My Annual Stop at Anthony Thomas

Man, I must be snake bit. I got up with Landon just after 7:30am, and once again, he had a vigorously shitty diaper to deal with - P.U. I did my level best to take care of his business, and then lead him, Rocky, and Bella downstairs. Jacob soon followed. Rocky went right for the mini-Blueberry muffins. Meanwhile, Jacob went for the magic box, since this was his morning to open it. All three kids were eager to see its contents. Inside was a giant box of Whopper malted milk balls along with a huge Peppermint Pattie. I’d say he made out. The other kids thought so too. They were already discussing whose turn it was next. It wasn’t long before Mindy joined all of us downstairs knowing that I had to walk Ykraps. The kids were eating breakfast by the time Ykraps and I returned. Meanwhile, Mindy was already planning how our morning would unfold. The three older kids had to be at church by 10am for play rehearsal. She wanted me to remain home with Landon. I was cool with that but sorely wanted to get my run in before she left. In addition, I wanted to relax with coffee and perhaps even squeeze in a little writing beforehand. It was just before 8:30am. I needed to be home from my run by 9:45am. I played until 9:00am I left for my run a few minutes after 9am. I thought about running along Trabue but opted to stay inside the subdivision. It wasn’t as exciting but it’s so much easier that way. It was a very nice run. It was below freezing but just barely - about 28 degrees. Mindy & the kids left almost as soon as I hit the door. Landon and I hunkered down amongst his sprawling spread of toys. I started to panic just a little knowing that we were having a house full of guests later in the afternoon and our house was looking a bit upside down. However, I quickly contained my angst, knowing that Mindy and I would have everything under control by mid-afternoon. Instead, I focused my attention on entertaining Landon. We bonded. The time went fast. Mindy & the kids picked up Wendy’s on their way home. Must’ve been about 11:30am when they were home. After the kids finished their lunch, neighbor Crissy came to the rescue once again. She allowed our kids to visit her home while Mindy & I cleaned and cooked. God bless Crissy! What served as a big help to our cleaning and prep, Mindy put Landon down for a nap. Mindy asked that I scrub all three bathrooms. The kids’ was by far the worst, especially around the toilet. Afterwards, I dashed off to Anthony Thomas to pick-up some candy gifts for a handful of folks still on our buy list. For a brief time this holiday season, I thought that I might avoid such a stop. Doing so would’ve been the first time in maybe 20 years. Prices have gone up considerably over the years. Nowadays, a pound of their special chocolates averages about $19. Twenty years ago it was just over half that. I ran the sweeper in the living room and on the stairs after returning home. As is often the case, time started moving fast. It was 2pm before we knew it. I put the ham in crock-pot a little bit after 2pm. The afternoon moved along. Mindy asked that I make her aware as the clock approached 5pm. That was her personal deadline. She wanted to break free from baking cookies in order to ready herself and the kids for the holiday party. Come 5pm I alerted her. I picked up the cookie baking slack while they readied. When she returned all we had to do was lay out the rest of the spread. Things were coming together just as we planned by 5:30pm. Unless I’m mistaken, brother Tommy & Wally were first to arrive. He brought lots of eats – deviled eggs and a crock-pot full of Domino’s Wings. Dad soon followed, and brought a pan full of homemade brownies. Later, Bobby and family showed, as did Shelly & Kaileigh, and Ashley, Stephen, and Olivia.. That was it. Aunt Char said she would make it, as did Dodie, but neither did. But, as I often say, it’s not about who doesn’t show up. Instead, it’s all about who does. We had fun. All the kids had a ball and played nicely. Mindy doled out the kiddie party favors early on. That kept them occupied for a long while. We had oodles of food, too much really – ham, meatballs, lil’ baby sausages, mini-corn dogs, chips galore, cookies, brownies, and much, much more. We wanted to make sure that we had enough food. We didn’t do the white elephant until late. There were only five participants – Bobby, April, Jimindy, Dad, and Tommy. It was fun. We ended up with a snowman cookie jar along with some scratch off lottery tickets. Everyone left by 10pm or so. Mindy & I spent the next hour stowing away the food and picking up the house. It held up quite nicely. We were in bed by 11:30pm.