Ahhh

Li'l Dave and Taylor slept in so I had some precious one-on-one time with my son Larry before I had to go down to the barn yesterday.  Our group get-togethers are so much fun, but busy lives limit the  the special individual visits that I treasure.  It was so nice to sit and talk (and play a little cards, of course).  Back up at the house, the others were also up and it was time to fix a country breakfast of sausage, hash browns, and eggs with cheese.  Taylor has a hat fetish and every time she came out of "her" room, she was wearing a different chapeau.  I happen to have any number of hats for play, but, for Taylor, a bow, a visor, a paper paint mask will do.  Kids with autism have their own view of the universe.

The guys were in no hurry after the rush of the day before, so we lounged and talked, watched a little TV, and they also went back downstairs to do some more jammin' on guitar and drums.  Sitting upstairs, I could feel the vibrations as they rocked out some R&B.  Larry writes music and I love it when he plays his original stuff.  When it came time to pack up, I had no idea how many components a drum set has.  The guys got their exercise making countless trips up and down stairs.  I did ask Li'l Dave if he'd ever considered the piccolo instead.  He said, "Many times!"

It happens over and over again.  "Now make another sweep through the house and make sure you have everything.  It's a long way back if you leave something.  Do you have your cellphones and sunglasses, etc.?"  Goodbyes and "Love you" said, the last of the Christmas crowd drove off.  Celeste, whom no one had seen from the git-go, came out of hiding and demanded a lap.  Ralph discovered bits of ribbon and other new toys with which he amused himself.  Not much later, I found one of Larry's birthday gifts given by his oh-so-timely sister and brother-in-law (Larry's birthday is in the first week of January and I think Deb does this just to show off) left on the dining room table.  Rats!  Almost always I find some forgotten item left behind.  Worse still, in the outside refrigerator I found all the jars of spiced butter-rum mix I'd made for each of the Kids to go with the cookies and candies bags.  Double rats!

Wood stove warmth, goats and chickens in bed, cats and dog on my lap, quiet house.  Nothing on the To-Do list for today.  A perfect ending to a perfect Christmas.  Ahhh.