Ethan:
There has been so much going on since our
last update; I’d better just start from where we left off yesterday; and try
not to skip over anything important.
After our early Christmas dinner yesterday,
there weren’t any meals for the rest of the day, but I was with the guys; so
food was available even though we collectively should have fasted for the rest
of the day. We had fun with everyone
while together into the early evening; the girls moved on to our home for
Christmas chick flicks and mini makeovers – among other fun; and I had fun with
the video gaming and the rest of the play time we had at Uncle Adam and Aunt
Leanne’s house for the rest of the night.
Football continued to be a big part of the night for the older and teen
guys, but Zack and the other younger guys wanted to play non-stop; and Jayden,
Aiden, and I helped to keep them happy and out of trouble as much as was
possible when Zack is in the house. With
new video games to explore, we stayed up too late; didn’t get much sleep; and
only Aiden and I got up early-enough for Tai Chi with Uncle Adam and Aunt
Leanne.
Breakfast and getting ready for church was
certainly more of a challenge for us, but while we had some unhappy cousins; we
did get everyone fed, ready, and to church on time. I loved the service and our last Sunday
school before Christmas; the highlights were the teen-led ‘advertising’ for
their special show tonight and the Sunday school Christmas craft that was also
edible gifts for our families and friends; and then it was time to move on
again – to another early major meal – the first buffet of the day at the Inn. We had a bit of time to get changed and for
some of our guests to get packed up for the trip home, but the weather played a
huge role in our guests’ plans for that travel time. There was no sign of bad weather in the
region; the temperature climbed into the high fifties; and everyone chose to
stay for the day and leave after the Christmas musical. We got to have an added bonus when all of our
visiting cousins were able to stay until tomorrow morning; with the younger
ones getting set up with rides home from grandparents while the parents headed
home tonight in time for work in the morning.
Those choices meant some changes for sleepovers tonight, but that was
mostly because the Everetts are leaving early tomorrow morning for the airport
and their trip to the west coast to spend Christmas with Uncle Mark’s
family. Aunt Leanne got stuck with the
boys last night; so she claimed custody of Jaimie and Kaitlyn; while Jayden is
here with Aiden and me tonight. Dawn’s
staying with Violet and Dillon tonight; so Chris and Sadie join the couples’
club here at our house too – though Cassie and Michael are still the only
couple on the third floor.
I’ve gotten ahead of the story.
We picked the noon buffet expecting the
need for early visitor departures today and because we didn’t want to rush from
dinner to the church, but that plan worked out great for the kids because we
were able to spend most of the afternoon biking and playing at the park; taking
full advantage of the awesome weather.
That meal was, as always, awesome, and while there are the inevitable
comments about not having a white Christmas; nobody really seemed to have a
problem with outdoor fun in late-December that we could do in sweaters or fall
jackets instead of winter gear. Aiden,
Jayden, and I were in on most of the biking; while Ehlana, Naomi, and some of
the other girls helped out a bit more with the younger kids at the playground
or elsewhere. There was a football
scrimmage at the park this afternoon too, but while Michael and some of the
other guys got drafted; I didn’t even go to watch any of those games because
the biking was more fun for us; and it’ll be a few more years before I’d get
invited to play too.
Some of us needed to be home in time to get
cleaned up ahead of the Christmas show at the church; snacks were available for
anyone actually hungry by early evening; and then we headed for the church for
the teen-led show. I still miss having
Cassie and Michael involved with the music, but Jessica, Patrick, and Ryan are
all talented too; and they led the music part of the musical with their teen
group friends. The Christmas story
message was great; there were just enough moments of humor to be fun without
taking anything away from the heart-warming moments; and we had an awesome time
with the musical and the birthday party that followed in the fellowship hall.
We – the kids – headed to our various homes
after that, but while Michael and Cassie haven’t been drafted to help out at
the Inn over the holidays; they volunteered to go there and help out with the
rest of the post-buffet clean-up; May went with them; and the college couples
went for a visit with Violet and Dillon – after we collectively saw the
visiting parents on the road toward their homes straight from the church. The lounge was set up for Christmas movies; video
gaming was available on portable systems; and in addition to Jayden; we have
Naomi, Aiden, and Sophia here for the night – and we’ll likely camp in the
lounge as well as Ehlana’s room and mine depending on how late we end up
staying awake. The cuddle time with
Naomi that is about to start should be all you need to know about why I’m ready
to wrap this up and get on with the rest of our night.
I’m really glad that we’ve gotten to have
the extra time with our cousins; this has been yet another awesome family and
friends day; and we expect that fun trend to continue – especially when this
warm weather trend is forecast to continue on through Christmas Day. I have that cuddle time to get to now; so
here’s my Christmas music pick for tonight – a song used in the musical tonight;
and then I’m back to the real world and all of that ongoing Christmas cheer!
Ethan – out!
***
Ehlana:
Our Christmas movies and mini makeovers
must have been quieter than the boys’ sleepover fun last night, but we really
enjoyed the girl-time and conversations; a handful of Moms got involved with
cameo or longer visits with us; and they boys were either elsewhere or stayed
out of our way while we were playing and sometimes discussing things that were
sometimes a bit of the too-much-information-for-kids rated kind of entertainment. Naomi, by the way, doesn’t have a problem
with any of that; and half-wishes that she had really good stories to share
about Ethan already.
Okay, maybe not for every kind of teen or
adult-rated story, but she is years ahead of our friends on the relationship
curve with Ethan; and they will soon be proving that again tonight while Ethan
will hope that Jayden and Sophia won’t have too-much fun with that. Sophia was definitely added to our guest list
tonight because of Jayden, and they like hanging out together, but that isn’t a
set-up; and we don’t really get any sense of them being a future match.
Getting back to the news of the day; we
didn’t stay up as late as the boys; and that’s why we had a larger gang for Tai
Chi this morning. Breakfast and getting
ready for church was a rush, but that went smoothly-enough even with the
bathroom-sharing challenges. That’s why
we were at church ahead of the boys with Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne. Ethan’s covered the church service and Sunday
school news; though I’ll add that our edible crafts were handed out to people
we love – and all of the Sunday school kids did that; so there were a lot of
those fun little gifts.
The buffet dinner at the Inn was a
highlight of my day; and then the afternoon of outdoor fun that didn’t require
freezing while biking or hanging out at the playground was a close second. That puts the teen Christmas musical at third
for me, but don’t take that the wrong way; since everything about our day was
amazing; and I’m not really putting much distance between those rankings for my
favorite moments of the day. If there is
any reason to rank that musical at third that I can explain easily; it would be
the fact that we sat and watched the show for a bit more than an hour; so the
inactivity minimal interaction even with the people next to us was a change
from the rest of our day.
I’m ready to move on to our bonus movies
and sleepover time, and I guess that’s enough for this report; so I’ll do
that. My Christmas music pick for
tonight continues with another ‘reason-for-the-season’ pick; and this version
of the song might always be my favorite.
This is Ehlana Proctor; coming to you live
from what is now my past!
