Christmas in the summer

We spent last weekend in Tofield at my parents' place.  It was our family's annual 'Christmas in the summer time' weekend.  There are just too many of us to try to get together in one house in the winter when we can't send the kids outside.  This has proved to be a nice alternative.  My sister and one brother each brought their RVs and my other brother was staying with his in laws.  That left just us to stay at my Mom and Dad's, which worked out nice.  It also happened to be my uncle's 60th birthday, so my grandparents and all my Mom's brothers were in town too.  It was a good weekend for visiting and reconnecting. 

We spent our first evening at my sister's RV, around the campfire, playing bingo and eating smores.  Good times.  Ginny was a little freaked out by the fire (we don't exactly camp much...or at all), but CeCe was oblivious and kept walking too close for comfort.  Everyone made in out unscathed except for the marshmallows. 

The next day we had turkey, stuffing and all the fixings - it was Christmas after all.  The grandkids exchanged presents and we hung out some more.  CeCe was playing with her cousin Carson, who is a year older than her.  There was a disagreement over a plastic meatball.  He had it, she had it, he had it.  Finally CeCe had had enough and lost her cool.  "Bad baby!" she yelled.  "You go to the corner.  NOW!"  Maybe not the best way to handle the situation, but standing back and watching them, it was pretty funny.  Especially since the baby was a year older than her. 

That night was my uncle's party.  He had rented the curling rink for the festivities and even had some live musicians.  The girls had a blast running around in the open space playing with their cousins and then dancing the night away with their one girl cousin their age.  One lonely guitar player and four little girls proved to be pretty good entertainment.  Probably not the usual bar crowd he was used to.

Sunday we headed home and then it was back to work on Monday.  We've been letting Jorja stay up a bit later than Ginny this past week.  Sometimes we let her read in her room or sometimes downstairs with us.  Last night, after having read downstairs with us for a while after Ginny was in bed, we told her it was time for bed.  I went up with her to tuck her in.  Her asthma has been really bad this year, so she does her puffer every night before bed.  Just before putting it to her mouth, she asked how come she gets to stay up later than the other girls.  As she is puffing away, I tell her that she is older.  It seems to be a revelation.  She just realized that this may have benefits.  Her eyes lit up, the corners of her mouth curled up around her inhaler, and seeing as how she couldn't talk at that moment, she gave me a thumbs up.  What a kid.  Later.