The Long and Winding Road

Rose called about twenty minutes after I posted this morning's entry. For once, she'd gotten out early and would be on her way to pick me up soon with her 7-month-old son Khai. No problem. I was glad to see her making an effort to break her bad habit of always being late for everything.

She did, indeed, pick me up around quarter of 12. She wanted to get a fruit tart from a local bakery...but they were closed for Thanksgiving, of course. So we had to drive over to Cherry Hill to Wegman's to get it. I went in and picked it up for her her. They were busy, but I thankfully found an Express register with a short line.

Next, we went back to Rose and Craig's apartment. She wanted to feed Khai and take care of their dogs Kelsey and Toby and cat Bob. I haven't been to their apartment since before they had Khai. I had a wonderful time playing with Khai and the dogs while Rose prepared his bottle. Khai is just so plump and adorable! He's can mostly sit up on his own now, and he's learning to turn over on his stomach.

We finally got moving around 1. By this point, the snow had become sleet...and that had become plain old rain. It continued raining hard while we were on the highway, but it vanished rather quickly long before we hit Cape May County, and was just cloudy, damp, and cold for the rest of the day.

Mom, Dad, my 6-year-old nephew Skylar, my 18-year-old brother Keefe, and his girlfriend Vicki were all at home when we arrived. Sky was pestering Mom about the turkey; his uncle wasn't helping. I played with Khai and Skylar while Rose and the kids chatted with Mom and Mom cooked.

Dad was watching the Patriots-Lions game. The Lions had apparently been winning throughout the first half of the game. Shortly after we arrived, the Patriots got several touchdowns, and would go on to make a comeback and win it 45-24.

We all sat down for dinner around 4. Mom is one of the best cooks around, and her Thanksgiving meals are always fabulous. We had turkey, real (not boxed) stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, honey-glazed carrots, green bean casserole, and pearl onions with white sauce. (There was a vegetable and ranch dip and cheese ball and crackers spread when Rose, Khai, and I came in, too.) It was all divine. I had everything but the mashed potatoes. I'm not a big fan of white potatoes. I had two helpings of rolls, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato casserole. (Mashed sweet potatoes topped with marshmallow? That's practically dessert at dinner! Of course I'm going to have two helpings. ;) )

After dinner, Rose took Khai out for a while to visit her old high school friends who still live in the area. Keefe and Vicki went to visit my sister Anny, who was working her job at Big Lots in North Cape May tonight. Mom did the dishes while Dad, Skylar, and I watched SpongeBob Square Pants (a favorite of Sky's), then a TV movie, Turtles Forever, which is a crossover between the 1987 and 2003 animated versions of the Turtles. Skylar fell asleep towards the end of Turtles, and Dad switched to a mid-80s Tom Hanks vehicle, Nothing In Common, and then to the Dallas-Saints game.

Rose and Khai and Keefe and Vicki came home just as Mom was pulling out dessert. We had pumpkin pie, apple pie, and Mom's famous chocolate chip bar cookies. (I really need to get her recipe for the cookies. She's made them for school functions for literally 30 years. I had kids I went to school with coming up to me when I worked at the North Cape May Acme saying how much they used to love those.) Rose changed Khai into the cutest polar bear-themed PJs, and the rest of us had a nice chat about Looney Tunes and holiday traditions. It would seem that Vicki is a huge Looney Tunes fan - I thought she seemed like a smart girl. She and Keefe were really cute together.

Mom also gave me two American Girl catalogs she got in the mail. I haven't had one of those since Bruce gave me one around the time Samantha retired, and I had a great time paging through them and looking at all the clothes and the neat new stuff they have for the dolls. I hope this means I might be getting some American Girls clothes for my girls for Christmas. I doubt Mom gets things from AG regularly.

Rose fed Khai, and we finally headed home. He slept the whole way, and we talked about our family, about my work, the dinner she and her boyfriend held for his wacky family a few days ago, and the upcoming holidays. I got in much earlier than we'd planned, around quarter of 10.

(Oh, and though Dallas made a few spectacular runs later in the game, the Saints eventually pulled off a 30-27 win.)

Once again, I hope everyone had a great holiday!