Ethan:
Our double-update plan is going to be more
of a one-day report; since we’re doing this early again today because of our
plans for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Starting with yesterday afternoon, after my
micro-report, Ehlana and I were kept busy with our friends and cousins while
some of the parents continued with some weekend pre-cooking and baking. Mom had a large gang for dinner, and as we
expected; the highlight for that meal was the grandparents’ stories time for
the kids – though the food was great too.
Christmas movies were in the living room after dinner while video gaming
ruled the lounge. We welcomed our
weekend guests as they arrived – and Dad too when he got home from the
city. Our house was still central to
those arrivals, but some splitting up began by ten o’clock – including for
Naomi and Aiden as they needed to be with their own families for the rest of
the night – and a lot of the weekend too.
We have most of the Rice clan at our house, but Chris and his
girlfriend, Sadie, are staying with Violet and Dillon; while we get Dawn,
Martin, and his girlfriend, Kimberly, with us – and their parents and
grandparents.
Having cousins bringing girlfriends home
for the holidays still seems a bit weird to me – and shouldn’t; since Chris and
Martin are older than Cassie; and she’s here with her husband! ;^)
Moving along, we only had our own weekend
guests with us by eleven o’clock or so; the chat time and a movie continued in
the sitting room until a bit after midnight; and then there was some wind-down
young-adult and kid time in the lounge before we headed for our beds for the
night. It can be fun to have a house
full of people for holidays, but mornings can get a bit crazy; so Tai Chi was a
nice, quiet way to start our day before the chaos began that kept us busy
through until we- the kids – were set free to play for the rest of the morning
after the breakfast clean-up and other chores.
Ehlana and I met up with our cousins; the girls wanted to go shopping
for a while; and then some of us went biking on the trails and at the park
because we could thanks to the warming weather that had the temperature
climbing into the low-fifties this afternoon.
That was awesome for Christmastime – and a
trend that’s forecast to continue through Christmas too! We had to be home – at Uncle Adam and Aunt
Leanne’s by lunchtime – though we only had snacks instead of a meal because we
actually gathered to open gifts and then have an early Christmas dinner. I love it when we can do that early meal; and
it really works out today because nobody in our family had extra family meals
to do elsewhere too. That gave us more
time to spend with everyone – or will; including the fun we have planned for
the rest of the day. I won’t get into
gift details, but that was fun; and there are some new toys and games for us to
collectively play with for the rest of the weekend and beyond. Uncle Adam has a real talent for cooking –
even if that isn’t quite on the same level and Jacob and Jake; so our Christmas
dinner was amazing – and so were all of the awesome desserts. Kids were set free again after we ate; so we
went for more biking and play time at the park while the adults and teens took
care of the clean-up. Ehlana and I have
stopped in at home to put bikes away and so that I could pack an overnight bag
because the guys are doing the sleepover thing at Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s
while the girls will be here at our house.
The couples will still be together, but the guys and girls will still
split up for some of the evening entertainment that will continue to include
Christmas movies, football-watching, and video games.
The rest of that news will have to wait for
the next report, but I can add that Naomi and Aiden will be joining in for
these sleepovers – though not until a bit later this evening; and I’m
half-wishing that Naomi and I could be included in the couples club instead of
in the separate guys’ and girls’ groups. ‘^)
That isn’t going to happen, but we’ll have
fun anyway; and Ehlana and Naomi will be glad for the break from Zack and
Eli. Aiden and I will have help for at
least some of the time with our younger cousins, but then when they won’t have
the girls around to annoy; we probably won’t have any major issues anyway. I’ll let you know how that goes, but that’s
all I have for today; we’ve had a blast; and I’m sure that we will for the rest
of the weekend too.
Ethan – out!
***
Ehlana:
Ethan’s covered the basics; so I’ll add a
few comments along with a bit of news that we’ve skipped writing about in our
journals.
I should start with the news that Wendy and
Colt Carter are expecting their second baby – news that hit the town gossip
network two days ago, but that I’m mentioning now because it came up in the
girl chat this morning while we were shopping; and that was mostly because our
cousins were talking about May and Cody.
Okay, they were more-specifically talking about finding May a new cowboy
to hang out with for the holidays now that Caylee Reynolds has caught Cody, but
I should have mentioned this news anyway.
I’ve missed some birthdays over the past couple of weeks too for some of
Cassie and Michael’s college and hometown friends, and that came up in our chat
time today too, but I guess that we can’t write about everything like that when
it doesn’t really involve us at all; so I’ll just offer a general happy
birthday to everyone we’ve missed.
College talk was a part of the
entertainment last night and today; and Dawn got a lot of attention because of
her career choice. There aren’t really a
lot of girls in her aviation technology program, and she’s had to deal with
problems from too-persistent guys, but she also loves all of her classes; and
is top of her class in everything too.
If I didn’t want to do my part to save the world at the lab, I could
love being a pilot and traveling the world too, but that isn’t for me; so I’ll
have to settle for traveling the world on a longer timetable; and do that for
fun instead.
The shopping was fun, though I didn’t
actually buy anything except for some treats at the bakery. I loved the biking at the park and on the
path around town; and our family Christmas time was amazing. I’ll mention a couple of gifts, since our
family continues to support Dawn in a big way with lots of flying time that is
going to get more-expensive as she needs time in big-jet simulators and will
progress to multi-engine planes and jets as she continues her education and
adds certifications to her pilot’s license.
By the time she’s done and working; I expect that Uncle Rick will be
telling everyone that buying her a Ferrari would have been cheaper!
Part two of my gift comments is actually
about gifts that we didn’t give. Sure,
we make an exception for ‘gift cards’ for Dawn, but that’s entirely because
becoming a pilot truly is expensive. We
don’t do many ‘normal’ gift cards because we believe that more than just the
thought counts – there should be some effort and personal touches put on
Christmas gifts. Don’t take that the
wrong way, since I’m not trying to make any major social statement, but I do
want to show that choosing gifts is important to us as a family. That can be fun or funny gifts; treasures
that are passed along from generation to generation; or normal gifts that are,
hopefully, still perfect for each recipient.
I wouldn’t dream of suggesting that every gift choice is perfect, since
there are examples that didn’t go well, but I can also say that we don’t all
rush out to the stores after Christmas to do returns either. I can point out that it’s easier to buy gifts
for people that you actually know very well; and Ethan and I are so blessed to
have a close, loving family – including for the members of our family that live
hundreds of miles away from our amazing home town.
I’m getting a bit long-winded, and don’t
really have time to do that since we do need to get back to Uncle Adam and Aunt
Leanne’s for a while before we – the girls – will come back here for our girls’
night sleepover; so I’ll just wrap this up and get on with the rest of our
family Christmas adventures.
Oh wait – I almost skipped our Christmas music
pick! We’re not that far from Christmas
now; so let’s switch to songs about the reason for the season!
This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live
from what is now my past!
