Country Christmas

Okay, well I know I'm a little late in writing this...just like my last posts, but I promise I'll try and do better from now on!

My last Christmas break was great and I had a great time with my family and friends! I left Springfield after youth to drive down to Porum, OK. It was one heck of a long drive and I was tired after having an exciting youth Christmas party, but I made it there at around midnight and then immediately fell asleep once my head hit the pillow of my cousin's bed. The next day, Staci and I were awoken by our usual 8am wake up call from my uncle before he went to work. That morning was when the feuding began...my mom thought she would do a nice thing for my grandpa and get the application he needed to fill out to get my grandma's life insurance check sent to him. She started filling it out for him, but obviously couldn't finish it because he had to sign it and she needed a death certificate to attach to it. So mom called Aunt Judy, who had all the copies of the death certificate, and asked if she could have one for the papers. Well, Judy got it stuck in her head that because Mom was filling out the papers, that she would get the check. Duh, that's not the way it works and EVERYONE tried to tell her that...she literally called everyone in the family and no one gave her the answer she wanted, so she wouldn't give a copy to Mom. So, Mom decided to just go get a copy for herself from the Health Department that afternoon. We all lounged around a little that morning and then Staci and I had planned to go to Muskogee to finish up some Christmas shopping and get groceries that mom had forgotten to pick up. We were headed to the mall, when Staci wasn't paying close enough attention and rear-ended the truck in front of us. She's just 16 and she was scared to death and really upset, so I got to deal with that and talk to her parents. We were fine, but my uncle's truck wasn't as pretty as it was when they got it a couple months ago. :( So we went to the mall, shopped for Christmas presents, and got our nails done (she got a manicure w/ fake nails, and I got a pedicure). I got hit on by the guy that was with me and asked out for New Years..or at least that's what I think he said ;) I sadly had to decline him, but we parted as friends who will hopefully never see each other again. We ended up traveling back to Muskogee the two very next days to try and take care of stuff for Staci's wreck and pick up a few more groceries.

Most of the family was able to come out to the house at least sometime throughout the day on Christmas...Papa, Ray, Sharah, Staci, Mom, Dad, Nate, and my cousin Daniel and I were always there, but my aunt Della, her husband Sean, Elliott, Steven, Lance with his girlfriend and daughter, and my cousin Tiffany's son Clark stopped by, as well as my aunt Genny and her husband John. Aunt Judy didn't come. We exchanged gifts throughout the day and just spent time together watching movies, playing games, eating, and talking. That's what my family does best! It was a special Christmas because my cousin Daniel just graduated from Basic Training with the Army and will now start Air Ranger training back in Georgia. Instead of going home for his leave, he came to Oklahoma to see Papa and spend time with the rest of us. We all took pictures for him before he left to put in a mini digital frame my mom bought him and a photo album Ray and Sharah got him. It was a great Christmas with my family and remembering the true meaning of the season.

The next day, there was no rest for the weary and Sharah put some of us, including myself, to work outside. She wanted to make a circle drive out in front of her house, so we were setting up railroad ties to border it. This meant that we had to dig out the ground to make it all level with the blade on the tractor and our shovels. We were doing really good, until my dad was driving the tractor and trying to even out a little hill when...he snagged the propane line that wasn't buried very deep and broke it! Next thing I know, we're telling Dad to kill the tractor and Sharah goes running for the tank to turn off the gas. We had a problem. So we had to get parts and recruit some help from Papa and a family friend to help cut off the broken section of pipe and attach a new piece. Done. So then we went back to work...without the tractor. There was a bunch of slate underneath the dirt there, and it was horrific to try and break up with a shovel, so we started using a pick to bust it up. I was working the pick, then Sharah decided that she would take that over for a little bit...and I swear, not two more seconds till we hear a little crash...she had busted a hole in the sewer line that time! Luckily there was nothing running so we didn't have a nasty mess, but that was yet another repair that had to be made before we could get going on this project again! Me and Staci decided that was a good cue to leave, so we ducked back inside at that. :)

That was all for the mishaps of the week, and Mom, Dad, Nate, and I left Small-town, Oklahoma to head back up to Maryville that Saturday. It was nice when we left...like in the 60s or 70s, but when we got home...it was in the 20s and spitting snow! Plus, I was the first one home since they had to drop Nate off at work, and I arrived to an inch of ice covering our back door. Fun. I had to find the hidden basement key, go in that way, and then walk all the way back around the house with a hammer and screwdriver to get the ice chipped off! I could already tell it was going to be a good week. :( It wasn't really that bad, the weather was tolerable and I spent a lot of time hanging out with Brook and Cristy or getting things done at home. I was pretty impressed with myself on New Years Eve when I made not only brownies, but also a cheeseball and vegetable pizza. Yum! I went over to Cristy's and we went wild of course...not really, but we did use their fancy pants blender to make pina coladas. The only bad thing was that we actually put the required amount of rum in them...and you could REALLY taste it! It was a little much for our taste, so the water suited us just fine for the rest of the night. Overall, my Christmas break was amazing!! I'm really going to miss having a month off every year! :(