Holiday Hustle

Whew! Alex and I have survived Thanksgiving together. We are both in tact, in one piece, and pleased to be back in Dayton with the most pressing decision being what tree skirt should we buy? Although I have learned that tree skirts could totally ruin a relationship if you try hard enough.

Anyway, back to the Turkey holiday. Alex and I both took off of work early on Wednesday and drove down to Blytheville for some good old Cora family fun. This was the first meeting of the parents and the boyfriend, so I was a little nervous about the three most important people in my life colliding around a lot of food and Wal-Mart trips. Fortunately, my mom was TOTALLY freaking out and had the worried thing covered for the both of us, so my stress was limited to whether or not my dad would say something embarrassing (Which he would, come Saturday morning. Not sure why I bothered worrying about that one. Sometimes you just have to accept these things. Like taxes. And death. They're inevitable.) and if my mom had bought enough food that Alex liked. (Which she did, because my mom? Is awesome.)

So we got to my grandparents' old house that my family still hasn't sold (Anybody wanna buy a house in Arkansas? Anybody? Anybody?) and we did the initial meet and greet and everything was going swimmingly those first five minutes until my dad fell off the porch and hit his head on the brick wall. And laid there. For what felt like an eternity, but was probably only about 30 seconds or so. Alex and I dropped our bags and ran over to him and I kept yelling, "Daddy! Daddy? Are you okay???" And I was like, "What if my dad just died right here right after meeting Alex? Is that a sign or something?" Turns out my dad was okay, save a nasty scratch on his wrist, which spurred the first of four (4!) Wal-Mart trips of our visit. A visit that lasted less than 72 hours, mind you.

Thursday was typical Thanksgiving fun with my family. As you'll recall from last year, my cousins hate me. This has not changed. So Alex and I didn't even bother sitting in the little kid room this year. We went straight to the grumpy old man room and listened to enlightened conversation about the Navy vs. the Marines, politics, and football. At least I felt young.

One cousin who does NOT hate me is my 3-year-old second cousin who is about as well behaved as a wild monkey. That child has more energy than Alex and I put together and he loved, and I mean, LOVED Parsnip. Loved her so much that he wanted to choke the life out of her. Multiple times. So we spent a vast majority of the day herding Parsnip away from the small child who will walk up to your plate, pick up your roll, take a bite, and then put it back on your plate. NICE.

My mom and I closed out the day by dragging Alex to see Deja Vu at the Malco Trio in Blytheville. I was not a fan of the movie, but it was nice to not go to Wal-Mart for a change. After all, we had already gone twice that day.

Friday, my dad stayed home sick and watched Parsnip while my mom and I forced Alex to go shopping. We hit Kohl's again this year and I picked up some cute sweaters for Christmas. We also swung by Old Navy and I took advantage of their $10 fleece sell. We also ate at Barnhill's, also known as "the happiest place on earth." That was one of my Grandma and Grandpa's favorite restaurants and we are happily carrying on the Barnhill's tradition and spreading the love to the world, one Ohioan at a time.

Saturday night, we played Trouble and my dad schooled us all the first game. I also got into a rut of not being able to "pop" a six, which you have to do in order to move any of your pieces. So I spent the last half of the first game and the first half of the second game not doing anything other than popping the popomatic bubble and glaring at Alex for totally jinxing me. Jerk. Fortunatley, my mom was still on my side and took him out whenever she could. Blood is still thicker than water, perfect boyfriend! Take that!

Aaaaand that was it. We left early Saturday and came home to go to Alex's littlest brother's high school football game (He's in the band! They won the game! State finals here they come!) and then collapsed from exhaustion.

My parents, of course, loved Alex and he charmed them as only a red headed Catholic can. My dad commented, more than once, that he wished he was feeling better so he could properly joke around with him. I'm actually glad he wasn't feeling better, otherwise he might have said more things like, "My daughter is Hitler and she just wants to conquer a man." I KID YOU NOT. He said that. Out loud. To my boyfriend he had met less than 72 hours ago. And not only that, he chose to share this little nugget of "wisdom" while I was in the shower, so I couldn't even defend myself! Thank god my mom loves me and stepped up to the plate in my defense.

So it's over. Thanksgiving 2006 completed and in the books. I'm now gearing up for Christmas and will finish Alex's tree as soon as this here post is completed. Then I can take lots of pictures and inundate the internet with them. Yeehaw.