Update from 12/23 - 12/29
On Monday, the house was getting ready for Christmas Eve
festivities. I had walked over to
Maureen's house to see if she wanted me to wrap the TV we had gotten my parents
for Christmas. Mo thought it would be a
better idea to get Momela and Frita out of the house, and then set up the
TV. I thought this was going to be challenging
as the parentals we're spending the day getting ready for Christmas. Never-the-less, at 2:30, they were off to
meet Kenny at Brodies.
Kenny: This is a nice place. (He said as if he had never
been.)
Waiter: Hey Kenny, your usual Guinness?
Kenny: Yeah, thanks Tom.
Meanwhile, little Patrick and I carried the TV over to my
parent's house. I started unpacking it,
when, thankfully, Doreen arrived and helped me finish setting up. We put a bow on it and then Jenine and
Maureen (G) came to pick me up to go visit Debina. When I got into the car, I realized that the
kink in this plan was that I wouldn't be home to see them "open" the
present. Maureen found out that her
sister wasn't going to make it their parent's house for Christmas. I mean she
might be there when we got back and would be staying the night, but wouldn't be
there on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, so therefore, Maureen told her
mother that "Liz shouldn't get presents this year." Ah the magical time of the holidays! We spent
a lovely evening with Debina. She told
us awesome stories, and I felt like I got to really catch up. Plus she made us something called a Taco Ring
that was super yummy. I had never had
this creation before, and felt like a Neanderthal for admitting it. Oh, and Maureen Galvin brought double doozies
(I'm pretty sure only a handful of you will know what these are. Even if I tell
you that they are two cookies with frosting in the center, The Great American
Cookie Company adds some kind of sorcery to make these incredible.) Matthew,
their son, was a perfect angel, and I only wish he could have stayed awake
longer. In other news, Percy was a
pretty big jerk to Molly, but Mark, Deb's husband and apparent dog whisperer had
the magic touch.
I don't remember if I mentioned to you how Deb and Mark
met. Mark was fixing something in her
office, and purposely left his ladder in her desk area so that he would have to
come back and talk to her.
Mark: She had a picture on her desk of a dog and I told
her it was cute.
Deb: And I said, "Thanks, he's dead."
Jenine: And that’s when you knew she was a keeper.
While there, my sister called to tell me that they were
all going to the Light Fight house that I had asked people to go to a couple of
days before. Later, before Jenine and
Maureen (G) dropped me off at my parent's house, they asked, "So, did they
call to ask when you were coming home and when you said 30 minutes, they left
to see the lights in 25?" :) This is not at all how it happened, but it
made me giggle.
On Tuesday, we celebrated Christmas with the whole family
at my parent's house. First things
first, we had beignets for breakfast.
Next, I organized the presents so that everyone had their presents in
front of them, but it looked like one ginormous pile.
And then we spent over 5 hours opening said presents.
Percy participated a little, but mostly was kept far away
from Sean and Stacey's pup, Suki.
Percy got one gift he particularly enjoyed. A "LOL" dog that giggles and rolls
around on the ground. He got pretty into
it because at one point I looked at the LOL dog and it had blood all over
it. Apparently, Percy lost one of his
last two baby teeth. Whoops-a- daisy.
Bails actually liked the neuron gloves I had knitted
especially for her, as well as the necklace with a piece of a vintage French
textbook of teeth. What every 15 year old girl wants! Maybe I should rewind? Bails is in this science program that will last
for three years, and consume 40 hours of her life outside of regular school
hours. She gets to work on a study with
a mentor down in Columbia University, and the study she'll be working on is
periodontal diseases and neurological something... hence the presents.
Stacey was tracking the whereabouts of Santa on her
phone.
Kids: Where is he now?
Stacey: Sahara
Sean: The Sahara is mostly Muslim, so he should be able
to knock that out quick.
Towards the end of the evening, Frita had us choose
teams, and then, from the kitchen, played us random cassette tapes, for us to
choose the artist. Sean was really
talented at this game despite the fact that we think the tapes were Maureen's,
and the quality had, well, aged a bit.
And yes, I did choose Sean to be on my team.
After an amazing Christmas with my whole family, my
parents and I played a little Timeline, proving once again, my mom knows more
about history than I do.
On Christmas morning, we all went to church followed by a
delicious dinner at Maureen's. Mo
decided she wanted to use her fancy soup bowls, and she got some butternut
squash soup just for me. Yum! We also got to play some Snake Oil, Cover
your a$$ets, and some other card games.
So much fun.
Meanwhile, at Sean's house, after opening presents from
Santa...
Jackie: I've gotten so many presents, I can’t think of
anything I could possible want now.
Stacey: So we shouldn't do presents at Grandma & Grandpas today?
Jackie: Oh no, we should, I just can't fathom what those
presents will be.
You can't beat that. Though, I would have to agree whole
heartedly with her.
Thursday, I wanted to go to the trampoline gym with my
nieces and nephews.
Bails: I've never been, so I don't think I'm going to go.
Sean: That's a good reason TO go.
Bails: Yeah, I don't like to try new things.
Sean: You're going.
And, I think she's glad she did, if her big grins were
any indication. On Friday, after
washing the FJ, Sean decided it was a good idea to take Bails out for her first
drive. Talk about firsts. He kept telling her "The most important
thing to remember is... “ and after a couple of these, Bailey finally said,
"You can only have one most important thing. Choose one!"
Friday evening, Briana stopped by the house so I got to
see her again which was lovely. She
decided not to get the baby recliner, BTW (at least yet. :P ) Then it was time to go to the post-holiday
party at Maureen's. I was so happy to be
able to see so many people that I usually don't get to see unless someone has a
party. At the end of the night, as Sean
and Stacey were leaving, Jackie and Morgan came up from downstairs, after an
evening in the kid occupied basement.
Jackie: I saw things tonight that I've never seen before.
Me (Sarcastically): It was great spending time with you
tonight!
Jackie: We were told we weren't allowed upstairs.
Stacey: I never said that!
Jackie: Yeah! You said, we had to go downstairs.
Morgan: We snuck up for dessert though. :)
Oh, here’s one of Percy and Bella sharing a bone
together, for which my mom believes Bella deserves sainthood for.
Saturday morning, I convinced my parents to drive to
Pennsylvania with me. I dropped them off
at a casino outside of Harrisburg, and then went to visit Julie, Nick and their
adorable peanut, Lila. I was so glad I
had the time to make the trip because I had been missing them dearly. I don't know if you remember a while back,
that Nick bought a single ski lift chair.
When I told people at the party that I was going to visit Julie and
Nick, Doreen, with her memory of mammoth proportions, asked me to take a
picture of the chair. Welp, here it is!
On Sunday, I was supposed to meet up with Evivova, but
unfortunately missed my opportunity. Instead,
Maureen and the boys came over, and we played more Canasta and Snake Oil. At one point, I was the customer and my card
said that I was the last person on earth.
I was offered many products, including a robotic companion and a magical
tool that could help me build things. My
sister offered a medical contraption that would cure all illnesses. Mid pitch, she paused, "Who will keep
you alive until...“ And Kevin (10) filled in, "... You figure out how to
breed with animals."
And on that note... I hope you all had a lovely holiday!
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