Christmas Eve

If you’d like to read about he Dru Sjodin case this is the link to the articles in the local newspaper

As usual I worked Christmas Eve. The kids are catching on that we close early on Christmas Eve but it still takes them a bit to remember that! As usual we had chili, once again I did not have to make it. I browned the ground beef and left it in the fridge. Dick called and had the kids start it so it was ready by the time I got home from work. My kids make some damn good chili ~ Derek made a separate pot and spiced it up the way that he likes it. **Remind me to get chili powder ~ I am out of chili powder.**

We finally called J and P to find out if they are coming out soon. Yep they were just leaving. We waited and waited and waited for them. The kids wanted to eat without them so that they could open presents. No we can’t do that, we have to wait for J and P. So we waited and waited some more! They finally called and said they were in a tiny town that they should not have been in. They took the back road from their new home and got lost. So Dick gave them directions and we waited some more. We finally let the kids eat. It was getting late and still no J and P. They called again ~ going the wrong way! A thirty-minute drive took them three hours! The kids were just getting done when they got here and they were ready to open presents. While J and P ate the kids opened presents.

Between P and I we decided that we would not buy for them and they would not buy for us this year. That took a lot of stress off me. I never know what to buy them ~ they have everything.

I feel like Derek got the shaft this year because he got a Vellux blanket and a game. Nothing else. No little stuff! The other three got little stuff because their gifts were not going to make it here on time. Then their gift did make it here on time! Hmph! Maybe I will slip him some cash. I was given cash from a good customer ~ both Josh and I got cash that was “a gift not a tip. They did not want it going in the tip bucket. This same customer has done this every year. I think that I will give it to Derek.

Dick and I agreed that we would not buy for each other. I guess that I said that we shouldn’t because we spent so much on the kids. Then he took the kids shopping so I had to buy stuff for him from the kids. He got socks, underwear, and a pair of sleep pants ~ short end of the stick! I got a Jude Deveraux book, Holly, which I had looked at once while shopping with the kids. The movie Dirty Dancing ~ that I almost bought one time shopping with the kids. I got a sweater ~ I am not actually sure what color it is. It is a really pale green, almost beige/gray. I don’t know what color it is. It is not a color that I would choose for myself but I will wear it ~ I got it from my kids. I got a portable foot massager ~ speaking of which I am going to put on my feet right now! Last but not least I got a remote starter for my car. If you re-call a couple years ago I got one then too. That pre-dates OD for me. I looked and there is not Christmas entry for me getting a car starter. But I no longer drive that car that the starter was installed on. Dick drives that car now. He has remote start on his pick-up and the car that he drives. In this part of the world a car starter is not a luxury ~ it is a necessity! That is what he advertisement on the radio says.

It really disappoints me that they showed up so shit-faced. No wonder they got lost! Had I known that they had been drinking so much I would have rather they stayed home. Stay off the roads, stay safe and keep others safe too. Some people have no courtesy! It is the same every year so I should have expected it.

J was asleep at the table before long so P took him home. Which is a good thing because my kids do not need to see that from their uncle. They see enough of their father sleeping at the table. Yes, Dick ended up sleeping at the table but it was late (not that the late hour was the reason he was sleeping) so I turned off all the lights, turned on the television, set the timer, and found my sleeping spot on the living room floor. I did not even bother with trying to get him to go to bed ~ he is a big boy. If he wants to sleep at the table who am I to say that he can’t.