Wonderful Time

Overall, this holiday week has been spectacular. I love those days where you just know memories have been made. Wednesday, I made my chili (which is quite good), and we had a buffet of frito chili pie fixin's, cornbread, and rice. James' family was here, along with some of mine, and we ate and talked and laughed. The kids played with cousins and performed musical numbers and dances. At the end of the evening, we lost power to our neighborhood (due to a wreck on the highway nearby), so we filled the house with candles and sat together in one room telling remember-when stories, while the kids told ghost stories in the dark.

The next morning, we ladies began preparing the Thanksgiving feast. We cooked way too much food, and spent way too much time in the kitchen when compared to the brief time it took everyone to get full. Then all the adults played Apples to Apples until it was time for bed. My mom went home, James' dad and grandma crashed, James and my brother began playing video games on the XBox 360, and my sister-in-law and I prepared to shop. We left the house just after midnight on Black Friday and shopped for 13 hours straight. (Yes, thirteen.) I would have gone for a few hours longer, but this was her first Black Friday and she was unprepared. After four hours of her complaints of back pain and tired feet, I allowed her to come home. (She's training now for next year's marathon -- hee hee!) When we returned, we ate a leftover lunch, wrapped all the presents and went to sleep. I slept from 5:00 P.M. Friday evening until 9:00 A.M. Saturday morning. I don't think I saw my kids at all that entire day!

The weekend was slower with much less company. I went back to the antique mall with my sister-in-law while the menfolk watched football, we decorated the tree, and played board games until it was time for bed. This morning, we went to church with my mom, treated the entire family to lunch at Babe's, and took the kids to see Enchanted when our houseguests left for good.

Overall, we've had a busy week of holiday festivities and all the things that go along, followed by the big Christmas shift where the shopping is nearly finished (thank God for Black Friday), the presents are all wrapped, the tree is assembled and decorated, and the house is turned into a Christmas wonderland. Tonight, I sit alone in front of a roaring fireplace listening to the crackle of the wood and the gurgle of my coffeepot as it finishes the brewing of a fresh pot of caramel truffle coffee. Of late, at this time on a Sunday night, I would be rushing to complete homework assignments for the week, but my classes are winding down. I've finished one already and will finish another this week. The final two have few demands, so for school, I have nothing to do. I think this moment is the first moment in a week that I've had the opportunity to sit down and just sit. To not do schoolwork, to not entertain anyone, but just sit. To read some blogs, to sip on that coffee, and just sit. The carol is correct -- it's the most wonderful time of the year indeed.