Christmas, the Cake Guy and 36 hours!

So I have made it through most everything in the last month, all the showers are over, birthdays are done, Hanukkah is through. That just leaves us with the main event and preparing for it. Last weekend was a busy one. Even though my holiday was over, we still had to celebrate Christmas with Skinny's family. Let me tell you it is a little crazy, you see his mother and his step mother can't be in the same room, so that means we had to have 2 Christmas events at our place. Thank goodness we didn't have to go anywhere. Because of the situation Skinny is in, it was easier to just have everyone come to us. Anyway we had decided earlier in the week that his Dad and step mom would come over Saturday night and then his mom and step dad would come over on Sunday. Well that got changed about mid-week. So everyone was coming on Sunday now. Great I thought, hopefully we would be able to coordinate things so one set of parents was out of the house before the next. Sunday rolled around and I made appetizers and snacks, got everything ready and at 11:55 his mother and step father arrived. We snacked a little ,ordered lunch and opened presents. It went very smoothly... almost better then I had expected. By 3:15 they were putting on their coats and heading for the door. As soon as they walked out, we got a call from his dad and 45 minutes later, his dad and step mom were walking in the door. It gave me just enough time to replenish the snacks and take out new plates and glasses. We talked and opened more presents......but by 5:30 they were on their way too. It was finally quiet in our place. But the alone time would be short lived, since Skinny had to head back to the Fort by 8pm. So our "Christmas" was over, short ,sweet and painless. Now the really fun was going to start, you see my father was coming into town. Now this is the man who I haven't really seen much in the last 8 years, only at major events like graduations, wedding and bar mitvahs. He had open heart surgery at the end on Oct/beginning of NOV. So no one thought he would what to come to A.B.'s wedding but he decided to come. He was first going to come for 2 weeks, but Rands and I were like "NO" since he would be staying with us. Instead we settled for 8 days, he would fly in late afternoon on Monday and fly out early morning on the next Tuesday. Rands and I decided that he would split his time between her place, my place and the hotel. Since neither of us wanted him in our places over the weekend of the wedding. So Monday, 12/25/06 arrived, Rands and I headed for the airport to pick him up. We were shocked to see this "old man" get off the plane. My dad has always been younger looking, even though he has gained weight,lost a lot of his hair and started going gray. Or at least that is how it was the last time we had seen him, which was just over a year ago. This time when he stepped into the waiting area, he was totally gray, hunched over and moving slow. Rands and I looked at each other and thought " this is going to be a long week!" Be we got his stuff and headed for their house. We had a good evening, went to see "DreamGirls" and he got to meet his future daughter-in-law. It was nice. Since everyone has to work this week, I have been hanging out with him at lunch and after work, since I'm the lucky one who works earlier in the day. It has been alright, I forgot how many stories he has and everything. Still it is strange to have him here in town. Since he is such an outsider, for example on Tuesday night ( the normal night for us to eat at Rands house) we are all talking about wedding stuff and plans for future weekends, and he got really quiet, just sitting there looking sad. I think he is starting to see that we all have lives and they really don't include him. But he has made it that way, he has not been as involved in our lives for the last 21 years. My parents got divorced/separated right after my 12th birthday..... and my dad kind of went off and never came back. I think he kind of forgot that he had kids there for awhile, but now that we are older and have lives he wants to be involved. But it doesn't work like that... or at least not in our family. Anyway last night was the big move from Rands place to mine, so I haul him and his gypsy wagon to my place. HE will be hanging out there till tomorrow when he will move to the hotel for a couple of days then back at my place for a night. Then last but not least will got back to Rands for a final night... then back to the airport and home for him. Like I said before once this week is over and we hit Jan 2nd..... things will be so much better and calmer.
Oh Yeah the best Christmas present I got this year was finding out the Fort granted Skinny 36 hours furloughs going forward. Now this is 3-4 weeks earlier than we expected, but I really think he is doing what he needs to, to get thru the program and get out of there, so they just might be rewarding him for it..... plus he has like 102 points and only needs 20 more to graduate.... not to mention he has only been there 3 months. So maybe we will get some more good surprises in the next couple of months. 2007 has got to be better than 2006!

Happy Hanukkah and BABIES!!!!!

