It has been a fast and furious few weeks since I sat down long enough to write a note or two. Allison and I headed home to Florida on December 15. Lauren, Maggie, and Ashley met us at the airport and we met Sean and Kristine at Texas Roadhouse for a great American meal before heading home.
My first order of business was to get together with 3 of my best buddies, Pam, Julie and Teri at Bluewater Bay. It was so great to see them and celebrate with our annual meal which over the years has become as important a part of the holidays as any tradition we have. No matter how crazy the time gets, we carve out a few precious hours to talk, eat, drink, open presents, catch up, and enjoy each other. After our 3 hour lunch, I had to get packages wrapped and to the post office. I was able to mail off 4 packages on Friday.
Julie, Teri, Pam, BetsySunday, the 18th, found us up and feeling energized enough to go find a Christmas Tree. We found a beautiful 9 foot Fraser fir tree which Sean hauled home for us in his truck. We spent Monday getting the lights on it and the angel on top. We did get the ornaments down from the attic along with one nativity scene which along with a few Santa pillows and windsocks made up our holiday decorations for the year.
We had trouble with our van and it had to be in the shop all day Monday and Tuesday, so I spent those days working on "plumping up the house" Giving it the TLC it needed to help us all feel at home and comfortable for the holiday. It was chilly and great "fire in the fireplace" weather. That along with candles, fresh flowers, chili on the stove, and plenty of "young ones" in and out of the house all day, made it feel like home again.
I spent Monday evening with my book club. It was great catching up with everyone and seeing Lori's great barn which is decorated to rival her beautiful home. I left with 3 new must read books on my list.
Wednesday, the 21st, was a very busy day. After picking up the van, I dashed to Gainesville to get a cashier's check to purchase a car for Lauren. We found her a 2001 white Malibu to match Maggie's. It was a great find and a relief to have that taken care of. After that I went to lunch with my friend and fellow 5th grade teacher, Elaine. We had a wonderful lunch at Sugar Tree on Kingsley Lake after I visited her beautifully decorated Southern Living home. We sat outside on the deck overlooking the lake. The sun was out and it sparkled on the gorgeous lake and I marveled at the wide open space of clean water and air and just appreciated all that I have been missing. It was a perfect time to catch up on fifth grade news and spend time with my dear friend and mentor. Thanks Elaine! Allison had a bonfire and it was fun to see many of her and Lauren's friends
Later that evening I picked Terry up at the airport and we met Sean, Kristine, Lauren, and Rodney for a Mexican meal at La Napolera's. Yum!
Thursday, the 22nd, was the day to get the ornaments on the tree. It took all day and we did it in shifts, but by evening it was decorated! We shared a soup supper with our family friends, the McLeod's, Bruey's and Frank Katora , and Teri Sapp. We watched the Gators beat Miami in basketball and once again it was great to be home! We had Kevin and Michael open their presents of mother of pearl and abalone hand inlaid pool cues. These came from Minduro, the island where Puerto Galera is located. They really liked them as did the rest of the guys who received them. Terry will now work on restocking our collection with these beautiful works of art.
Friday, the 23rd, found Terry, Allison, and I heading to St. Augustine to the outlet mall to stock up on a few things we need to bring back to Manila. Most clothing is impossible to purchase in our sizes in Manila so we took advantage of Eddie Bauer, the Gap and Maidenform to restock.
Maggie drove up after work and met us for lunch at Acapulco for another Mexican meal. Afterwards we went to visit our other best buddies, the Gibsons. Their home was beautifully decorated for Christmas and Marilyn and Cecil gave us the neatest gift of a Scottish clad Nutcracker. They have an extensive collection of every kind of nutcracker you can imagine so this gift is such a great reminder of them!
Christmas Eve found us all finishing the last minute details of shopping and wrapping. We all went to Christmas Eve Mass together at 5 then enjoyed a Christmas Eve Mexican meal together at Laredo's!
Merry Christmas! We slept in until about 8:30 which is quite late for our family since we are used to having our young cousins wake up really early on Christmas morning. Terry fixed a cheese grits scramble and we opened presents before heading to Jacksonville to spend the day with Terry's family. It was great to see everyone and catch up on everything the Sullivan clan has been up to since our reunion in July.
Traditional stairway picture Christmas Morning.Monday and Tuesday were spent in Orlando, seeing Lauren's apartment and Maggie's house and helping them stock up on needed items. We shopped and went to eat, YES, another Mexican meal! This time at Maria Bonita's. Maggie friend Nate joined us for an enjoyable yummy evening! That makes my fifth great Mexican meal in two weeks! We celebrated Maggie's 22nd birthday a few days early.
We met Sean in Gainesville on Tuesday afternoon to see his condo and get him stocked up on needed items. Terry went to work for a couple of hours and then met us at Calico Jack's for some seafood.
Wednesday, the 28th, found us at home taking the tree down and getting packed to return to Manila. It was a busy and difficult day because none of us were ready to leave. It is probably good that we had a short trip because I was quite ready to stay HOME! Allsion had her second bonfire, but it started to rain so the party moved indoors.
Sean and Lauren took us to the airport early on the 29th and we flew into Manila at 10:30 PM on the 30th. Terry and I celebrated our 23rd wedding anniversary as we slept in the plane crossing the international date line. By the time we landed and left the airport our day had passed us by- It is a good thing that we celebrate each other every day! We were greeted by our driver Fred who informed us that firework competitions were clogging traffic all over the city and we didn't get to our condo until 1:30 AM. Welcome to the Philippines!
Happy New Year!
We tried to sleep some on Saturday, but needed to shop and get ready for our New Year's Eve party. I was beginning to think it was crazy to host a gathering the night of our return, but it was the perfect way to get back into the swing of things. We celebrated with about 20 of our new friends here in Manila. It was great fun and the fireworks flashed all around us just outside of our windows.
watching fireworks
No comments:
Post a Comment