Back to Business

I've been trying to find time to post to the blog, and, as usual, it keeps falling to the bottom of the priority list (kinda like cleaning the house!)

We had a great holiday, with a bit much traveling. One of the great things about being closer to family is that we can see them all during the holidays. One of the lousy things about being closer to family is that we can see them all during the holidays. Sometimes the traveling can get to me, but the kids had a great time seeing all the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. . .

Our first stop was two nights at Grandma and Papaw's house, a welcome refuge from the wintry weather we had to drive through to get there. The first night Dustin, Crystal and Gabriel were there as well as Amy, Brad and Will. The kids all quickly jumped into a game of "Dogpile on Uncle Dusty!"

The next night we got to visit will all my Mom's family. The girls were especially pleased that Cousin Korbin was there. Originally he was not going to get to come because he was going to be in Houston with the other side of the family. That plan fell through though, and although I'm sure his other side of the family was sad, the girls (and grownups too) were thrilled that we got to visit.

Then it was on the road again to Granddaddy and Nana's house. When we woke up in the morning and went downstairs, SANTA had been there! The girls were amazed that somehow he knew what things they had seen as Disney World that they really wanted. Maggie exclaimed, "Santa does watch us, even in NOVEMBER!" Gracie was so enamored of Tinkerbell's house that Santa brought, we could hardly get her to even look at anything else. We had to put away the toys pretty quickly though, because we had to be over at Bub and Sally's for lunch at 12:00. When we got there at 12:30, there was no food - a mix up with the caterer. The food was supposed to be served at 1:00, but for some reason the caterer thought Sally said 3:00. That meant several hours of watching kids among numerous fragile collectibles until the food got there. It wasn't so bad for us - the girls are older now, and not as rambunctious, but Will just turned two - rambunctious is his middle name! We all took turns chasing after and distracting him - but he's such a sweet boy, we didn't mind. Now there is certainly lots more I could say about this gathering, seeing as I come from an eccentric (read: insane) family, but I won't. We'll just move on to our next gathering, which was just a few blocks down the road at Jerry's parent's. We pulled up and found that all of Jerry's uncles were also there - a nice surprise. The girls were thrilled to see Uncle Aaron again, and wasted no time getting him to play with them. After a non-traditional Christmas dinner of Chicken and Dumplings, we headed back to warm beds at Dad and Terri's.

The next day was a fairly slow day. The kids played, and we relaxed until evening, when the Culps and Amy Sr. arrived for a prime rib dinner. It was a good visit, and everyone was cheerful, although I know we were all missing Suzanne and Jane. Since we hadn't come home for Christmas last year, this was my first family gathering without them, and it was poignant gathering for us all, I think.

The next morning we headed back to the Foster's Sr. household to spend a full day with Aaron before he headed back to California. He's pretty much game for anything with the girls. He even made a perler bead creation with them in the afternoon!

I got a message that evening that my mom had taken a tumble in a parking lot resulting in a twisted ankle and a good bump on the head that required some time in the ER that afternoon, so the next morning the girls and I took her some get-well soon flowers before we headed into town to get their hair cut.

The next day I got my hair cut and then we headed back to Dad and Terri's. Amy and Brad had left, but it was still a full house since Terri's family - her nieces, nephews and her brother Terri (no - I'm not making that up!) had all come for a visit. We brought our stuff in, sorted it, and then carried a great deal of it back out to Jerry's car, since he left to go back to Oklahoma and work the next day. The girls and I stayed on to visit some friends - we got to see the Moudy's, Whites, and stopped to say bye to GGma before we packed it in and headed home.

You know, I am always amazed at how good it feels to be home - you know, sleep in your own bed and all, but I left the house a bit messy trying to beat the snowstorm getting out of town, and coming back to piles of boxes and presents that all need to be put away is no fun, especially when you feel crammed into your accommodations already. We tried to remedy that by getting the Christmas stuff put back into the storage shed, but the urge to find a house is growning steadily. I hope some new stuff comes on the market soon!

Well, I had better go and get along to the next thing on the list - you guessed it - clean the house!