Friday, January 2, 2009

A Redneck Christmas...the story


We spent our Christmas break with Richard's family in South Carolina. I call it a Redneck Christmas because of a special Christmas present to Dad Marsh from his kids: A new Husquavarna chainsaw. We have had it at our house since the middle of December and I thought Richard would bite his leg off if he had to wait another minute to try it out. Much of our break consisted of food, food, more food, chainsaws and wood, along with more chainsaws and wood, fires with hotdogs and marshmallows and playing games. It was a fun time and great to be out of Atlanta for a little bit.

The party started Monday the 22nd, with dropping Sarah and Ryan and their kids off at the airport, ready to go to Arizona to spend Christmas with Ryan's family. About 20 minutes later, after Jim threw up in front of the ticket agent, we picked them back up from the airport and took them home so they could get ready to come to South Carolina with us. We went on ahead of them and within 2 minutes the chainsaw was out and presented to Dad, although I honestly don't know if he ever got to run it because Richard and Robert never let it go. With Richard, Robert and Dad busy looking for things to chainsaw, Mom, Kerry, baby Vanessa, and I prepared to make some homemade candy including fudge, English toffee, caramels, and southern pralines.

Sarah and Ryan and their kids made it later that afternoon and we had the whole family together for Christmas for the first time since Richard and I got engaged. Out of the 12 people and by late Christmas Eve, 14 people once Chris and Hollie made it, 7 of us were sinusy, throwing up, or worse! But glad to say my iron clad immune system and Kerry's "Hobo" immune system, stayed true as we never got sick. I'm sure it's coming eventually. So with legal American drugs and a few possibly illegal Mexican drugs, we managed to get everyone well enough eventually.

We had our first fire outside on chilly Tuesday night. Wednesday, Christmas Eve, things warmed up to "normal" Carolina weather, a cool 75 degrees for our fireside Nativity, acted out by Jim, Savannah and a doll. We added baby Caroline and baby Vanessa to the manger (a doll stroller or buggy if you're in the south) but merely for the photo op as we decided they would not like staying in it while we read the Christmas story. Christmas morning we got up around 7:15 to see Savannah and Jim get their Santa gifts and to open presents as a famiy. Dad started a new tradition to make breakfast for everyone: He asked what kind of ceral we all wanted and then proceeded to not pour it for us. Not quite the Egg McAndrews that I'm used to with my family, but oh well. The afternoon was spent at the "Family Compound" as my family calls it, up in Properity, SC. That is where all of Richard's Mom's immediate family lives. We cooked our own steaks and had a potluck of baked potatoes, salads, and desserts. We followed with a tractor ride with Pop around the property.

The next day we had our family photos, headed up by Kerry, the apprentice haggler. We managed to get good family photos and some super cute photos of the grandkids all for the amazing price of $200, or wait no that's how much it was supposed to cost. She managed to get it down to $40.00! Simply stunning! Saturday was junking day for the girls and Unreal tournament day for boys. We went to several thrift stores and got some great stuff at a great price. I added to my school debt, once again, getting more and more things for my class. After junking, we set up the quilting squares so that we could tie Robert and Kerry's Christmas quilt. Unfortunately, the weather forcasters that said the fog would burn off by noon were only off by like 48 hours. So we quilted, in the fog for about 4 hours. We finished just before it got dark and as the missionary couple and their family showed up for our fire cookout ( if you are keeping track this is fire number 3 since coming). More hotdogs and several JetPuff marshmallows for Sarah, we had a foggy, but fun fire that night. Church on Sunday, were the people visiting outnumbered the actual members of the branch (twig as Lindel calls it).

Monday marked my day to start getting all of my projects done that I had planned to do for school. Kerry helped me, as the boys went to stain the dock at the lake property, because they had cut down all of the trees that Mom would allow them to cut down or they didn't want to split the cut wood by hand. We managed to get 8 animal hats done and some personal work space mats cut out. Kerry and Vanessa made it on a plane to New York to spend some time with her cousins, but Robert didn't make it, so he came back to be cheap labor.

The next big event was the New Year's Eve party. We spent all day cleaning the house from the tornado that hit it over the last week and 1/2 . After several hours of cleaning, cooking, and planning, we had the party ready, with quite a spread and yes...another fire with hotdogs and marshmallows (I love that!). We had about 40 people show up, not the usual 100 that the in-laws are used to, but hey more food and fireworks for us. Yes, thats right, fireworks. And not these junky ground ones like everywhere else. We are talking, in the air exploding lights, mortor, loud boom fireworks. Along with a few dry ice bombs and some snap dragons and sparklers for the kids, we had a great show. Although it was really cold, we had a nice warm fire to warm up at with some coco, or you could go inside to play games until we waited for midnight.

New years day marked another junking day, with a trip to the Goodwill clearance center. This is the best thrift store ever! It is all of the stuff that has been at Goodwill for too long, so they bring it here dump it in these huge bins and then sell everything for $1 a pound. Heaven! I was able to find more stuff for school along with a few items of clothing for Richard and myself. Mom and Sarah got several things as well and then a trip to Wendy's for lunch with the girls. Then it was back to getting school work done. I got almost everything I planned, plus some stuff that I just came up with, done with the help of my mother-in-law, the master seamstress. The sad thing is, I did all of this work and spent all of this money for school and I fear it will get destroyed or something like that!

Today, everyone did their own thing. Hollie and Sarah went back to the Goodwill clearance, Mom, Dad, Savannah, Jim, and Chris saw The Tale of Desperaux, Ryan stayed home with the baby, and Richard and I ran errands. Then I went to get my haircut, always a terrifying experience for me, but it turned out good. Then a tense game of Mexican Train dominos, the favorite game of the break, interrupted by a family trip to Cici's Pizza, only to be continued with Mom as the winner. It is quite possibly the longest game, other than Monopoly, but it is so much fun! And now we are watching the Utah vs. Alabama game and wondering if Utah is going to pull it off.

All in all we have had such a fun time being here, hanging out with family, and taking a break! And now you know why I don't blog very much. I explain way to much. Hope that everyone had a great Christmas and New Years.