Ethan and Ehlana:
We have quite a bit of news to cover today; so let’s do that beginning with everything we’ve skipped during our past few updates.
First up, we should include more about our weekend guests. We haven’t even mentioned that Mom and Dad hosted most of the Rice clan at our house – though Violet and Dillon also had rotating overnight guests at their place too. We really only managed rounds of cameo visits with our adult cousins; since they were busier with the parents, grandparents, and other visitors while we were hanging out with the other kids and teens. They are all doing well, though, and whether working jobs now or still at college; they are also happy and enjoying life – even when they have more issues than we do with Covid-related challenges at college or in the cities.
Having such nice weather every day has been a highlight for us – even though a lot of people around us seem to miss having a white Christmas! There is something to be said for that, but being able to play outdoors without any of the winter gear is fairly-awesome too; and we really love our morning workouts by the river instead of needing to do that indoors. The daily rounds of food have been great, and the food highlights included the two Christmas dinners we attended and the buffet dinner at the Inn this afternoon. For Ehlana, the second Christmas dinner on Saturday was with Aiden and his family while I was with Naomi and hers – including the Ayres members of her clan. We were teased for those ‘dates’ all weekend, but took more heat for choosing the co-ed evening and sleepover at our house over the girls’ or guys’ sleepovers at the Everett or Carrington homes that most of the younger cousins chose. We had a lot of fun with the teen and adult couples while watching movies until late; and the only reason we didn’t have sofa sleepovers was because Jamie and Micah, and Kaitlyn and Jeremy got away with that instead while we had our co-ed nap time in sleeping bags on the floor! ;^)
That doesn’t cover everything, but we’ll move on to the rest of the news for today. Our morning began with Tai Chi by the river with extra exercise buddies; breakfast was a blast of busy and fun fit in around getting everyone ready for church; and then the Sunday service at church was teen-led except for the Pastor’s message. We enjoyed one final blast of Christmas music and stories; and then it was time to play again for a while. At our house, we only had a snack lunch available; we biked and played at the park for a couple of hours; and then it was time to get ready for the mid-afternoon buffet sitting at the Inn while also multi-tasking getting guest vehicles loaded for the trips home or elsewhere. As we mentioned already, that dinner at the Inn was a food highlight for us; and then it was time to say goodbye to all of our weekend guests except for Uncle Blaine, Aunt Alison, and their kids. That didn’t take long, since they all wanted to get on the road in good time; and then we still had some daylight and warm weather to take advantage of with another bike ride on the trails.
We came home by the time it was getting dark; Naomi and Aiden headed for their own homes once three out of four of their parents were finished at the salon or bakery; and we’ve been helping Mom with chores since then while Dad’s worked in the office and Cassie and Michael were busy with his family – including babysitting Sierra.
The rest of our evening hasn’t been exciting, but we were ready to wind down by then anyway; so that worked for us. Now we’re pretty much ready to crash and nap after bath or Jacuzzi time, and can do that instead of waiting up to have a bedtime chat with Cassie and Michael whenever they get home again; so, until next time...
...This is Ethan and Ehlana Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!
