My poor sweet girls and their colds. The longest cold in the history of the world, I think. It's got to be some kind of record. Their noses have finally stopped running away (for the most part) and their coughs aren't near as frequent as they had been. But, on Friday, they spent the majority of the day with their fingers in their ears up to the elbows. I thought, "Awesome...ear infection." We go see the doctor...no ear infection! Just "itchy" due to their colds. Weird, right? Itchy ears. And I've still got their cough. You would honestly think I had tuberculosis.
After work, we headed south to the coast. Le beach...sigh. It was our annual Christmas at the Beach with my mom's side of the family. We were so sad to miss it last year. I was in a much less comfortable situation then. A 59 pound less comfortable situation. And I was SO HAPPY that was not the case this year. The twins' first Christmas at the Beach. And we had a blast.
We tried to figure out how long we've been going to this same house...I think they said this was our 14th year. We do the same things each year. Everybody arrives Friday night. Mamaw spends two weeks before making an insane amount of junk food for us. We have an amazing lunch and left overs for supper. Saturday afternoon, a game of volleyball and/or ultimate frisbee commences. We have games going on throughout the day. Someone may or may not get thrown into the freezing ocean. We play BINGO, Dirty Santa, Mafia and Trivial Pursuit. It's the best time. And it's always sad to leave, but we look forward to next year.
The water was absolutely perfect. It always is this time of year...which is kind of sad because it's too cold to swim. Everybody, except one (cousin Chase had to work), was able to come this year. I don't have pictures of everybody...but here is a list of my mom's family...with the names they get called.
Mamaw & Papaw
- Mom (Lucy, Luce) & Dad (The Riddler)
- Sara (Sar-ey)
- Ruth (Ruthie R Leslie) & David (Elvis)
- Piper Lee (Scambo, Pipsqueak) & Harper (Big Mo, Molicious)
- Noah (No-eeze H)
- Peter (Slet)
- Uncle Brad (Fat Brad, Lion, Linus) & Aunt Brenda
- Nathan & Lacey
- Abigail (Gabbyel) & Olivia (Bobcat)
- Katie (Katie Francis)
- Sam (Big Sam, Little Sammy)
- Matthew (Magillacutty)
- Uncle Greg (Ladybug) & Aunt Becky
- Chase (Chasers)
- Jacob (J.T.)
- Drew (Droops, Droopy Drawers, Doof, Doofy)
Hugs and Harps
Hugs and Pipes
Noah and the invisible army.
Uncle Brad and his daily diabetic coma.
Uncle Greg and Abigail
Mom and Piper Lee and their matching expressions.
Uncle Brad, Katie, Drew (Droops), Uncle Greg, and Abigail
The cousins and ultimate frisbee with a football.
A medical marvel, Abigail and her feet-hands transplant was proven to be a success!
The house.
Harps and her cup o' fun.
Pipes demonstrates her preferred method of reading.
The BINGO prize table. This is a huge deal. Once Mamaws lays out all of the prizes, we lurk around...deciding which prizes to claim. Jacob got the pirate hat in the foreground. Of course he did.
Ahhh...serenity.
Droops torturing Piper Lee.
Our traditional sibling jumping picture.
Aunt Becky and Uncle Greg were the BINGO champion girl and boy, which hardly seems fair.
The Bingo Champion prize.
BINGO
Explaining the rules of Dirty Santa. Dirty Santa is a vicious, vicious game. I'm talking...cutthroat. We have very specific rules set in place to prevent loss of blood. We draw numbers...#1 is the best number to get, duh. As Peter was passing the hat of numbers around, I WILLED myself to draw #1 and I DID. I have that ability sometimes. I KNEW I was going to get it. There were a lot of great gifts this year...it was hard to choose. But, as I sat and watched everyone unwrap their gifts, swap gifts, argue over someone stealing their gift...I bided my time and at the end, I knew exactly what I wanted. The Black & Decker Dust Buster that Katie had chosen. Katie, I'm so sorry. You were so sweet and quiet and hugged that tiny vacuum so tight. BUT I'M SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!
Puzzle!!
Mini Me
And now for the big news...MY SISTER'S ENGAGED!!! This here's her man friend, Bryan. I'll tell y'all the whole story later, but YAY!! And yes...they travelled back to the 90's and got airbrush t-shirts. Bry Bry came with us to the beach and survived Papaw, the cousins and the uncles. That means he's here to stay. Welcome to the family!! And good luck.
Taking a vote to bring Bryan into the family. He won by ONE vote. Barely made it, buddy.
Looks like fun! What a great family tradition. I love the beach in winter.
ReplyDeleteWe play Dirty Santa with Gaines' family every year, too, and it is VICIOUS. They pretend like no one remembers the rules before we start but then if you break one. SHEESH. One aunt is particularly ruthless. She brings awesome gifts and then maneuvers within her family to keep them! "I'll take the drill set if you get me that pizza stone..." etc. But I GOT the pizza stone! Mwah ha ha ha ha!
Oh, and we add a rule that says an item can only be "stolen" three times. So sometimes, #1 isn't the best number b/c you can't steal the retired stuff. Boo. But I'm never #1 anyway so it doesn't matter.
And the gifts are hit or miss. One year I heard someone brought a live mouse in a box. (!) Pass the ketchup and the pickles, don't let my mouse get overdone.
You forgot your mother's most well known alias: HITLER.
ReplyDeleteI am researching the family tree and trying to make a connection in time to join you next year. What fun! Merry Christmas!
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