Our friend Wilma arrived at our house yesterday morning and she rode with Daniel, Drew, and I to Baltimore to spend the day with our family and friends while celebrating a late Christmas and New Years.
It was such fun. An absolutely wonderful time. But there were SO MANY people there.
You could curl up in a cozy chair in the living room, watch the football game, and share in conversation. Or go to the kitchen and watch Mary Beth scurrying around. Or sit at the dining room table and join in the Monopoly game. Or visit Grandpa in his suite. Or head downstairs and play pool. Or visit Nana’s suite, play the piano, snack on cookies, and chat. Or, you could play in Sarah’s room with the Ever Wiggly Drew who loved the cars and balls in her closet (that were actually Hobo’s toys, hehe). And in each of those places, it seemed like FIFTEEN PEOPLE were doing the same thing as you.
Since I’m an only child, and swing back and forth from being an introvert to an extrovert, I had my moments of I-need-to-get-some-fresh-air. I’m simply NOT used to large crowds. But ever since I’ve known the Bergey’s, I’ve gotten more used to the crowd, the laughter, and the fun. And Saturday was really, really wonderful.
Here’s Steve & Cassidy, laptopping, posing, and being sweet as pie.
And here’s Dani and Tim, after I told them to act like they love each other.
Ben, who had been (and who was when we first arrived) horribly sick, finally had a moment where he felt like a normal human being and managed a smile.
Wilma joined the mass of folks holding cameras. But did not join the mass who were holding Macintosh laptops. WE WILL CONVERT YOU ALL.
I absolutely love this picture. The tree, the gifts, the family, the smiles…it’s an accurate picture of how wonderful and wiggly it was to be there.
Now that we don’t see either side of our family on a regular basis, I really treasure these moments when we can share, laugh, and love with the people we love unconditionally because they are part of our tribe. So to speak. 😉 [Here’s the larger picture]
Although I had a grand time, Drew really struggled while we were there. He had moments where he was all smiles, giggles, and chasing folks through the house. But his horrible cough, runny nose, and LACK OF A NAP ALL DAY LONG made him a little monster a few hours before dinner. I finally convinced him to curl up with me on Nana’s bed and take a nap.
Within minutes he was snoring and so I took a picture and then left to play Monopoly. I WON. I rock.
Here’s Dani. Being awesome. And knowing it, probably. 😉
Eric and Stacy (and Emily and Elias) snuck in before dinner. We have this continuing joke about how we moved all the way to Pennsylvania in August (they live about 15 minutes away from us now) and STILL have not gotten together for dinner or coffee. And the joke is that we’ve invited them over more than once and had to cancel on them at the last minute. I keep assuring them that we aren’t messing with them.
Here’s Eric and sweet Emily. Emily is so precious and I can’t believe how much she’s growing up.
And Elias and Stacy. Elias’ hair, eyes, and dimples are enough to make me swoon.
We didn’t leave Baltimore until 10:15pm last night. And then started out for a 2 hour trip ride home. With a little boy who is teething, and has a bad cold. The first hour was sad. Drew couldn’t get comfortable. But by the second hour, Drew and I were both sacked out asleep. And Wilma talked to Daniel and kept him awake for the drive home.
This morning we woke early (earlier than I wanted to, bleck) and got ready for another gathering at Engage. Daniel headed out earlier than us because he does geek/presentation stuff during the service and he has to be there with the audio guys during setup.
Because Drew is so sickly, I didn’t put him in the nursery. It was his first time out in the main part of the service. Engage is very coffee-house like, literally. Folks get up to get coffee quite often. So, I don’t think anyone minded that Drew was throwing balls around, giggling, and begging to get down and run around on the large rug in the back of the room.
He loved the music (as did I, groove, groove). But when Jon started speaking, he got a bit too wiggly. I ended up taking him to the women’s bathroom (am I a horrid mother for doing that?) and we rolled balls back and forth on the floor and drove cars around the heat vent. He kept asking “musik? wheresa wilma?”
After the service at Engage, Wilma treated us to a quick bite at McDonald’s and then we all came home and visited a bit before she left to head back upstate. I tucked a sleepy little boy in bed and Daniel and I have just relaxed the rest of the day.
We’ve watched a lot of House (I am starting to like this show, hmm), eaten some yummy butternut pound cake given to us by Miss Dottie (she makes TONS OF CAKES each Christmas and mails them all over the country – she so sweetly said “I’ve only been able to make 90 this season”), and snuggled our sick little boy.
I feel as though the holidays are coming to a close for me now. Our Christmas tree is still sparkling but I think it may go to Christmas tree heaven this week.
