Christmas Aftermath

I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas. We did here at the old hacienda. While not quite the mayhem as when the kids were little. it still ended up being exhausting as ever. I was up at 6:30 to prepare the family breakfast (for 6 of us) while Ann handled all the dogs. Five of them in all. After a breakfast of bacon and eggs, toast and OJ. We retired to the living room to dive into the packages left to us by Santa Claus. As we started the only one not in attendance was The Son who, although up, was running behind and still at his condo. He did tell us to go and get started and so we did. We had opened almost all the gifts by the time he arrived, but we sat him down and let him open all his presents. By the end I think I can safely say that everyone was quite happy with the presents received. After all the presents had been opened, Daughter#1 and her husband retired to the kitchen to prepare appetizers for the family to enjoy while the Christmas dinner was cooking away. We enjoyed a game of sorts (the name escapes me) the The Son managed to win. By late afternoon the turkey was ready and The Son had made his garlic mashed potatoes and we sat down for dinner. After saying grace for the many blessings we enjoy as a family, we proceeded to stuff ourselves silly. That included apple pie ala mode and pumpkin pie with whipped cream for desert. All I wanted to do afterward was to lay around and take a nap before heading to bed. After tending to the dogs one last time thats exactly what I did. I was in bed by 9:30 and glad of it.

Because of the threat of a major storm heading up the coast, Daughter#2 and her husband decided to head home to Harrisonburg Christmas night rather then stay the night. They ran into the leading edge of the storm during the drive home. The pickup they were driving skidded on the slick surface about 30 minutes from home and hit a concrete wall. They were safe, but the truck was undrivable. A call was made to his parents to come rescue them. They finally made it home around midnight.

This morning Daughter#1's husband was kind enough to make us blueberry pancakes. That was the last thing he was able to do before being felled by the stomach virus that has struck Daughter#1, Ann and myself in the past few weeks. I feel for the guy as I know what he's going through. The good news it doesn't last more then 24 hours.