2 Holiday Parties & Wii

After I got up once to pee, Mindy asked several questions making it apparent that she didn’t recall how/when we got home. After telling all, she had no recollection. By far, that’s the silliest I’ve ever seen her get. I was certain that she'd be hung over all day long. She said she didn’t feel so bad, however. Hmm?

I got up and went down to make coffee and begin my day at 8:15am. Meanwhile, the wind was still whistling loudly outdoors. If nothing else, it was fairly warm – 55 degrees. After exercise Ykraps and I headed out for our walk. I wore shorts! Back home I poured a cup of coffee then logged into work. After work was settled I got the ham out and into the crockpot.

Mindy was up and in the shower by 9am. She looked pretty good considering where she was ten hours earlier. She mentioned feeling only a little shaky! We once again had a lot to accomplish in a relatively short amount of time. We would have a house full at 1pm. Looking around the house, that seemed impossible. But somehow, in the back of my mind, I knew that we’d pull it off. We always do.

I left for my run before Mindy left for church. She asked that I finish the vacuuming when I got back. I agreed. My run was sheer joy. I was back home by 10:45am. The firs thing I did was vacuum the downstairs and finish watering house plants. I showered afterward, and then did a number of other preparatory chores. I carried in some firewood, heated some buffalo dip, made some little bay sausages, prepped a cooler, wrapped some last minute gifts, and spot cleaned the tile floor.

I had things looking pretty good by the time that Mindy returned. She got home around 12:30pm. She and I completed a plethora of other tasks to make the house party ready. Everyone arrived within five minutes of one another. A little funny how that works.
Once again, we had a really nice food spread and the house looked great, or as good as it could.
The kids ran around having fun while the adults gathered in the kitchen sampling the dazzling array of appetizers we tirelessly prepared. Meanwhile, I poured myself a cold beer to help take the edge off!

Gift opening cam after everyone had their initial fill of food. The kids, of course, went first. Unlike Xmas at Mindy's mom's, there weren't a lot of gifts for jacob & Bella. But son't feel sorry for them, they'll be spoiled plenty by Mindy's family as well as us. The grandkids had aball opening gifts and playing with their new toys. Next it was the daughters, who liked everything we got them, too. Next, we moved on to the adults (Mom, Dad, adn Uncle Chuck). Hey, where'd Uncle Chuck's gift go? We couldn't find it. Mindy recalled taking it to Bobby's the night before but apparently it didn't mae the trip home. In fact, we were missing two. I was a little embarrassed. Mindy looked everywhere thinking we had simply misplaced it (some Anthony Thomas chocolates). Eventually we retagged one we had for Gloria thinking that we'd get another on Monday for her. Still, the tension was high.

Sometime through ti all daughter Courtney phoned. We invited her over. We haven't seen Courtney for Xmas since 2004. We had her 2005/2006 gifts still thge basement. We didn't buy new ones this year, seeing that as follie. Just the same, it would be good to see her. Mindy and I fetched her old gifts and rebowed them - a tune up of sorts. Honestly, we half expected her to stand us up. We didn't mention it to Kaileight, saving her any disappointment. Mindy and I , feeling more accountable to Shellie, tried phoning her to give her a heads up. We certainly didn't want to risk losing her trust.

Courtney showed up 20 minutes later. I hadn't seen a stich of her since Sheila's funeral service. She was all skin & bones then. Today, however, she was plump - plumper than she's ever been. She seemed healtheir than I've seen her in years. Everyone welcomed her in and hugged her. We gave her the gifts and allowed her time with Kai. Kai was very warm to her despite not seeing too much of her. Kai is so sweet! Courtney stayed no more than 45 minutes. It was good to see her. I so hope that she continues her apparent recovery. We'll see.

Others began leaving soon after Courntey, leaving only brother Tommy & Wally behind. Shellie showed up to retrieve Kaileigh soon after. Tommy headed out soon after Shellie arrived. We played clean-up while chatting with Shellie. Sometime during the faternoon Jimaken picked up Jacoby to take him to the Blue Jackets game. I finally contacted Ken, my peer and friend from work. He had our Wii. Now, all we had to do was coordinate the pick-up. The plan called for us to head to Ken's home after Jacob & Jimaken returned from the hockey game. At that time Jimaken would pick-up Bella and take them both home to celebrate their Xmas. We'd then leave for Ken's. Jimaken and jacoby didn't get home until after 9pm. I was fading fast all the while watching the Vikings early collapse on SNF. Win & we were in. That simple! But nine minutes into the game we wre behind 9-0, despite numerous chances. Already tense and nervous, I turned the game off.

We finally arrived at Ken's at 9:40pm. He and his wife & kids were up and waiting. We visited with them for almost an hour talking about everything under the sun. We still had Rene's party to attend. Ouch! I was so tired and needed ot be up for work in the morning.

We stopped at the Grove City Wal-Mart before the freeway to Rene's. There we picked up some Vanilla Bean icecream as requested. We arrived at Rene's around 11pm. The party was well underway. We gave Rene her party gift - a bottle of Jack. I asked if she would mae me one. She, however, insisted on doing it as a shot. Not me! Not tonight, I exclaimed. Rene did a shot. I did a Jack & Coke. Mindy drank one glass of wine.

I met Rene's mom who Mindy taught with for a number of years. She was very interesting, and very Greek! We also chatted with two very hot young ladies, who we later learned were jail bait! Yikes!!! There were so many hot young girls there that I felt sorry for my single guy friends.:)
I had two Jack & Cokes in the 1.5 hours that we were there. Mindy drove home to be safe. It was chilly. We arrived home just before 1am and quickly headed to bed. It was offically Xmas Eve.