Xmas Party '12

I was up at 715am feeling well rested and ready to start my Saturday. Mindy asked for a hug before I could slip away and then asked that I bring her coffee in a little while. She asked me to leave the door open, too. I quickly started some coffee then headed to my PC.

Coffee was ready after about 10 minutes. I took Mindy a cup around 745am. I spent about an hour or so working on my blog and playing on the internet. Mindy was up and downstairs sometime before 9am. As I readied for a run, I reminded her that my plan was to take Bella to ASBCO that morning. She, in turn, shared the details regarding Jimaken coming to take her shopping that morning, too. Uh-oh!

I did a thorough stretch then headed out for my run. I’m thinking it was around 920am. It was already 50 degrees thus no need for gloves and ear covers. The day’s high was expected to make it into the 60s with partly cloudy skies. After my warm-up loop I happened upon Bella walking the pug. We exchanged verbal pleasantries as we passed. Of course I didn’t stop. The 3 mile run was good, though in hindsight I could easily have skipped the jacket.

Jimaken was there to retrieve Bella around 11am as planned. Jacob thought about going along but in the end opted not. I guess he couldn’t bare the idea of a shopping spree at Justice.  Instead, Mindy had him engaged in house cleaning. Shortly after my run I decided to head outside for yet another bout of leaf management. Neighbor Trena’s pear tree dumped all of its leaves in the last week. She had someone come out and pick-up all the leaves from her yard. She apparently didn’t think to have them pick those that blew over into my yard. There were just enough to be a nuisance.

I blew the pear leaves in the east side yard into a small pile then headed out front to clear the few sweet gum leaves that have dropped. I blew them into the street along the curb with plans to pick ‘em up later. I headed around back next and blew all the honeysuckle leaves along the pond. There weren’t many. There are a few stragglers still hanging on. Not sure that I’ll get them when they fall. Probably spent a good 45 minutes blowing leaves into piles. I saw Jimaken and Bella pull up out front. Hmm? They weren’t gone more than an hour. I got out my expandable trash can and picked up the piles out back and then those blown along the curb. Took two loads. No biggie!

I headed inside to get a shower. Bella came to me asking if we could postpone the ASBCO trip until Sunday. No. I wanted to get it done and out of the way. Her preference was to play with friends. She didn’t push back too much. After a shower I called to Bella so we could head out. By then it was already 1pm and 61 degrees. Mindy, meanwhile, had just finished cleaning the house for our Xmas party and was just getting started on food prep.

Bella was quiet for most of the drive to Polaris. Thankfully, she seemed to snap out of it as soon as we parked at ASBCO. The entire back half of the store is new and fully dedicated to kid stuff. We looked at jackets first. It took a while but Bella found two that she really liked. One was dark plum, the other black. Made me laugh a little. As much as I like Black, I tried steering to a more colorful jacket. However, in the end, she’s got to be happy with whatever she chose. She eventually settled on the black. I suggested that she consider bright ski pants so we can spot her. We found some quality ski pants in electric pink that she really liked.

I insisted that she try them on together. The jacket seemed a little big when trying it on with the light weight shirt she had on. I suggested she try it on with a fleece to get a better idea how it will feel in the real world. She seemed to be missing my point. I grabbed the first fleece I saw on a rack about her size. It was black Spider fleece. She finally got the idea. Everything fit nice with still a little growing room. She told me loved the black Spider fleece too. It was $90! No way!!

She seemed stoked with her new gear. But now she was insistent on a new ski helmet too. And don’t you know, she wanted shiny black. We looked but nothing under $90. Not today. As we walked to check out she asked if we could consider black ski pants too. Bella! You can’t be in all black – a girl after my own heart.  She was happy with what we chose. She looked at goggles too, but only passively. My intentions were jacket and pants only for now. Unbeknownst to us, they were having a special just that day. Buy a new jacket and get a free base layer. Wow, they were the nice ones, too, regularly $50. We had another $50 off coupon as well. In the end, we got the jacket, pants, and base layer for $130. That’s a really good deal.

When we left ASBCO it was 60 degrees and sunny. Oh boy! We were both really hungry. Bella suggested Wendy’s. I was good with that, but not before stopping in the Giant Eagle for beer and ice. They didn’t have any White Rajah.  I picked up some Dogfish 90 minute, CBC IPA, CBC Pale Ale, and Southern Tier 2XIPA. Got a large bag of ice too.

Headed across the street to Wendy’s and headed inside where Bella enjoyed a chicken nuggets combo while I enjoyed a spicy chicken sandwich combo. Yum! We were there for only about 20 minutes. We headed for home. It was already 3pm. While carried in the beer and ice, Bella carried in her new ski stuff. She was excited to show her momma. We were home maybe 15 minutes when nephew Joe popped in for a brief visit. He wasn’t sure if he could make it to our party later so he stopped by early. I think he stuck around for nearly an hour.

Mindy went into serious food prep after Joe left. And by the time 6pm rolled around she had every possible square inch of available table and counter space covered with food of some sort, most of it snack foods. We stashed plates of cut-up subs in the garage temporarily.

Dena, Tony & family were our first guests to arrive. Mindy’s friend and former principal Jan and her husband Jeff arrived just a couple minutes later. It was a tad awkward because we were still putting out food. I suggested that I would take over getting the rest of the food out so Mindy could introduce and socialize. I would ask questions as needed.

Soon others arrived, and most brought their kids by design. According to Mindy, we had 25 adults and 20 children. There were a few that RSVP’d but didn’t show, but not too many. Bella & Makayla were very excited that their 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Anderson, was there with her husband, Mike. They’re a lot of fun!

With something like 10 minutes to go, we joined the SEC championship game, and witnessed Alabama beat Georgia in a close game. I really didn’t care who won. Others did. I drank beer for most of the night, and I am guessing I had 5 or 6, and almost all Xmas ales. At some point much later we broke out the Jack Daniels. I drank it straight but on the rocks – maybe two or three shots. I ate comparatively little over the course of the evening, but did eat that big chicken sandwich at Wendy’s late afternoon.

At somebody’s request, I think it was Mrs Anderson, I got the iTunes a rockin'. I’m sure it was late but I lost complete track of time. We partied well into the wee hours. Ben & Ryan ended up falling asleep in the family room. I thought Joe was in the guest room sleeping but was told Sunday morning that he left late. According to Mindy, I headed to bed around 2 or 3am.

Yikes!