Family Christmas #2

My brother's family was the first family to arrive in Florida. They drove this year and came straight through in twenty hours arriving at 3:00 the next morning. I had decorated The Condo very festively and so it was a nice welcome despite the terrible hour. My friend SueG had sent me a picture of a Christmas tree made out of books, and when I saw it I knew that was what I had to do with all of my mother's books at The Condo.

One day while our good friend, and my mother's former cleaning lady/caregiver, was over cleaning from our last guest I decorated and attempted the book tree. Gigi was very interested in the idea and would bring me the books while I stacked. "Your mother would have said, "Why didn't you do this when I was alive?" she said as we worked. It was a very true statement and made it even more personal. When it was finished it was not as high as the photo.

It was also leaning to the right, but I was too pooped to start over. Gigi suggested I put my mother's Santa hat on the top to make it taller and I agreed that would add to it. I told her I would bring it back the next week after Madison had arrived home. I also knew that Madison would want to fix the tree, and I was right. She took one look at it and began to fix it.

We took it down most of the way and rebuilt it. We used more books and started closing it in sooner. The result was a higher tree which we added lights and ornaments to. It still leaned, but only when looking at it from one side and it wasn't the side from inside the living room. We labeled it a success.

Madison and I drove up to have brunch with the family after church on Sunday. Rusty made us all eggs and bacon and we sat around talking while we waited for Darcy to arrive from youth group. The plan was to finish last minute shopping at the mall, but as we started cleaning we ran into a problem. The garbage disposal at The Condo decided to die right then and there...just as Tom walked into the door.

We left them to replace the disposal and went to the mall. We spent the entire day shopping. While I thought I was done with presents I ended up purchasing a bunch more since both girls were with me picking out clothes they needed. Rusty eventually joined us and we had dinner and then headed back out to shop some more.

The next day Gabby went down with a stomach bug. The day after that my brother. Two days after that Austin and his girlfriend. Susan was the lone survivor. Beat cancer and you can beat anything!

My mother's sister, Auntie Marilyn, and her daughter and family arrived at their beach condo on Wednesday afternoon. It was an overcast day and the only one they saw the entire time they were here. The weather was unbelievable. We set records daily for the 85 degree sunny weather we had. It was a wonderful week of weather for the northerners.

Our annual E&E Stakeout dinner was three short. Kelly was off finishing up her shopping and Austin and Kendra were still down with the stomach bug. Rusty gobbled down steak and a margarita, but paid for that later that night. The next morning he worked out and declared himself cured. It did only seem to linger for less than 30 hours. Christmas Eve a few of us went to my church for a candlelight service, and then Kelly and I watched our traditional A Christmas Story while finishing the last minute wrapping jobs.

Christmas day everyone was healthy and at my house by 7:30 a.m. It was a whirlwind day of present unwrapping, food, swimming, game playing, and picture taking. A few tears were shed. A few glasses of Evan Williams were consumed. A lot of laughs occurred. It was a very merry day.