January 9, 2011

We hopped out of bed to begin our BIG DAY. When I got done outside I went straight to the basement door cause I just knew Mike and Stacey stayed over! I just couldn’t wait to see them. They’re gonna get around and go to Mass before the rest of the company comes. Mamaw is workin in the kitchen getting stuff done ahead of time so she can enjoy the company too.

Stacey took a shower and when she came out of the bathroom, she had a “purple thing” on her head—scared the hell outta me! I was sure happy when she got all “duded up” as Mamaw does and came out lookin like a people; not an alien. Mamaw and Poppy got “duded up” too—it was quite a sight I tell ya—quite a sight. Course I had to go in the kennel while they went to church but with company around I didn’t want to make a scene so I went to the slammer peacefully.

They just got home from church and Reggie, Kurt, Catherine and Jonathan arrived. They were all talking at the same time havin a great get-together and Mamaw and Poppy are smiling like crazy. I kinda had to get re-acquainted so I took my time smellin em—yep; they belong to us!

Poppy cooked that pork loin in that special cooker of his and as he’s tendin to that Mamaw is putting “junk food” out and cooked the potato casserole and the green bean casserole. It smelled so good I wanted to be in the kitchen (just in case she dropped anything on the floor) but she wouldn’t allow that. I gotta be patient; ya know—bide my time.

And then there was a knock at the door and here came Debora, Eric and Brooks. They got invited to dinner too cause Debora is cousins with Mike and Reggie and they haven’t seen much of each other during these years of raisin kids so they all sat at the table together—Poppy was right there too—and they all got to have a wonderful visit together. And all the time, Mamaw just has this huge smile on her face. She did make me go into the kennel long enough for them to eat cause she didn’t want “any interference” she said.

Eric, Deb and Brooks had to leave soon after they ate (well for God’s sake, they didn’t even eat until 1:00 p.m.—frankly I’d be starving my now). They ate and it began to snow so they wanted to get on the road to get Brooks back to college at UNI. Mamaw put together a whole bunch of “junk food” for Brooks to take back to college and share with his roommates.

So FINALLY they open their presents. Now Mamaw is just a big kid don’t ya know and she wanted to open them BEFORE lunch but Poppy wanted to wait—Poppy won out. But now we’re gonna do it! I watched from the kennel cause Mamaw knew I’d be right after the paper and I made a New Year’s Resolution that I was goin to try to do better with that so she decided to help me keep my promise…we had fun all the way around and smile just permeated the room.

And not long after that, Mike and Stacey thought they should get on the road cause it was snowin and they had to drive to Mason City. And besides that, he’s got a job interview tomorrow and has to get the job application filled out and ready. The other thing is that Stacey is a Packers fan and they are playin football at 3:30 today.

The last to leave was Reggie and her family. When they were gone Mamaw was exhausted and invited me back to the waterbed for a nap. I looked over at her while she napped and she still had that huge smile on her face. I think she’s happy…and you know the ole saying, “If Mamaw ain’t happy—ain’t NOBODY HAPPY! Good day—good party—good company—good food—Mamaw says we’re blessed.