No Vacancy

One of the main reasons that Jarom and Lix decided to move us all from Richmond to Dallas was the prospect of getting into a larger home for a similar amount of money. And that has been a huge blessing during our first year here in the lone star state. Jarom and Alixa can go days without seeing each other, which has been great for their marriage. Jenna and Bo have lots of space to run around in and make messes and hide from each other, although whenever they do play hide and seek they inevitably both end up in the exact same spot in the closet behind Jarom’s clothes. Every time. But lately it feels like we have needed every square foot of this place. First we had Jarom and Alixa, along with Jenna and Bo. But Lix just keeps getting bigger and bigger and this new little girl Everzoomius is intruding more and more into our lives. Then we had Mario and PJ move into the guest wing, along with lots of their stuff from, let’s say 70 years of life. Then we had Abe arrive for the Thanksgiving weekend, and he got stashed in the toy room because we figured the mess of the toy room could mingle with the mess of Abe and they could sort of conceal each other. So with all this hullabaloo going on I decided to start using my fortress of solitude up in the attic. But when I got up there I found yet another inhabitant, a raccoon. So for the time being I am just hunkered down in my cage waiting until the storm blows over. Unfortunately, despite all of Jarom’s best efforts to get rid of the invaders (traps for the raccoon, bringing Nate over to make fun of Abe, forcing Mario to do assorted yard work, and positive remarks about President Obama for PJ) he has had no success. So I suppose I’ll tell you a little bit about our holiday.

We started at our new ward, and it turns out that it’s pretty similar to all the other wards we’ve ever been in. Old guys fall asleep during priesthood and Sunday school, kids cry and make noise during prayers and the sacrament, and the people are generally very nice and happy to meet you. We seem to have moved down a little bit in the socioeconomic standing of the ward and are now the poor folk, which will hopefully mean we can become the ward charity project. Bo was not particularly thrilled about the new meeting time of 1:00, but that’s what happens when you have 4 units meeting in the same building. Lix has decided that she isn’t going to cut ties with everyone from the other ward, which is probably a good idea. And Jarom is momentarily excited about not having a calling, and especially about not having to wrangle the triplets and other 8-year-olds from his primary class.

Since the Hegewalds are homeless-ish they decided to invite all their children to our house for Thanksgiving. Only one of the three took them up on the offer. I’m not sure if that means they don’t love their parents or they didn’t want to deal with Jarom’s scroogy holiday spirit. But either way Abe chose to come, which meant a holiday full of golf and dance. The boys got in 18 holes on a 73 degree afternoon with Lix along for the ride as a caddy, videographer, and heckler. There was also a dinner trip to TopGolf with Nate along for the ride as a heckler and a handicap for Jarom. On Saturday the Hegewalds took off to see the Nutcracker and toted Jenna along with them. She had a blast and hasn’t stopped talking about the mean mice and the princess and the soldier to anyone who will listen and some who won’t.

Thanksgiving itself was a little bit of a letdown due to some sickness in the house. Jenna spent the night before throwing up all over herself and her bed and her room. If you are going to wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning, it really is best if you have some vomit to clean up while you are at it. Alixa spent the day paranoid that she had strep throat and weighing the pros and cons of a trip to the emergency room. Jarom had been down this road before, sitting in the ER for hours and paying hundreds of dollars just to find out that she should go home and she’ll feel better tomorrow, so he didn’t really want to shell out for the waiting room experience. But you can’t say things like that because if you do everyone calls you an uncaring cheapskate, so he just told her that she should do whatever she felt like she needed to do. Thankfully she decided to try and tough it out until Friday morning. Friday came around and she was feeling better. She still has a sore throat and a bit of a cough, but nothing some sleep and essential oils can’t take care of.

The weekend is now ending and soon people will be on planes and in cars and leaving the metroplex. And it will be nice to have a less populated, quieter home. But we will also be sad when there is no more Uncle Abe to play with, and no more Opa to find after naps, and no more Mimi for Jenna to color with. But I guess the bittersweetness of family is what Thanksgiving is all about. You know these people, and they are crazy and they bother you and do things that make you want to pull your (or their) hair out, but it is still nice to have them around, even if it’s just for a few days. We definitely still want to get rid of that raccoon though. I’ll keep you posted.