Okay...a lot to document in a short amount of time. It is Tuesday morning and my parents, Ethan, and Elizabeth have left for NYC. Chris and I will be leaving shortly...once we get packed up. This may seem like a last minute packing job, but I assure you, I have everything under control. First, let me address the two pictures...they were taken at the Richardson's house. The one on the left portrays three generations of dogs; the baby Dylan, the adolescent Otis Longshanks, and the senior Rudy. The three dogs had an absolutely delightful time sharing and reliving the adventures they have had this winter. Dylan and Otis had never experienced a winter's snow, and were wide-eyed with excitement, hanging on every word of Rudy's stories of winters past. The second picture is of Otis demonstrating his "dancing bear" trick for onlookers. He is currently working on a new repertoire of tricks but felt uncomfortable showing them off that night...he confided in me that his new tricks were not yet perfected and wanted to wait for the right time to unveil them. I obliged and made no mention of them that night. The Christmas day began with the Nordbergs having to awake at the early hour of 8am in order to field Christan Skoglund's phone call from the desert. He had sent a number of gifts and wanted to be on the phone as we opened each one. A wonderful Christmas breakfast followed, complete with cinnamon buns, eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, coffee, and juice. I commented that it was in the top five breakfasts prepared by Madame Nordberg, and with partially filled mouths, an agreeing chorus of grunts and mumbles ensued. A period of relaxation and rest concluded the morning. The early afternoon found me making my Christmas rounds to a couple of families. My first stop was the Sinclairs. I was welcomed with open arms and merry cheers. The one low point was finding out that Mrs. Sinclair was going to be side-lined for about 9 months. However, she did seem to be in good spirits...perhaps that was due to the pain medications. I did my best to encourage her and assured her she would be back up again in no time. As I drifted from room to room, I found Danica teaching her innocent sisters a "form" of canasta. The canasta rule breaking were so offensive that I could not interfere and had to leave the room. Those girls will require a lot of reconditioning if they were to ever want to learn the proper rules and etiquette of the game. I formidable task that even I, a canasta dignitary would be hesitant to undertake. Else where, I found girls preparing coffee and the Christmas dinner, Carina cutting her siblings' hair, and movie watching. Then I stumbled into the den of the men, hunched over in their seats madly pressing combinations of buttons, in efforts to defeat their opponent in a Game Cube tennis match. I accepted an invitation to play and quickly beat Merrick and Pastor Sinclair. Then I made an enormous blunder, choosing the ghost as my player. Daniel destroyed me, and I ran out of the house with my confidence shattered. My next stop was the Kinnen's household. I greeted everyone and made myself comfortable at the game table. That evening's game was Green Apple Red Apple. After a couple of rounds, my bloodpressure was rising and I knew that this was not a game for me. Completely at the mercy of the drawing player's whim, I knew that I was never going to excel at this game. I finished the game with pride and segwayed into a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Kinnen. As the dinner bell sounded, I ducked out of the house and drove home. I had a wonderful time with everyone and look forward to another rounding next year.
