I don't believe that in a house with this many people, there's no shampoo! (Thanksgiving 2017)
My sister and I left for our hometown around 1 on Wednesday and made good time, although I was pretty stressed by having to drive the last ~1.5 hours in the dark. Our mom called us when we were just outside I-town and sounded stressed; when we got to her house, we discovered that her oven had died! It apparently just stopped working with no warning (after at least 20 years) the day before Thanksgiving. Mom and Adam had to go to Wal-Mart that night and buy a confectionery oven, then Mom had to take the turkey apart and cook it in pieces, since the whole thing wouldn't fit.
Sara and I stayed in a hotel this time, not at our mom's house, and it was so much nicer that I don't know why I never did this before. Mom's house is creaky and drafty, and Adam was more annoying that I remembered. We went there on Thursday afternoon for Thanksgiving dinner, and you would never have known it wasn't cooked in a real oven. Mom had made turkey, rice dressing, and all the other fixings, and Sara brought two homemade pies, one chococlate chess (my absolute favorite) and one cherry-rhubarb. Aunt Carla joined us for dinner, and I was really glad to finally see her again. I got her a crocheted rug and some photos I stole from Facebook of all her grand nieces and nephews. (It started out just as photos of Abram, but then I decided to include everyone else. Between them all, she has DNA in Louisiana, Alabama, Colorado, the Netherlands, and South Korea!) After eating, Sara and I went on a long walk through the neighborhood -- past my high school, Grandma's old house, Bunny the Horse, our old apartment, C-school. We found the square of cement where I wrote my initials +7 years ago! It was so strange. Living in my current city and working in my current field weren't even on the horizon for 2010 Rebecca. I guess it just goes to show that we never know where life is going to take us.
On Friday, I drove to services at my hometown temple. I hate driving there and almost never did it when I lived there, even in the dead of winter, but after I dragged Mom's bike out from the bowels of the backyard shed, I realized it had two flat tires! Services had a small turnout, but one lady brought a loaf of challah, and I brought Hanukkah sugar cookies. (Which I made at the very last minute before we left on Wednesday, smashing the dough flat with a can of chicken soup because we don't have a rolling pin.) The temple has recently rennovate their courtyard, but I was most surprised that they'd switched to Mishkan T'filah for their siddur. I think I was the only one who liked the old "Gates of Grey" siddur.
On Saturday, I dragged Sara to eat at my favorite pizza place, and then we visited Aunt Connie (and Uncle John, briefly), and it was fun, even though their lemon tree wasn't ripe enough to pick yet. They had just gotten back from a trip to Florida. They've fixed their guest bedroom up really nice, and I was almost tempted to stay with them! We didn't see our cousin O, but Aunt Connie says she's doing much better. They got a crocheted rug too, although I felt a bit silly giving that to Aunt Connie, who can crochet much better than I can.
And inbetween, we spent a lot of time playing videogames at Mom's house (I'm still boss at MarioKart, but I can barely beat the easiest levels of Super MarioWorld!) and lying in bed at our hotel, watching endless hours of TV. One channel was playing Home Alone, my all-time favorite Christmas movie. One channel kept playing Titanic over and over. We caught old episodes of ER, Full House (the one where Nicky and Alex are born), every series of Law & Order, all of Adventures in Baby-Sitting, and bits of Sex and the City 2, but even Sara couldn't watch much of that, and she loves to hate-watch the first movie. We made Adam watch a little of The Great British Bake-Off on Netflix - he assumed Paul and Mary were a couple!!!
Sara and I stayed in a hotel this time, not at our mom's house, and it was so much nicer that I don't know why I never did this before. Mom's house is creaky and drafty, and Adam was more annoying that I remembered. We went there on Thursday afternoon for Thanksgiving dinner, and you would never have known it wasn't cooked in a real oven. Mom had made turkey, rice dressing, and all the other fixings, and Sara brought two homemade pies, one chococlate chess (my absolute favorite) and one cherry-rhubarb. Aunt Carla joined us for dinner, and I was really glad to finally see her again. I got her a crocheted rug and some photos I stole from Facebook of all her grand nieces and nephews. (It started out just as photos of Abram, but then I decided to include everyone else. Between them all, she has DNA in Louisiana, Alabama, Colorado, the Netherlands, and South Korea!) After eating, Sara and I went on a long walk through the neighborhood -- past my high school, Grandma's old house, Bunny the Horse, our old apartment, C-school. We found the square of cement where I wrote my initials +7 years ago! It was so strange. Living in my current city and working in my current field weren't even on the horizon for 2010 Rebecca. I guess it just goes to show that we never know where life is going to take us.
On Friday, I drove to services at my hometown temple. I hate driving there and almost never did it when I lived there, even in the dead of winter, but after I dragged Mom's bike out from the bowels of the backyard shed, I realized it had two flat tires! Services had a small turnout, but one lady brought a loaf of challah, and I brought Hanukkah sugar cookies. (Which I made at the very last minute before we left on Wednesday, smashing the dough flat with a can of chicken soup because we don't have a rolling pin.) The temple has recently rennovate their courtyard, but I was most surprised that they'd switched to Mishkan T'filah for their siddur. I think I was the only one who liked the old "Gates of Grey" siddur.
On Saturday, I dragged Sara to eat at my favorite pizza place, and then we visited Aunt Connie (and Uncle John, briefly), and it was fun, even though their lemon tree wasn't ripe enough to pick yet. They had just gotten back from a trip to Florida. They've fixed their guest bedroom up really nice, and I was almost tempted to stay with them! We didn't see our cousin O, but Aunt Connie says she's doing much better. They got a crocheted rug too, although I felt a bit silly giving that to Aunt Connie, who can crochet much better than I can.
And inbetween, we spent a lot of time playing videogames at Mom's house (I'm still boss at MarioKart, but I can barely beat the easiest levels of Super MarioWorld!) and lying in bed at our hotel, watching endless hours of TV. One channel was playing Home Alone, my all-time favorite Christmas movie. One channel kept playing Titanic over and over. We caught old episodes of ER, Full House (the one where Nicky and Alex are born), every series of Law & Order, all of Adventures in Baby-Sitting, and bits of Sex and the City 2, but even Sara couldn't watch much of that, and she loves to hate-watch the first movie. We made Adam watch a little of The Great British Bake-Off on Netflix - he assumed Paul and Mary were a couple!!!