Wednesday, December 23, 2009

God Bless Us Everyone!

Hugh, the kids and I made the trip to Mayberry yesterday with a carload of gifts, two kids totally drugged up on Dramamine, a hundred and five pound labrador retriever who can't be trusted at home alone and a six ounce hamster that The Teenager insisted on bringing with us because she was afraid it would starve to death in our absence.

For the record, the cat waved goodbye from the front window and I have every reason to believe he is planning a wild party while we are gone. On the other hand, with the exception of the random hairball coughed up on the carpeting, he does manage to clean up after himself so, more power to him.

And, I digress.

Despite its' size, we ran out of room in the back of the Tahoe right around the time the dog kennel was loaded and had to resort to storing suitcases on the roof for the first time in our traveling history. Our inexperience in that arena showed when, Hugh labored for over an hour, tying down the suitcases and had just finished his last Boy Scout knot when it occurred to us that the car might not make it out of the garage door with the extra height.

It's ok, we squeaked by with a quarter inch to spare but; you can imagine the numerous Family Vacation jokes I could have made had we not.

The rest of the trip was anticlimactic and we arrived at my parent's house just in time for Hugh's birthday dinner of steak and baked potatoes.

Today, my mom and I finished up some last minute Christmas shopping. We went to a favorite antique store and I discovered a treasure trove of old books, including a first edition Dickens Christmas Carol which I snapped up for a ridiculously low price, according to Google.

Later this evening, after honoring our family holiday ritual of popcorn ball making, I am hoping to connect with one of my old roomates for some wine and retelling of the Old Stories.

Tomorrrow, my younger sister arrives from Denver and my older sister and her family arrive from down the road. We are going to decorate a gingerbread house with the kids, cruise the neighborhood looking at lights and try like crazy to sneak the Santa magic by the little ones who still believe, all of which I am looking forward to like Tiny Tim looked forward to his lone Plum Pudding.

God bless us everyone, indeed.

2 comments:

  1. Your Christmas sounds just perfect! You all have a wonderful, wonderful weekend!

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  2. Hope your Christmas was wonderful!!

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