As you know it is the holiday season and we are now more than half way through the month......and over half way through the activities. This past weekend was a crazy one. It was our family Hanukkah to begin with, so the usually crowd was there..... we all had brisket and latkes.... made by the Mother and Rands.... and they were the best.... I can still taste them days later. But the best part is the presents..... this year we decided that in the past gift giving had gotten out of hand so, everyone just drew a name and bought for one person. It work out well....everyone was happy with their gifts and it was a great time. The empress even brought some of us gifts from China.... she visited there a couple of months back. She gave the mother a jade charm, and I got a name CHOP.... it is cool and I will use it all the time to sign my name on stuff. the night went smoothly..... no problems. There was even a surprise for some....cause The beau and Rands are having a baby at the same time as A.B. and Big L., the mother has be chopping at the bit, to tell people, but Rands made her promise to wait till Hanukkah. Which was good, cause Saturday was going to be a long day. It was Big L. Official bridal shower and let me tell you it was a BIG shower. I didn't realize just how many people were invited. The mother wanted to get there a little bit early so she could see everyone come. So we arrived about 10 minutes before 11 am and people or should I say women just kept coming and coming, with gifts. The lunch was nice... lots of food, then it was gift opening time. Big L. had a MOUNTIAN of gifts, it took a good hour to open them all...... but she and A.B. did get a huge haul. I'm not sure where they are going to put it all.... but I guess they have time... since the baby is still 6 month away. Once the shower was done it was off to the next activity...... so we headed for the Parentals to change and get ready... for the evening's plans. A.B. was getting a surprise bachelor party... so the men were busy..... us women decided to go a little more low key... just dinner and a drive around town....looking at the lights and new construction..... it was a relaxing night after a day of rushing, smiling and talking. So that brings us to Sunday..... where I thought would be a low key day... well I forgot I had some shopping to finish up for this week's sibling Hanukkah celebration and some birthdays.... so after a quick brunch with my family... I was off to the new mall.... which on my part might have been a mistake.... since it is still the height of shopping season. I spent 25 minutes just looking for a parking space.... once I found one, I would have been better off parking at home and walking there. But still I headed into the mall to pick up my few items. Which I found quickly... but then stood in line to pay for them.... for another 20 minutes. I really think that retailers..... don't think when they have 5 registers available... but only 2 people working them....HIRE MORE PEOPLE.......it is the weekend!!!!!! Anyway..... after 2 hours of shopping I was done, I had had enough and needed to get the presents wrapped. I thought it would be a small project but turned out to be a long draw out process......I was wrapping for over 2 hours.... but when I was done, everything looked beautiful and ready for the week. You would think I would have just sat back and relaxed... put my feet up and watch T.V.... but no.... I was off again to the parentals.... for Sunday dinner. Which by the way was fabulous.... the Mother made chicken pacata and garlic pasta.....definitely restaurant quality. It was a great end to a full couple of days.

