Well, I did not go to London to visit the Queen, but I had a great time visiting with my family this past week. I hope everyone else was occupied with family and friends as well. Right now, I am back to being alone. Ray has just left for work, and my family left earlier this morning. It was hard enough to say goodbye the first time! I wish they could’ve stayed even longer, but I suppose it would have been even harder to say goodbye. Our visit was a good one though. Anyway, for those who are interested in what my last week entailed I shall share with you the highlights…
Thursday
I spent the day tidying up the house for company and praying for my family’s safe arrival. Ray returned home from work before they arrived, and helped with last minute details. Soon after, I called my mom to see where they were and found they were almost here! Ray and I waited for them out by the busy street for awhile, but it was chilly, so we went back to the apartment. Finally, as I watched from our window, I saw them coming down our street! I excitedly alerted Ray and we both ran out to meet them. Sasha (the family’s German Shepherd-Lab) and Caesar (the family cat) drew attention from our neighbors, as did my family. It was surreal as we unloaded furniture and boxes from the van while our neighbors looked on. I suppose apartments do not lend themselves to much privacy. With the five of us, things were unloaded rather speedily and we were soon sitting down to a yummy, hot pizza. After this we hung out a bit and went to bed.
Friday
Ray had to work, so I woke up at 4:30 as usual. However, I went back to sleep!! Later, we went out to Burger King for breakfast…mmm, french toast sticks. My family got hooked on the chicken biscuit meal. A little hobby shop just opened over in the plaza Ray and I frequent and I thought by brother would be interested. He was skeptical, but he wound up leaving with a book he wanted and a sword. My parents were happy about bargains they found at Big Lots and Bealls Outlet. It was a nice day and felt just like old times. Wal-Mart was our last stop, because I had not picked up the food for Christmas dinner yet. In the evening we all sat down to watch Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean. Good times:)
Saturday
Christmas Eve! We agreed to do our celebration on this day, and visit the in-laws on Christmas day. It turned out well. Ray woke me up and made me laugh by jumping about like an excited kid. We joined my family, who were already up and about. It was the first time I had smelled coffee in my house, and even though I do not like coffee it brought back the comfort of home. Mom made a beautiful Christmas bread (as I requested as an encore to last year’s) and we accompanied it with fresh grapefruit. We all gathered in the living room after breakfast to open gifts. I distributed a gift to each family member, and they took turns opening them(as tradition goes). Mom filled my stocking (my Great Grandma used to do it every year, but since we have not been able to go to Canada my mom has done it). Mom also made a stocking and filled it for Ray, so he could share in our tradition. He was happy with its contents. I got a pretty new scarf belt, Goldfish crackers, the latest Hallmark Barbie ornament (I have all of them since ’95 or something like that), a journal, some other items, and the usual toothpaste and body wash. Ray’s gift to me was the fifth season of Gilmore Girls on dvd. My words to him were, "You skipped a season," to which he replied with how he had ordered the fourth but it had not arrived on time. However, his entire gift to me was the 4th and 5th seasons of Gilmore Girls. Now, I am all caught up! My father-in-law and Nancy got us a deep fryer and a set of pots and pans. We then followed with lunch. Grandma always had an assortment of hors douvers set out for lunch, and we have done our best since her passing to keep up her traditions. So, we had an assortment of hors douvers for lunch and were quite full at the end of it. Mom and I mixed up some Chex Mix and put it in the oven to bake. I had made chocolate covered peanut clusters, and peanut butter balls for dessert. Mom also brought some baked goods. We set them out and watched the movie Holiday Inn. I like that movie:) Dinner was soooo good. I helped mom make the side dishes. In all, we had chicken with fried onions, mashed potatos, stuffing and broccoli with cheese sauce, with sparkling cider in my funky, purple, wine glasses. It was a very good meal. In the evening we watched Mrs. Santa Claus (it’s a musical).
Sunday
Merry Christmas! Left-over bread and some more grapefruit for breakfast, then off to church. The church had a breakfast spread out as well, and my family partook in some sausage and biscuits. The biscuits were later coming out of the oven than they planned, so they were joking that the pastor would have to preach to an empty sanctuary, while the congregation finished up the biscuits. 🙂 However, everyone made it over to the service and it was an enjoyable one. The message helped me look at Christmas from the true perspective, a different one than I often do. After lunch we all played a short game of Scattergories. It is an awesome game! We got quite a few laughs out of it. Dinner was at the in-laws. All of Ray’s siblings and their significant others were there. We sat down and were handed gift after gift. I got a fleece Coca Cola blanket from Erika and Dan, a Coca Cola box for the table from Jaime, and a Coca Cola malt shop sorta set from Craig. Yeah, I am starting a Coca Cola collection:) From Ray’s mom and her bf I also got some other items. I cannot recall which were labeled just her or both, but I got some tea, a cute tea pot, a dolphin necklace, and some ornaments. There was more stuff, but I shall not bore you with a full list, and I cannot remember it all off the top of my head anyhow. We had a nice visit and then headed home. My family got to see the lights on the palm trees. It is quite interesting.
