valarltd | Home and trip

(

yuletide gets its own post. There is not enough room in this for the squee)

So the crew and I are home safely after 9.5 hours. It was quite a trip.

We drove up to Dad's Saturday.
We got 1 liter bottles of Dad's Root Beer at the dollar store in Blytheville. Bad move. These bottles are amber and look like beer bottles. I alternated Christmas music and pirate music. I check my rearview during the chorus of "Happy Jack's Undrinkable Ale" and there are three bottles going in time to the chorus. *headdesk*

Sunday, I shoppped. Big Lots, Dollar General and Bubbles (a liquor store) Mudd was all "How the hell can you buy wine at 11 on a Sunday morning?" I shrugged over the phone and said "I like Missouri's liquor laws."
I was looking for Borgia wine, which is really good for a $8 wine. They didn't have it. So insteaad I got a couple bottles of Vampire Wine. I kid you not, it is a Transylvanian import. They make merlot, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, pinot grigio, chardonnay and merlot rose.

Then we went up to my mother's house. She had dragged the tree out of the attic, so the kids and I set it up and decorated it for her. Joe was feeling good enough to be up for a while and to eat a good supper. Mom made ham and sweet potatoes and green beans. I helped around the edges.

The kids woke up to stockings under the tree: 2 polo shirts each for the boys and a blanket for Dollface, candy and a book (Around the world in 80 Days for Obi, Treasure Island for Jonner and Little Women for Dollface) and a velvet coloring project. They were very pleased.

Then it was back to Dad's. My father cooks as if for a battalion: turkey, noodles, mashed potatoes, ham, corn, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce (homemade, and amazing!), olives, and rolls. We ate and ate and ate and then spent an hour trying to get everything cleaned up.

The kids cleaned up pretty well on gifts, but my dad was VERY sorry about Jonner's pirate play set. It has a hook and a sword and a pistol, all of which make noise (the pistol makes 2, 1 for cocking and one for firing).

We watched PotC at Dad's. Hope he figures out how to turn captions off. *eg*

We went out shopping with Mom on the 26th, with both of my nieces. The girls got to clowning and Dollface got a split lip from the cart. Then K slipped on the ice and was cranky until her jeans dried out.
Jo-anns, Independence Center, Fazoli's, Barns & Noble and Cold Stone Cremery. I was dead.

Dollface got her ears pierced as a 7th birthday present from her grandma. She was very brave and now has two little 14k gold balls in her ears. They're adorable.

We had dinner at The Fun House with

kc_risenphoenix and his husband. Ben and Raymond are delightful people, much shorter than expected. We had a nice dinner and a nice visit until they threw us out at 7 for a private party.

And why did no-one tell me what a SCREAM "Boston Legal" is? I watched it last night and died laughing. It's been season passed on my TiVo. Good-bye Jack Bauer, Hello Denny Crane...

So we're home and I hope your holidays were as good as ours. My folks loved the Christmas ornaments we got them, and Dad was suitably amused by the wine and Mom was tickled by the most recent installment of Gay Christmas Werewolves.