It started with a phone call. Hubby's mom had found out that her cancer had returned. There would be no treatment this time. It just had gone too long without detection. Hubby made a trip down to see her and help out however he could. He returned and we all made a trip down. We got back the same weekend as Rugrat's birthday.
She had been asking to have a party but with everything else, we just didn't get it worked out. So she picked out a restaurant (Red Robin) and got a rainbow cake and presents. The next weekend we worked it out for her to have a friend come and celebrate with her. I had told her she could have an outing with a friend but, to our surprise, all she wanted to do was go eat lunch and come home to play with her.
And so we did. Lunch at Braum's (her choice) then home again to play. For four hours. And they weren't ready to stop then. But I didn't want to hamper any of her friend's family plans. They both declared it their "best day ever" so I think maybe she had a good time.
A few days later, we got the call from hospice and Hubby began to make his way there. We followed for the funeral and returned shortly before Hubby made his way back.
Because we had decided to do our Christmas visit before Christmas this year with plans to be home afterward (a good thing with the dire weather forecast for a frozen Christmas Eve), we left a few days later to head to my mom's for a Christmas visit. And we made it home in time for Chick to fill her Christmas Eve shift at the store.
Somewhere in there, we also managed to get Rugrat's annual Santa shot. This time, our local Kohl's was doing it with people taking their own pictures. While the Bass Pro one is much more professional, it frankly isn't so much better that it's worth the nasty downtown trip to get there if Kohl's will do it only a few miles away.
Doing Christmas that way was much easier and more enjoyable for us. I could feel myself starting to stress on Christmas Day several times before remembering that we didn't have to go anywhere. And for once, the week before Chick's birthday was a lot more calm.
We celebrated Chick's birthday pretty much the same way as we usually do except that it fell on Sunday this year. So she had a morning worship, a birthday lunch at Shorty Small's (her restaurant choice), and cake and presents at home.
We've enjoyed a few days rest and time together. And now, tomorrow, I look forward to getting back to our school routine.
And just routine in general.
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