Weekend update

I have to say off the bat that this weekend was all about DW. While, as you all close to us know, she can be a royal PITA sometimes, it is a small price to pay for all the things she brings to this family. DW has a fierce loyalty to family tat essentially matches my own. She loves to entertain like I do. She loves to make food and I love to eat the food she makes. Ours is a symbiotic relationship. :)

This weekend was a doozy. Only two weeks removed from the "move from hell" and we were hosting what is typically our largest event of the year; our Annual Christmas Open House. Everyone, especially my MIL, was saying that we were positively nutso. Two friends that recently moved (last couple of months) also were not happy that we moved twice the stuff and was unpacked enough to even allow people to view the inside of the house while they were still looking for lost clothes among their boxes.

To compound the already tight time frame, we just had to challenge ourselves by adding to items that chewed into our working time. The first was to go and visit my cousin Ric who just got in on Thursday from Trinidad. Not so bad one thinks until you realize we are driving from Ajax to Brampton during the holiday season at 9:30PM. We were there for a couple of hours more than the one I told DW we would be so it was late night number four. On Saturday, we had much running around gathering supplies and such and then join MS and PS for their gathering at home (which was loads of fun, BTW). This was a longer time that included food, drink, stories, drink, shop talk, drink, food and, er, more drink. What was really nice is that TC finally got to interact with the kidlets and they hit it off famously. So much so that even though PS had to work, I got MS to drop the kidlets over so they could continue their Xbox rivalries with TC in the basement. Just to drop off topic for a quick sec, and to do some brown-nosing, we really lucked out in meeting, nurturing and enjoying a friendship with MS and PS. They are one of a kind and we always enjoy our time with them. Adult Gaming Night 2007 - Episode One will commence in January. Ok, back to the story.

So, we get home and DW lays down and pretty much passes out on the couch. TC was tired too but I sent her down to get her laundry sitting in the laundry room before she went to bed. I finally got DW up and ended up sitting on the devil's chair myself and passing out. DW apparently had a burst of energy at that point and went gonzo. She decided the tree was going up NOW so went off to the garage and dragged the box that contains our 7.5ft tree in by herself and proceeded, for the first time, to put the whole thing up herself. I must say, this year she did a better job of it than I did last year. the tree looks beautiful and though it took her a few tries and about an hour, she finally got me up to check the tree out and retired to bed with the hopes I was up enough to start working on the rest of the outstanding items.

Yeah right.

Back to sleep I went and work up around 6:45AM, got a couple of things done but there were still bits of stuff everywhere with the living room still looking like a nuclear testing facility on the French Atoll. So, DW woke up and heading to the kitchen to finish her preparations there. I woke TC in order for her to get up and get helping me make the place look respectable; I woke her a second time with better success. She knows better than to push her luck and have me have to do it a third time so se got up ad got going.

Long story short, a lot of things got dumped into the "office"; so much so that the small passage that allowed me into the room no longer existed. The guest room was cleaned up and I finished assembling the bed so that looked okay. The dining room is the only main room, besides the office, that really as boxes left unopened. The reason for this is that the buffet and hutch held a lot of our glass and breakables. The problem is the stupid carpet they laid down makes the thing rock more than a drunken Keith Richards so we have been weary to put our valuables into it until we get that behaviour corrected. The family room had the piano blocked off with various pictures to prevent anyone playing it; that is where the tree is as well. The living room had all the crap cleared off the table, boxes moved, game stuff into the stereo cabinet and other items... into the office. This shifting continued throughout the place but the majority were in the above mentioned spots.

The basement was a little tricky as I had to go into the garage to pull out the area rug. Then clear an area for it to go into. Then "walk" the TV stand into place behind it. Then hoist the 32" TV onto it. Then find the extension cord to get power to it. TC then was tasked with find a surge protector, the Xbox and controllers and attaching it all up. I gave her a hand when she got confused on the input and out and SVGA connections. So, the kids section, the area we expecting to swallow and keep all of their attentions, was set up.

Guests started arriving around 3:30 with DP, his wife and their daughter arriving first. Slowly, the house began to fill as more and more guests, including a surprise visit from my MIL (who indicated she was not coming) and our family from Chicago as they were in town for the week. That was the icing on the cake. Some folks were sick and could not make it. Some others got tied up and called in to apologize on no longer being able to make it. Others did not have the courtesy to even call and say they can no longer make it (no at all pleased on that). Still others never read or replied to the Evite if they did read it. Such is life. We had a good time and they missed out on DW's fab balls (thanks PS for that recipe), her Sorrel (Trini drink), the punch e creme (Trini drink), her black cake, my cousin's sweetbread, BB's white chocolate covered vanilla cake (that we never got to taste because it was devoured), sandwiches, meats, cheeses, crackers, peanuts, cashews, olives and much more. Oh yeah, and lots and lots and LOTS of alcohol.

This was a precursor to the Christmas weekend so if I blog incoherently one day, you will know why. As for my wife, I really am a lucky man to have a woman embrace a culture not her own so readily and impress those who have lived it all their lives (i.e. my mother, sister, aunt and cousins). If it were her ambition, I am certain she could become a master chef one day. As it is, I will simply continue to enjoy the fruits of her labour as will those lucky enough to be called friends and family. Thanks DW for making another social event a roaring success. The hard work you put in is never unnoticed and you will be rewarded in due time. Love you dearly. :)

Ciao.