It's The Day Before Christmas And It's Still Raining And Warm

Halle and Carleigh, Cookie Decorators Supreme

Bristow At 8:00 AM

No one had to get up early this morning yet Drew and I were both up at 6:00, talking some football, politics, the trouble with America and how to fix it.  It ain't easy!  It's raining out side, so that Coco, their dog, has to be forced out in the early morning.  He's no fool.  It already feels warm out, 65º, at 6:15 in the morning and we may have record highs in the 70's later in the day.  Not very Christmas like.  It looks like another gray, wet, and warm day for the family here in Virginia.

Coco In The Morning

Yesterday was about as miserable a day as one could imagine.  It literally rained fairly hard most of the day, forming ponds on the roads, driveways and walks.  It might lessen in amount some during the day but it always seemed to rain.  It did not stop Evie from finishing up the cookies with Halle and her friend, Carleigh. The girls had a great time decorating the cookies and really became good at it.

Both Hayden and Jill were up early for workouts at 7:30 and 8:00, a well disciplined duo. Drew, fortunately worked from home so he was able to miss what I am sure would have been traffic jams caused by the rain.  I stupidly decided to drive to Trader Joe's to pick up some goodies for home. What's a little rain, right.  Well, there was a lot of rain and I fortunately did not take # 66 back to Bristow as I could see it was backed up because of an accident.  Trader Joe's was busy, of course, lots of people buying wines and cheeses for the holidays.  I did, too.

When I got home around 12:00, Evie was making ham and egg sandwiches for the crew, so I was home early enough to also get one though we hardly put a dent in the leftover ham from Sunday night. Around 1:30, Drew and Jill took off to do their penultimate shopping and the girls and Evie and I sat in the living room and watched a movie with a Christmas setting, Home Alone.  I had forgotten how boring the first third was, how funny the last third.  Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern are perfect foils for Macaulay Culkin, a charming brat.  We did not do much the rest of the afternoon after the movie. Evie played some Monopoly with the girls, I read, Jill napped, and Drew went for a run and came home soaking wet, of course.

Halle And Granny Kneading The Dough For Cloverleaf Rolls

We started getting ready to go out to Bonefish with Drew's parents around 5:00. And there was just enough time for Evie to put together the dough for her cloverleaf rolls, which we will have with our Christmas Eve dinner. About ten minutes before we left, the girls whined enough about going that we relented, let them stay home and order a pizza from Domino's.  We met Drew's parents at Bonefish, and had a great time with them.  Drew's Dad is a retired Army Full Bird Colonel, who flew two year long helicopter tours during the Vietnam War.  He stayed in the army until he retired after 27 years and ended his career at both VMI and Mary Baldwin College , working with both men and women cadets. He's a great guy and I really enjoyed talking to him.  Surprisingly Bonefish was not busy, maybe because it was a couple days before Christmas.  We all ordered fish and enjoyed them, especially Bonefish's famous appetizer, Bang Bang Shrimp.

Dinner With Mike And Jan Bissell, Jill's In Laws

We did not get home till 9:00, then relaxed with a nice bourbon on the rocks and watched the Adele Special from Radio City Music Hall in New York City on NBC.  It was a nice way to end the evening with Jill and Drew...family, music, and a good bourbon!

Today, at last, will be the last day of shopping.  Drew's taking the girls' out early so they can pick out some gifts, and around noon, he will pick up our groceries from Harris Teeter, which Jill ordered yesterday, so they will have them all packed and ready for him.  Pretty cool.  And then the cooking begins for the day.