Merry Christmas!
Mom and Dad – I mean Santa – gave me a saxophone, and the
big guy must have had a sleigh full of musical instruments this year. Rowen got a flute, and I found out that
Michael had a saxophone under his tree this morning too when I popped over to
wish them a Merry Christmas before going to exchange gifts with Rowen at her
house. I don’t want to know if Aunt
Leanne had a chat with Santa first, though I’d love a picture of her sitting on
Santa’s lap, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she did get involved; since the two
saxophones are identical.
You can guess that I’m really fired up about my new
saxophone, but let’s back up a bit; since there was a lot happening around here
before we got around to opening gifts.
We actually slept in until seven-thirty, so we needed to get
up and start working in the kitchen right away to get everything ready for when
Grandma and Grandpa came over at eight to have breakfast with us. That actually worked out great because we
were able to open our stockings after they got here; and then sit down to have
breakfast. Being Magi Masters doesn’t
keep Ethan, Ehlana, and me from having as much fun as every other kid on
Christmas morning. We all had a few
chocolates and treats from our stockings before and after breakfast, and we
played with some of the little toys and games on the dining room table while
eating our food. Grandpa was probably
the biggest kid in the room, and he especially loved playing with Ethan and Dad
– racing little cars back and forth between them while trying to avoid the
small herd of dinosaurs that were migrating from the North to the South ends of
the table.
Mom, Dad, and I were the clean-up crew this morning, and
Ethan and Ehlana were put in charge of entertaining our guests until we were
ready to join them in the living room and open our gifts. With just the seven of us, we could take our
time doing that, so we did; and packed a lot of fun into the nearly three hours
we spent unwrapping presents, playing with toys, and watching a Christmas
parade on television. There must have
been a few people in the know about what Santa had planned for me, since there
were saxophone accessory gifts to go along with my favorite present. Grandma and Grandpa gave me a cleaning kit
for one of their gifts; Ethan and Ehlana had apparently picked out a neck strap
that Ehlana had seen me looking at when I was picking out the one I gave to
Michael. There were also some music
books, a box of reeds, and an instrument stand that is currently in the corner
of my room with my saxophone set on it, and gleaming with the glow from the
lights on the Christmas tree in the lounge.
I wonder if every musician feels like I have all day after getting their
very own instrument for the first time.
I know for sure that Rowen feels exactly the same way I do; and it could
be quite a while before I stop getting the warm fuzzies every time I pick that
sax up and play it.
Since I’m thinking about the lights on the tree in the
lounge, I’ll get that little Christmas surprise story out of the way now. I didn’t find it until after carrying my
gifts upstairs, but Michael apparently left a gift for me with Mom yesterday
while I was out, and she put it under my tree in the lounge. There is no doubt that Aunt Leanne will have
some new ammunition to tease me with, but the delicate little dangling
saxophone earrings and matching necklace are adorable; I love them; and he
deserved the hug and kiss on the cheek.
I just hope that the witnesses of that moment at his house won’t give
him a hard time about it – especially since he was spending most of the
afternoon with Lisa today.
Rowen and I were able to spend nearly two hours together at
her house before we both needed to move on to family dinners. Since I had gifts for her parents and brother
too, we opened gifts with them, and then spent the rest of the time in her
room. We had a little play time with our
new instruments; listened to Christmas music; and played a new video game she
got for Christmas while having a long Christmas chat. After hearing about my visit to Michael’s
house, I think she was wishing that she had an excuse to be hugging and kissing
a certain boy too, but even though I couldn’t get her that for Christmas, we
still managed to have fun; and her flute was definitely a best-ever-so-far
Christmas gift. I think the flute is a
better gift than getting a boyfriend would be – and it’ll certainly need less
maintenance!
I stopped in for a quick round of Christmas hugs and kisses
at Aunt Leanne’s after leaving Rowen’s house, but I was still home again early
enough to help Mom and Dad with the last half-hour or so of work getting dinner
ready. While I was out, Grandma,
Grandpa, Ethan, and Ehlana had all taken short naps after watching a movie with
Mom and Dad; so I hadn’t missed too much action while I was out. We’d skipped lunch, and Mom had just put
snack trays out for us to munch on when we got hungry so we could have an early
dinner; and get the last bit of work out of the way with lots of time left for
more Christmas fun. There is a big
difference between Christmas dinner when the whole family is home and when we
just have Grandma and Grandpa with us, but it was just Mom and me for my first
eight Christmases; to two ‘quiet’ Christmases we’ve had since moving here
really aren’t by comparison.