Monday
I have never been to the the little shops in the city across the bridge. So, my mom and I were excited to go check them out. It was a Monday, so dear Raymond was at work again, but he was definitely in my thoughts. The rest of us decided to stop at the store owned by a couple from my church. It is an appliance store with a craft store in the back. Mom and Dad got me an adorable mouse scrapbook, and a stack of beautiful scrapbook paper. Oh, and a sheet of mice stickers:) I was spoiled! We then walked around, looking at the other shops. I wished I had my own money! They had such neat stuff. It was growing close to the time Ray was supposed to get off of work and we had not had a call from him yet, telling us when to get him. So, we decided to go find his place of work and see if he was ready. We found it, and did not sit long in the parking lot before he came out. He was surprised to see us sitting there, waiting. From there, we hit the beach. My family and I visited Florida together when I was in third grade. We had been so impressed with Waffle House. When my parents found out we had some nearby us, they determined to go there. This is where we went for lunch. However, it was not as we remembered it. It must vary. Needless to say, they were disappointed in the food and service. However, we still made our way to the beach and everyone but me kicked off his/her shoes before the end of the walk. My flip flops and the bottom of my jeans were soaked, but they dried before we went back to the car. Mom was fascinated by all the pelicans and other sea birds, while Dad and Matt collected seashells. Dinner was left-overs from Christmas eve with fresh chicken, cooked the same way as before. Still a delicious meal! I started to watch ‘An American Girl: Felicity’ with mom, but I was quite tired from all the walking, so we left the rest for later.
Tuesday
My parents decided that a trip to visit us would not be complete without a visit to the Kennedy Space Center. Thus, we set out after breakfast to go check it out. Ray took the day off so he could join us. We arrived, parked, got tickets, went through security and then were on our way. We went on the bus tours, so we could see the other sections. There were three stops in total, and then the final stop, back where we began. There were an awful lot of videos, and exhibits. It was interesting, but got rather repetitious after awile. It was a long day, and we skipped lunch. By the end of it, us kids were ready to flop over but my parents were still eager to see more. I got a monkey in a space suit trinket as a souvenir. The I-Max show was kinda neat, because we got to see it in 3D. However, we were so tired at that point that it seemed to drag. Don’t get me wrong, seeing the rockets and the Canada arm was neat but I actually was more intrigued by seeing the wild alligators and a large turtle. Starving, we headed back towards home…but got lost. After doing a big loop, we wound up on the right track. Ray had received gift cards for Outback from his company, and we decided to use them to take my family out. It was a long wait, but worth it. The bloomin’ onions are so good, and the chicken pasta I got was delicious. We all left with take-out containers, but we were full. I watched the rest of my movie with mom and then headed to bed.
Wednesday
It was a bittersweet day. I knew that I would have to say goodbye to my parents, brother and pets the next day. My dear husband was back to work, but the rest of us decided to go out and try to get me some pants (I have nothing that really fits me well). Remember my mention of the chicken biscuits? Dad drove us to the Burger King closer to where we would be doing our shopping, but when mom inquired as to whether they had the chicken biscuit, we turned and left:P Off to the other Burger King, where the three of them enjoyed the chicken biscuit meal while I had my french toast sticks again. I was happy they enjoyed it though:) Target did not prove fruitful in my need for jeans, and so we went to Goodwill. Several try-ons later, I still came up empty handed but I did walk away with an armload of board games. An older gentleman saw me looking through the board games and asked if I would be interested in some he had in his car. He was going to donate them but if I was interested I could have them. They were in wonderful condition and I thanked him very much. My brother took home Monopoly, which was fine with me. My dad also found me a stuffed dolphin and got it for me (It’s sitting on the loveseat with me now). We headed back to Bealls Outlet, because my dad had found some jeans there for a good price…but alas, I did not find a darn thing! I’m an odd size:P My parents wanted to get us groceries, so they took me to Wal-Mart. Just on the off chance they had any, we decided to look through their pants. Finally! I walked away with some pink cords and a pair of jeans. The other day we had seen some dolphins in the river, as we drove over the bridge. Dad was driving, so he missed them. There is a park where you can overlook the river, so in hopes they would return we went and waited. We did not see any though. I felt terrible for my daddy. I know he would like to have seen them, and I even prayed he would, but I guess there was a reason… Mom got to try some fresh Florida orange juice and was determined to have some more. We found one of the well-known orange groves, and she happily picked up a jar of marmalade and some orange juice. It is very sweet juice, and much better than the Wal-Mart stuff I get. Home to Ray we went, and soon off to dinner with his mom and her boyfriend. We went to a seafood place on the waterfront. It was pretty. Tired, we went home and I watched as my family packed up so they could head out in the morning. Tears were shed and I went to bed…oh dear, a rhyme:S
Thursday
I got up ‘yawn’ early to see them off. It was sad to know that my husband would be heading off to work as well. Mom packed up last minute stuff, dad checked the weather online and Matt…well, was Matt. Sasha got all hyper, as is normal for her and the cat got all upset. Somehow the inflatable bed was flat once more, and the room they had stayed in, closer to how it had started. It shouldn’t hurt this much, should it? I dunno. I miss them already. It was a blessing in one way that Ray’s ride was late getting up this morning, because I was able to sit in lap, his arms around me, and cry. Then he prayed with me and tried to encourage me. I miss him as well, but my heart is aching anytime I think of my family. It will get easier. I dealt with it before… but I have never stopped missing them dearly.
Now, you are up to date, whether ya wanted to be or not;) Hope everyone else had a beautiful Christmas, and will continue to have a blessed break. It’s almost a new year! Next Saturday is Ray’s birthday!:) So, I do have things to look forward to still. I just hate not knowing when I will see my family next. It means a lot to me. Ray is my immediate family now, so he is my first priority. I shall simply have to put myself back into putting away the new items, the old that arrived, and taking care of my beloved.
Leave a Reply