Wiener Snitzel and White Elephants

2 Weekends down and only 3 more to go then we will be into Jan. and things will be calmer.... hopefully. Last weekend's activities went pretty good....the shower in the Amana's really wasn't a shower it was more of a lunch with Big L.'s mom and her friends. It was kind of sad that the ladies were more interested in the pregnant women at the "shower" then the bride.... but Big L. will be getting her real shower this up coming weekend. It will have all the elements of a bridal shower and more. Anyway the shower was in the Amana's so the food was good old German cooking, which is most cases is good. We went to this place called the Ox Yoke Inn.... and as a kid I loved going there.... well this time... not so good. I at least got something easy, while Rands and The mother were not so lucky. Thank goodness there is an awesome bakery on the way out of town. But the 1st shower was quick and relatively painless.....plus one more thing was checked off my list. By 4:00 pm on Saturday we were heading back to the real fun..... Mah Jong Hanukkah! Most people would think..." Isn't it kind of early for a Hanukkah party?" Well since The mother and her friends have tons of things going on this month, Saturday was the only day they could all agree on for the party. So at 6:30 we were there ready to eat some latkes and open presents. Every year this is how the party goes..... everyone arrives, there is lots of visiting, then the food is served....so eating, eating, eating.... then the main event... the gift exchange. Up till now we have done this White elephant exchange were everyone brings a gift for $7.00, wrapped and then everyone gets a number and we go in order, opening the presents. Now here is the fun part.....#1 picks from the pile of presents, then #2 can pick from the pile or steal #1 present, there by making #1 pick another present. Then #3 can take #2 or #1's or pick for the pile... get the idea? So in past years this "game" has taken hours to play. Plus some of the families have start to gang up on each other..... so this year was a little different, the limit was raised to $10.00 and instead of opening the present you had to wait till everyone had one then we would open them. So you had to judge the gift on wrapping and weight. It still took a while for us to get thru the list of people ( there was only 33 people) this year...... and a couple of presents go traded due to pretty bows or paper.... but in the end it was fun. I still can't forget the look of one of the women's faces...as she got a hula girl for her dashboard. As the party died down, I was ready to get home, since Skinny had a furlough and his dad was bringing him home. I knew by 9pm he would be sitting on the couch waiting for me to return from my day o' parties. Just like I expected when I walked thru the door..... he was sitting watching golf I had taped for him. It was nice to just relax after a day of smiling and being upbeat. But in the back of my mind I knew Sunday would be a day of shopping... which I love.... but we were going to have to cram a lot in a short period of time. Skinny had scheduled us at the mall and surrounding shops for most of the day and I did have a list.... but I was still dreading the crowds of people. All my worrying was for nothing since we got to the mall just as it opened and even got a parking place in the first row. So our first stop was Younkers, we were looking for some dress clothes for Skinny.... which I now know is kind of hard, since he is too small in the waist for most of the men's pants and Jackets, then too tall for most of the young men's stuff. But after a good half hour 45 minutes we were able to locate 1 jacket/pants combo, it looked pretty good but it would have not been my first pick of suits for him. So we left it on hold and headed down the mall to do some other shopping. Stopping at various store picking up stuff for Christmas, Hanukkah and birthdays. When we got to the other end of the mall, into Von Maur we went to start our "suit search" again. But quickly found out that they only have pants in 32 waist and up. Well Skinny is a 30-30... which they didn't have and were not willing to alter for him. So we just ended up with some dressier gray pants and a nice sweater from there. Our last hope for our "suit search" was going across the street to the Mens warehouse. Which I was sure we could find something.... and to the surprise of the sale's lady we did. We walked in and told her what we needed and what size, she kind of look at us in shock....since come to find out she has never sold a 30-30 pants and 38 short jacket to a man...and she had been working there 3 years. But the pants and jacket fit perfectly. Now the hard part was finding him a shirt and tie..... the tie was actually easier than the shirt..... which they had to order in for him. But now everything was done. As we headed back to our place.... there was a really sense of accomplishment for the day... and I was also glad 1 more weekend of activities was over. Only 3 weekends or 17 days to go...... I can do this......I hope! This upcoming weekend is the really test.... Family Hanukkah, Mah Jong Shower, plus The Fun Aunt is coming in for the weekend with her family. It would be interesting.

Let the Games begin

We are now into Dec. and as I have told you before it is going to be a crazy time. But now one weekend done and only 4 more to go. The graduation was nice it was great to see A.B. finally walk across the stage and with honors to boot. I know he was proud that he has accomplished it... not to mention The Mother was jumping out of her seat with excitement..... now all of her children have graduated college. Big L. also graduated, and her parents had an open house, so that we fun too. The best part was that one of the activities can now be checked off my list. Now I can focus on this upcoming weekend...... which will be a little more hectic. I have my first of 2 bridal showers to go to..... this one is even out of town..... plus it is Mah Jong Hanukkah at night... so it will be a very long day on Saturday. On top of everything Skinny will have a furlough ( hopefully, but I will get to that later), thank goodness his dad has volunteered to pick him up and bring him home on Saturday night....so it is one less thing for me to get done. Then Sunday we have to cram all of skinny's holiday shopping in to an afternoon, since he will not be home on another Sunday for a couple of weeks and surely not before Christmas or our family Hanukkah. That is just the planned stuff, I still want to keep up on my clean apartment and always have a ton of little things to get taken care of.... but I know if I just take one thing at a time it will all work out. I just have to keep saying.... in a month this will all be over and life will be back to normal.... or some what normal.
So like i said above hopefully Skinny will be able to come home on furlough. It seems last week someone at the Fort decided it would be a good idea to leave the property and get beer, plus sneak out and go to a bar, then come waltzing in drunk at 2 in the morning. Now Skinny didn't do any of this but he knows who did. Well that person got caught but it seems that the higher ups think it is a good idea to punish everyone. It could be as simple as supervised smoke breaks or even having their smoke breaks taken away...... or it could be taking away everyone furloughs....Skinny has no idea what they will do to them... or for that matter what will happen to the guy that was drunk. It is strange to me that they make them wait so long before telling them that will happen. But I guess I'm in the real world and the Fort is a different universe,so I just go with the flow.... or at least try to. I'm just waiting to hear back from Skinny.... I'm guessing it probably will be something small, since I'm sure he would have called me last night all in a fit if it was something really big. All I can say is that it will suck if I have to start going out to the Fort again 3x a week for visiting hours and he can't come home. I mean I was getting used to not having to drive out there and having him at home. Plus it will make things so much crazier if I have to go out there this month. I guess we just have to wait and see what happens now.
Just when I think I have all my "balls" in the air an doing good juggling them.... something happens and there is another"ball" added.