Family Xmas 2011

It was about 7am on Xmas morning 2011. As usual, I was the first one up. As  Just as I finished brushing my teeth Mindy rolled over and shared that she was up in the middle of the night placing the kids gifts around the tree.  She went right back to sleep. I headed downstairs and started some coffee then put Mindy’s gifts around the tree.

I went to my PC with coffee where I spent the next 30 minutes or so before being joined by Mindy. Now near 745am, I began to contemplate doing my run before anyone else got up and about. Usually that’s not the case. The past few Xmases I waited until the gift opening was over before running. So naturally, I expected the kids to be up & chomping at the bit to get to their Xmas bounty.

Just before 8am I was joined by Mindy. We exchanged Xmas morning greetings then I asked her opinion about a pre gift opening run.  She was all for it. I quickly garbed out for a run. It was sunny, about 30 degrees and frosty. Expecting a high somewhere in the 40s later.

I wasn’t a half mile into my run when I heard a car horn honk from well behind me. It was my dad, or at least it looked like his minivan. I gave a quick wave then continued on my run. I saw him park and head on inside our house. Mindy was up and awaiting him.

I ran three miles extending a warm Xmas greeting to the few folks I encountered out and about. By the time I was back at home everyone was up. The kids, especially Bella, were cheering my return. She was ready to open her gifts. My mom and dad were sitting comfortably in the family room.

The kids tore into the Santa gifts first with Jacob finishing his in record time. Bella was slow and methodical. I didn’t keep count, but due to the nature of their Santa gifts, I’m quite sure Bella had more. She got lots and lots of American Girl stuff. Jacob got a Xbox 360 with Kinnect. They probably had a good 30 minutes of gift opening.

Mindy gifted my parents next. They each got gift cards and candy. It was my turn next.  I got a couple cashmere sweaters, some socks, gum, and an Adele CD, the same one I bought about two weeks prior from iTunes. J The kids got me an Adrian Peterson ornament, the same ornament that Lindsey and boys got me. Mindy also got me a 1.75 liter bottle of Jack Daniels.

Bella asked for help getting batteries in one of her American Girl doll accessories. It needed AAA batteries, the same type I just recently purchased. Problem was, I couldn’t find them anywhere. Looked high and low. It was driving me crazy. Mindy looked too. About an hour later I found them in the picnic basket just below the battery tub. Yeah!

Everyone enjoyed some of Mindy’s breakfast casserole. Next up, Jacob asked me to get his Xbox hooked up. Sure, why not? We had to disconnect his Play Station first. Took longer than I thought, but we got it hooked up. Jacob called and asked Jake to come down with one of his games.

My mom and dad departed near noon. Mom was heading back home and dad was heading to brother Bob’s. Mindy was getting anxious about getting to her mother’s. Not sure what time she planned on getting there, but we didn’t leave the house until 145pm.  As Mindy shared, we would be some of the last to arrive, which she dreaded. Apparently Mindy’s mom keeps score.

We had the Pilot loaded with gifts, food, libations, and the pug. We had everything Frankie would need to stay through our vacation, but Mindy wasn’t sure we’d be leaving her.

As it turned out, we weren’t the last to arrive. That made Mindy happy. Honestly, I was indifferent. We spent the first hour or so visiting before the gift opening began. Mindy asserted that we give our gifts first.  And by the time everyone had given their gifts another two hours had passed. The day was moving fast. I drank two Barley’s Double Dogs but stopped around 5pm.

Everyone interested in playing the lottery game brought $5 worth of tickets. We played two rounds. During the first round, Mindy & I won 4 or 5 tickets that were worth $25. That ended up being the big hull. I’m quite sure that round two (about 15 tickets) netted zero dollars in winnings. They advertise 1 in 4 are winners. Guess we bought the 3 thru 4 tickets. :)

We hung out with family until 8pm. And it wouldn’t be a holiday if it wasn’t filled with hourly interruptions from Lindsey pleading for our help. Thanksgiving day it was her car. Today it was finding child care for the following week. Apparently her mother, sisters, and grandparents said no. Big Rocky, who she’s relied on a few times recently, apparently moved on Xmas eve and Lindsey had no idea how to reach him.

Mindy gave Lindsey a call on our drive home.  Ashley stepped up to watch the boys on Monday, but she’d be heading back to work on Tuesday. Beyond encouragement, there wasn’t much more we could do to help.  Home would be a chore. We had to unload our Xmas hull and organize ourselves for our trip to HV early the next morning. Add to that, everyone was tired and really wanted to relax. That wasn’t in the cards, at least for another couple hours. Mindy spent a lot of time putting away Christmas gifts before focusing on our trip. I spent time organizing food for our trip, including cutting up what remained of the Honey Baked, one bag for travel, and another for home.

By 10pm we had the house looking fairly decent considering it was Xmas. We also had all of our ski trip stuff packed and ready to go. I sipped a pint of Double Dog while doing the final prep. We all headed to bed near 1030pm. Good bye Xmas &hello HV!