Ethan and Ehlana:
Happy 8th Birthday, Sebastian Ayres!
Black Friday is not an insane shopping event in our little town, but it is fun; and always better when the weather is decent. We do need to cover all of the news since Wednesday afternoon, though, so let’s back up and cover all of the highlights.
We had a very busy Wednesday afternoon and evening, and while we did a fair bit of work, we also spent time with our family and collegian guests. The chores around the house, cooking, and post-dinner clean-up were off-set by the dinnertime fun; the visits to the Carrington’s and Everett’s homes while welcoming our incoming cousins; and the time we got to spend with all of the grandparents – including the grandparents that got home from Arizona for the weekend. Our visiting included video gaming with our cousins; a movie; and staying out later than we probably should have ahead of all of our Thanksgiving Day plans. We didn’t have any kids staying with us overnight, so when we did eventually get home; we went to bed within a half-hour.
Thanksgiving Day began with Tai Chi by the river; a light breakfast; and a lot of work because Mom and Dad hosted the family dinner. That meant getting the turkey in the oven early and the rest of the work; and we helped out with a lot of that work – as did all of the collegians in the house. We also had the lounge, sunroom, and living room ready for various entertainments; and then the rest of the family and other guests converged on our house by lunchtime.
The fun level of our Thanksgiving kicked up a few notches when we were set free to play after lunch, and while Ehlana and I split up for a lot of that time; it might be most-newsworthy to mention that having a gang of collegians around definitely affected the football-watching and the interest in the chick flicks marathon in the sunroom. The annual NFL games-watching was a rowdy, ongoing event in the living room – to the point where we sometimes heard it over the video gaming in the lounge! If that didn’t get your attention; remember that Zack was one of those gamers in the lounge; and he is far from quiet when playing his favorite games! We can also add that the teams being cheered for were more-varied than normal; though that isn’t a surprise with guests from different parts of the country. Neither Ehlana nor I got into the football-watching. We heard all about the games – especially during dinner; and even the timing for that meal was affected by the game times – though the Moms in the house only joked about that being a real factor. Ehlana and I worked on either side of dinner too; we had fun with the work and the meal; and the only downside was that Naomi and Aiden were busy with their families. We did get to spend some time with them today, but that was only with visits; and they didn’t come over at the same time. Naomi was also with Ehlana and the girls for most of her visit; Aiden played video games with me and the other guys; and there weren’t any tween co-ed tween sleepovers last night either. We were still up late, but our ‘day-guests’ headed out starting at around eleven o’clock; and we eventually got to bed by a bit after midnight – after helping with a final round of cleaning.
It was colder by morning, but we still went out by the river for Tai Chi today; we got ready for the day; and then we headed for the Inn and the breakfast buffet. Most of our collective families and all of the visiting collegians joined us for that meal; we followed that up with a few hours of shopping; and our personal highlight from the shopping was finding out that our Christmas album is currently the top-selling hometown album at Spinners. We had fun with the shopping too; and then we were put to work again for a while before and after lunch. Our afternoon entertainment included biking the trails at the park and around town; playground adventures; and watching a football scrimmage at the park that Michael and Tim led for the team we supported. College football games replaced NFL games today, but the game-watching at our house didn’t resume until most of us got home again from the shopping and outdoor play time. That pretty much brings us up to now; and this update isn’t going to be later tonight because we plan on being busy with our guests for the rest of the day – including a sleepover with Naomi, Aiden, Jayden, and possibly a few other cousins or friends. That’s still being worked out; so stay tuned for that news with our next report. We’ll also do an update for Sebastian’s birthday party, but we’re not personally involved for that because he’s going with a friends’ party that will only include some of our cousins; and we’re already busy-enough with everything that is going on around here. We will mention that we had a gift for him this morning while we were all at the Inn; and he was given other gifts then too – though that wasn’t officially a birthday breakfast party. Naomi will be at his birthday dinner with her family, but then she’ll be back here with us again for the rest of the night.
For now, we need to get going again – this time to help out with the dinner prep work; so that’s all and we’re out of here!
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
