Can you believe it? Just 5 more days until Christmas!!
This past Thursday, Brian and I got up early and drove the four and a half hours to Boise, Idaho. It was the first time I had been to Boise to see my mom since she moved there with Jim a couple years back. Since her marriage, I’ve seen her three other times: twice here in Utah and once in Colorado for my brother’s high school graduation. So it was exciting to finally visit her in her natural habitat.
Daniel and Renee had been there before and they both told me that it was a mansion, so I was expecting it to be towering up on a hill, overlooking the Suburban sprawl below it. Sorta’ like Edward Scissorhand’s mansion, only prettier. But it was a normal house like all the rest of the houses on its street. A bit of a letdown. Sure it has six bedrooms and even more TVs than that (much bigger and grander than any hovel we ever lived in growing up), but no butler to greet us at the door or anything. Just my mom and her smiling face.
During our stay, we did lots of fun things. We went bowling, and I totally kicked everybody’s trash! Okay, my whopping score of like 120 is hardly anything to brag about, but I did score higher than both my mom and Brian. We were all pretty bad. I started and ended with horrible beyond horrible frames, but in the middle I had two strikes, a spare, and another strike all in a row. My luck was slow to come and quick to leave!
We also went to the nursing home where my mom works to check out her hall’s awesome decorations. They did up the whole place to look like Whoville and my mom was pretty proud of it. Turned out they won the decorating contest, which made her even happier. We also met some of her coworkers and the people she cares for. Everybody seems to love her. And why wouldn’t they? My mom is amazing.
Before we left, Brian and my mom did an impromptu Christmas concert in the dining hall for all the residents to enjoy. My mom played some Christmas carols, and Brian sang. They both did a great job, and I was really happy that they did it. The residents were grateful as well. One woman in particular couldn’t stop praising Brian, and was very disappointed when he stopped singing.
Later that night Jim’s daughter Joyce came over with her partner Brandi and her son Nick. It was nice to be able to meet them. While they were at the house, we helped my mom make some Christmas candy. My favorites were the chocolate-dipped peanut butter balls. Anyone who knows me knows that I love love love love love peanut butter. So I was a very happy boy, indeed!
The next morning Jim came back from his business trip in Hawaii and the four of us exchanged our Christmas gifts. Brian and I got my mom a nice pair of earrings from Banana Republic, and we got Jim a C.O. Bigelow cologne from Bath and Body Works. They gave us a bread machine, and we couldn’t have been happier!
The only downside is it’s one more thing to pack into our car when we move…
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| We don't look anything alike, do we? (I don't think I'm really hers...) |
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| What can it be?? |
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