics.
We picked up ten trees; had a blast doing
that and going on the hay rides out to the evergreen fields and back again; and
then we spent an hour in the Christmas store enjoying treats, hot drinks, and
picking out some new ornaments and other Christmassy purchases – like cookies,
sweets, and apple cider. Michael and I
had some really awesome moments with our families and friends; I especially
loved sharing some of that time with Brianna, Faith, and the rest of our
cousins; and we even managed to have a bit of teen time with Rowen and
Tim. The weather was pretty good for our
trip with afternoon temperatures in the mid-forties; and that made the work
side of the trip better for everyone too.
Michael and I had to miss out on most of
that work at the home end of the adventure because we needed to get cleaned up
and over to the Inn for the buffet shift; but we did what we could; and left
the tree deliveries to the guys that Dad and the other fathers drafted to help
with getting those trees into houses and set up for trimming and decorating.
By the way, I didn’t mention it in my
journal, but should have noted last Monday that Grandma and Grandpa went back
to Arizona after the holiday weekend.
They’ll be home in time for the school Christmas pageant; and then they’ll
stay into the New Year before heading out on their first travel adventure of
twenty-seventeen. I would have loved to
have them with us today; but I’m also glad that they’re enjoying their
retirement – and being someplace warm for the winter is good for them too.
Moving along, the buffet shift was quiet
compared to last weekend, but still busy-enough. As I mentioned, Michael and I worked until
close, but with a slightly-easier dinner rush; we were able to get all of the
work done by a bit after nine-thirty.
Since we didn’t get our studying done during what would have normally
been Michael’s afternoon break, we needed to do that after work. Michael came home with me; we did that
studying in the living room while watching the end of the tree and room
decorating; and then Mom did a short Magi lesson with us before Michael went
home for the night. It was time for me
to get to work after that, but Dad had some homework to do too; so I used a
time phase and we worked like that until he was finished and ready to go to
bed. I came up to my room then;
multi-tasked more work and studying while having a soak in the tub; and
finished up my work after getting into bed with Mandy.
I had a lot to do, so it’s past-three now;
but I am up-to-date and ready to keep it that way as we continue the countdown
to Christmas. We have another busy week
ahead of us; though I won’t be directly involved in the top adventure for
Monday – the Moms’ Christmas shopping trip.
I will be helping Dad with the twins before and after school; but that
will be fun – especially if we also do the outdoor decorating tomorrow
too. That’ll depend on the weather; so I’ll
keep you posted on that with the next report.
You can flip digital pages in my future to
find out what happens next in my life, so I’ll skip the rest of the look ahead;
and just call it a night. Morning is
going to come too early; and I do get tired out and worn down – especially if I
need to self-heal too often along with all of the rest of the times that I use
my Magi gifts to work faster or do other things. Before I go, my Christmas music video pick
for today is from How the Grinch Stole Christmas – one of my all-time favorite
Christmas movie songs!
This has been a really awesome weekend, and
we still have a lot of holiday fun ahead of us that I need to be ready for; so,
until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
