Use Your Imagination

Dec. 7th...dispicable. I'm ashamed to call myself a blogger. I have an excuse. Soon after that last post (well, ok, probably like a week)we sent our computer off to HP for repairs. It had recently become possessed and apparently the deliverance is taking longer than they thought. Of course they promised the holidays wouldn't impact the repair schedule (why did we believe them?) BUT since they are fixing all the problems for free I shall not complain.

Anyway, Andrew has been bringing his work laptop home in the evenings. I've been able to check my email and read all your entertaining blogs. But the USB drive for this computer is programmed to scramble any storage device plugged into it. My husband works for the CIA apparently. All that USB business means I cannot load pictures nor share them with you. Tear. So, had I been blogging over the last 20 or so days they would have been pictureless posts. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. And I would not want to bore you with my blabbering on and on.

But so much has happened since then. How can I wait another 2 or so weeks to share Christmas with you? I just can't. So...you will have to use your little imagination for this post.

We rotate holidays between the Scharffs and Marshalls. I think I mentioned that at Thanksgiving. So we headed to Safety Harbor, Florida for Marshall Christmas. Since Wade absolutely LOVES to ride in the car (HA!) we decided to drive through the night hoping he would sleep. And he did!!! It was totally worth all the junk I ate to keep myself awake driving.

So, we arrive Saturday AM about 7:30. After food, showers and naps we headed to the Safety Harbor Christmas parade. Imagine all the public works vehicles in New York City. Now imagine them driving past you at 5mph honking their horns. That's pretty accurate of the first 20 minutes of the parade. Following that were about 100 classic cars. Then a few dance companies who missed the memo that they should actually stop and dance. The shriners riding in a trailer playing their little oboe things. (Back in my day these guys would dress in the these goudy vests with no undershirts and fake belly rings. They would belly dance as they marched along playing their oboes. While it was extremely disturbing it just didn't seem right that they were fully clothed and sitting in chairs.) Hmmm, let's see, what else? Oh, Santa. Yah, after about 2 hrs. Santa finally comes on by. First of all, he wasn't even real looking. Second, there was no music...he barely waved. Sadness.

Sunday my brother joined us for a trip to the beach. I learned a secret this week. I should have had a kid 5 years ago. I saw more of my brother last week than I have in 5 years. The beach was fun. Wade wised up since October and did NOT eat any sand. Um, what else to share...it was a gorgeous day. The water was cold. See this is where I'd love to just show you a handful of pictures.

Monday we went to IKEA in Orlando. Swedish meatballs. CJ came, again. The plan was to buy a barstool for Wade, we bought 2 last summer and needed a 3rd. We had a fun day discovering how to live in 300 sq. ft. What's hilarious (or NOT) is that when Andrew unpacked and set up the barstool yesterday we discovered we bought the wrong height. Brilliant.

Tuesday, Christmas Eve Eve. We decided to do some shopping. What? Why? Good question. Of course what was supposed to be a 2hr. trip took about 6hrs.

Wednesday, my descriptions are getting shorter. I'm getting bored without the pictures. I'm sure you are too. We hung around the house I think. At 5pm we went to church then to a Christmas party. Andrew started a tradition of making cookies with Wade for Santa (pretend you can see the adorable picture of them).

Thursday, Christmas! CJ came over and we had a great morning opening presents and watching Wade play with his toys. That afternoon we went to my uncle's for the family get together. Wade loved getting to see all his great aunts, uncles and cousins.

Friday, Andrew and I ran out to do a few errands while mom hung out with Wade. Andrew packed and then we took a nap. We hit the road about midnight and returned to Chattanooga Saturday morning.

I'm so done with this post. I really hope you're not as bored as I am right now. Actually I hope you don't even get to this sentence. Maybe you quit reading 500 words ago.

Ok, perhaps I can find a way to get pictures posted before the computer returns.