Christmas

This Christmas was a hard one as we said goodbye to Duke, our dear dog of 11 years. He was affectionately known as Poopy Duke. For the first time in a while, it was pretty tough getting into the Christmas spirit. We didn't put up too many decorations and we didn't really purchase any gifts until Friday, the 23rd. Yet and still, it was lovely to be home with my family. My parents and I embarked on watching all VI episodes of Star Wars. Unfortunately, we left the universe in statis, with the Empire in control since we didn't watch the last episode. We also didn't engage in our tradition of watching all 3 The Lord of the Rings movies (extended versions of course). We did however partake in a bountiful Christmas dinner cooked by yours truly on Saturday night. Mom conveniently hurt her back Saturday morning and was not able to do much but pull out cookbooks, dictate recipes and offer moral support. I didn't mind at all - now I have all the secret recipes! Dad helped by cooking the mashed potatoes, and my brother David, hmm, well, he ate!

Sunday morning we went to church where I was happy to sing 3 songs - Joy to the World, O Come all ye Faithful and the Christmas standard, O Holy Night. Afterwards we went home to eat again and open presents. My big gift was tires for my car (so appreciated) and David's was a new laptop! Mom enjoyed receiving lots of bath soaps and salts and Dad got cologne, T-Shirts and a pretty nice gift card.

During my time at home, I was able to sleep a bunch, enjoy the fireplace and attend quite a few Zumba classes! I also met up with some dear high school friends and saw the Gabe Zimmerman Memorial Bench that was placed at our high school, University High. Gabe was an aide to Tucson Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and was shot and killed last year on January 8th at a community event.

Right before I left we played a ridiculous game called Quelf. It forced us to be silly and zany (as if we needed help with that) and gave us lots of good laughs! It was a lovely way to end the visit home.

Tucson Time! (from May)

I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed being home. I was a little worried last Monday as it was a rough day. I envisioned the week being awful and my vacation being a cry fest. I mean, what the mess? It's amazing how we can let our imaginations go wild on the negative side. Instead of thinking I'd be laughing, resting, reading, having fun, smiling all the time, I thought I'd be crying out in prayer for God to deliver me. And all this based on a few rough hours last Monday. Give me a break!

Thankfully God shook me and reminded me I'm more than an over-comer. I'm not a survivor, I'm not just getting by, I'm thriving. So no matter what's going on, I have reason to hope in God.

So fast forward to Wednesday, it was a lovely, lovely day. Then Thursday I got to record some background vocals for a new artist at a studio in Glendale and then I was on my way to AZ. I love driving and this time the 7 hours seemed to fly by. After a brief visit with long time friends in the Phoenix area, I made it to Tucson without a hitch!

Friday was quite restful - no deadlines, no phone calls to make, nothing to take care of... just a chance to sleep and let myself recharge. How delightful!  I've always loved the 'safe' and 'no obligation' feeling of being at my parents' home. I remember coming home from college and just sleeping for a couple days, as my brother did when he came home Saturday morning.

But back to Friday night, my parents (it was really my mom's doing, but my dad did NOT intervene) forced me to watch Puss n Boots with Christopher Walken and Volcano. I cannot explain just how awful each of these movies were. Don't watch them, just take my word for it. 

The best part of the trip was spending time watching Netflix with my mom and watching my Dad work on my car to repair the pulley on the automatic windows and of course playing games.

Sunday afternoon was when the real fun began. My brother and I got a new game called "Quelf." Everytime we played it we had so much fun and laughed so hard...the kind of laughter that makes you almost wet yourself and sweat profusely. One of the best moments was when none of us could use the words "turn, roll, go" and when we said my brother's name, David, he had to reply with some crazy phrase and everytime it was my turn he had to make up a cheer for me, and I had a tie around my neck and couldn't use my arms, and my mom was speaking in baby language and my dad suddenly gets up and starts stomping his foot and sang a made up square dancing song.  Hilarious!  I leave you with what my brother said on his blog:

It's actually an amazingly fun game and probably the best game we've played as a family. I had laughed so hard and so much during the games that afterwards I had a seriously horrible sore throat. I can only imagine how they felt because they laughed just as much as me from all the fun. In fact, it was so much fun my desire to win was overpowered by just having all that fun and family love.