Christmas in March

The weekend started Friday morning, really, because J took the day off. We finished up a few things we needed to do for the trip (with J making gift tags & me doing a couple bulletin boards at church) in the morning. Then, we hit the road for West Virginia. It was a hilarious trip because we didn't get a book on tape & J was bored out of her skull. So, we were pretty slap happy the whole way down & spent the time laughing hysterically.

We checked into the hotel & unloaded the car. Then, we got into the hot tub for awhile. After showers, we drove out to my almost-grandma's for dinner & celebrating her birthday & my mom's (since we hadn't been able to get down there in December when we usually celebrate). I had made a chocolate nemesis cake & we had that for the birthday cake. I helped my mom make dinner, too...we had parmesan rice, green beans, & a big salad. Then, they opened their gifts. J spent time with my mom's partner poking around on the internet, too. When we got back to the hotel, we collapsed into bed.

In the morning, we had breakfast in the lobby & spent some time coloring. Then, we went back to the room & finished tagging the gifts. Once finished, we headed out to my almost-grandma's.

Since there were so many gifts to be opened, we had brunch (fruit, cheese, and Swedish saffron buns) & started opening gifts. It was really fun...I think they loved what we picked out!

We took a break to make dinner when my mom's partner came down the hill. He & J got on the computer again. My almost grandma came into the kitchen & chatted with me & my mom while we cooked. We made spinach lasagna, "Emeril bread" (Italian bread with a topping of mayo, artichoke hearts, green chiles, garlic, & parmesan...broiled until the topping is bubbly), fruit, & salad.

We opened more gifts, then looked in our stockings as we ate more of the chocolate nemesis. One of the coolest gifts I got was a treasure ball...a roll of crepe paper streamer wrapped into a ball with tiny gifts randomly wrapped into it...beads & candy & fun little things like that. Those were from the North Polar Bear & his nephews, Paksu & Valkotukka. I am sure they hand-rolled them! I also got a wonderful letter from Father Christmas.

Sunday morning, we had breakfast & read our books in the lobby. Then, we packed up our things. My mom arrived & we all spent about an hour lolling in the hot tub discussing philosophy & religion. My mom said that when she was driving into town, she was passing people going to church & thinking she was going to HER church. It was interesting that our discussion headed the way it did.

After we checked out, we took my mom to TGIF for lunch, then started home. We got a tape to listen to this time, so J wasn't quite as foaming-at-the-mouth bored.

Yesterday evening, I stayed with the boys while J went to the practice for next week's poetry reading. Then, she fixed dinner for us & we watched a little CSI before bed.

Now, we are back to the real world of dishes to be done & work to go to. There is still plenty of joy...we just have to look harder for it when we aren't on vacation.