What is the same is getting to have some really great food,
and sharing the day with the people we love the most. The bonuses are having so many more people to
love; getting to spend the day with them; and Olde Bakery desserts. I should also add that it’s really great
having a hyper-metabolism on days like this too. Trust me, I really needed it today!
I was on the clean-up crew again, but it didn’t really take
all that long to get the work done – especially when Mom and Dad agreed that it
was okay for us to take a shortcut and use a little Magi power to speed things
along. That left us lots of time to
watch a movie and play with Ethan, Ehlana, and some of their toys before
bundling up for the short walk down to Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne’s home; where
we ended up staying and playing with everyone there for nearly two hours.
Kara and Nicole were especially happy to have Ehlana and me
to play with, and Ethan and Eddie hung out with Jonathan and the other guys while
they mostly played video games. There
was still some work going on in the kitchen when we arrived, so Mom and Dad
visited with most of the other grown-ups there while Grandma and Grandpa joined
the other gramdparents who were relaxing in the living room and watching White
Christmas.
Aunt Leanne was too busy to spend much quality time teasing
me tonight, but she did manage to get a couple of sax-related zingers in during
the two short visits she and Uncle Adam made to the third floor playroom. That meant she also didn’t have much time to
hear about the rest of my day, and what she did hear about didn’t include
anything about Michael and me; even though I’m sure she’ll give me a hard time
about that little omission when she finds out about it. I’ll deal with that when it happens.
Mom and Dad started rounding us up at a bit after ten, and
it was ten-thirty before we were on our way home again. Grandma and Grandpa came with us, but only
stayed long enough to gather up their gifts and some leftovers to take home
with them. Ethan and Ehlana were ready
to go straight to bed then, but I wanted some quality time with my Jacuzzi
after helping to tuck them in for the night.
I spent over an hour in the bathroom between having a long soak and then
dealing with my wet hair, so Christmas Day was officially over by the time I
climbed into bed with Mandy and my computer.
There were quite a few email waiting for me, so I took care
of that first. Top news was Aunt Grace’s
first Christmas with Mark’s family, and it sounds like they were given quite a
few gag gifts that were all related to their small town move plans. Since we’re going to build a state-of-the-art
medical center, Mark won’t need the Wild West doctor supplies, and when his
family comes here for the wedding, I’ll make sure that Mom and Aunt Leanne take
the girls to see Abby’s store so they can find out that Aunt Grace will have
more options than flannel granny nightgowns.
Violet and Dawn had a really good Christmas too, though
Violet really missed getting to spend the day with Dillon. They’re both fired up about coming home in
the morning; and Violet’s really glad that we didn’t get the snow that had been
in the forecast, but had completely missed us except for a random snowflake
here and there. If they don’t get held
up too much by traffic in Crystal Springs, Violet’s hoping to be here before
lunchtime so they can get in on some of the Boxing Day shopping and sales. Dillon’s going to be working at the Inn
anyway, so if it was me; I’d probably do a little shopping in the city on the
way through, but then Violet and Dawn get to do a lot more Mall time than I do,
so it’s probably not a big deal to them.
I had a half-dozen Christmas report emails from friends and
classmates, and it sounds like everyone has had a happy day. There were some Boxing Day fliers posted on
the town intranet; a bit of local news; and some Christmas pictures and music
to look at and listen to from the concert Sunday night and Christmas Eve
service. My news, sports, and
entertainment check didn’t take long, and once I finish writing this journal
entry; I’m going to snuggle with Mandy and get some sleep so I’ll be ready for
another fun shopping and play day.
This has been such a great, fun-filled Christmas that I feel
like there should be so much more to write about – so many feelings and
thoughts that are bigger and more than I can articulate. We didn’t end up getting the white Christmas
that I’d hoped for, but everything else was just as amazing as I used to
imagine Christmas should be before coming to Witch Falls. I may not capture every wonderful moment in
this journal, but I will always have the memories. Maybe some day I’ll turn all of them into
videos just like we’ve done with turning them into pictures before. Now that’d take our Magi archives to a whole
new level!
For the rest of tonight, I’m just ready for some happy
Christmas dreams and a good night’s sleep.
Say ‘goodnight, Cassie’.
“Goodnight, Cassie.”
