January 06, 2007
Christmas Happenings
Because I’ve been such a derelict these last few months when it comes to serving up a fresh brewed cup of Coffee Talk, I’ve decided to catch you up on at least the random happenings of December.
After the MomTime party, which I wrote about two weeks ago, it was time for our annual “Target Party” for the Cauble kids. Each year, they invite their friends to the local Target store for a party. This month Tucker had to work so he couldn’t join us. Another deviation from tradition, albeit a great one, was the fact that all of the girls spent the night with us the night before. So, I went to Target early and bought $5.00 gift cards for every girl, Sharpee’d their names on them, and hid them for the morning Advent Calendar hunt (another Cauble tradition.)
Later that morning we carpooled to Target where we put all of the gift cards into a hat, the girls then picked out someone else’s card and they had 15 minutes to go through the store and buy something for that person. It is always so much fun to see which kids actually try to find something good and which ones buy the biggest gag gift they can find.
We usually have a party for our neighbors but that was just one of the balls I dropped this season. I have been so overwhelmed with deadlines that we all have had to admit that our Christmas celebrations were less than spectacular this year. It was also really slow because my brother, Justice and his wife, Maria were not able to join us. So, most all of the family celebrations were small, just the Cauble family and my mom and step dad.
But we had fun just hanging out with them. Lot’s of cooking, movies, church, game-playing. Just being together without thinking about what work we all should be doing was wonderful in and of itself.
Steve had to be out of town for a couple of days so I piled the kids and their friends into the van and we made a quick road trip to the lake in East Texas to visit my relatives there. My cousin, Nancy, was in town from Florida so it was good to see her and just hang around, eat my Aunt Barbara’s sugar cookies, and enjoy being together.
Christmas day was as magical as it should be. Full of gifts, home movies. traditions, homemade biscuits, naps, movies, Mexican food, dominoes, just enjoying family.
My mother bought me a new bike for Christmas. So, we did something wild and crazy on New Year’s Day. We joined a local bike club for a “New Rear’s Day” 40-mile ride. We actually ended up getting lost and riding over 40 miles. It took us forever! We were the last bikers to come in and they had to send a search party out looking for us. My mom said it was the hardest thing she’s ever done. Oh, but did we ever have fun and make a memory! I can’t wait ‘til the “Freeze Your Fanny in February” ride next month.
Posted by weblion at 07:20 PM
