I had left my umbrella and Mark and Judy's house over Thanksgiving and they wanted to return it. Thankfully, they don't believe in the US Postal Service, and they wanted to deliver it in person, instead. We had no plans for their visit, other than that we wanted to get our Christmas tree and that it would be nice to get together with our other friends, Joan and Mel, as well. (By way of a little history, Joan, Mark, and Rob are friends that go way back.)
Waiting They arrived Friday night with their dog, Gus, in tow. Zack was so excited to see his partner in crime again! One thing led to another and we decided that Saturday would be a day for cooking and getting a tree and drinking some lovely wine with friends.
After a good breakfast on a beautiful Saturday morning, the guys went grocery shopping and Judy and I took Gus for a long and chilly walk on the trail. We had a delicious warm lunch of soup and grilled cheese (yeah, food is going to feature prominently in this post), after which we set about getting the tree, baking and starting some short ribs roasting in the oven for dinner.
Once Mark and Rob got the tree situated (which went MUCH more smoothly than whenever I help Rob with this job), they started working on the rest of dinner while Judy and I decorated the tree. Sadly, all of my Grandma's old Christmas ornaments will be staying in storage for another couple years until a certain small person gets over his fascination with pulling glass balls off the tree, but I think we still ended up with a fine looking tree.
All of the tree decoration happened while Zack was napping. I didn't get many pictures of the weekend because I was enjoying it so much, but I do wish I'd captured his reaction to seeing the tree for the first time. I brought him down from his nap, and right about the time we walked by the kitchen, he saw the tree. His whole face lit up, he pointed and he yelled "LIGHTS!!!!!" and looked at us as if to say "You people clearly don't appreciate this situation to its fullest. There is a TREE. With LIGHTS. Right over THERE." He has been absolutely fascinated by the tree, pointing out all the things he knows words for. I've had to do a little redecorating by moving the balls to the top because he's figured out how to take off the caps to the glass balls which he then proceeds to run around with.
Joan and Mel ended up coming over for dinner. Zack took a shining to Mel and wanted to show him Gus and the tree and all sorts of things. I'd never seen him do that before. After Zack went to bed, we had quite a feast. It was really fun to catch up with old friends.
Mark and Judy and Gus left Sunday morning, but not before we shared another yummy breakfast. All in all, it was a great weekend, just what we needed to relax and take a breath and get in the Christmas spirit. I'll have to remember to leave my umbrella at their house again next year so that they'll have to come down to return it.
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And just in case you needed a little comic relief:
1 comment:
I'm so glad you had all that relaxation! It's a good idea to keep those precious ornaments under wrap. Zack will appreciate them when he's older.
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