In the meantime we did last minute things before the first person came through the door. That first person was grandma. She said she would have been here earlier but they had the road closed due to an accident by the train station and they were detouring everyone around it. I called mom and dad and told them about it and tried getting a hold of Grammie and grandpa before they left. By the time they all got here the road wasn't closed anymore. I had Ben go get Erika from her hotel.
The casserole was almost done and everyone was arriving close to 9. Grammie brought oranges and bananas and Roscoe. I cut the bananas in half and put them on one of my decorative Christmas plates. Everyone settled in and we chowed down. Kevin and Karla brought their own food, we had orange juice, chocolate milk, hot chocolate and coffee. For food, it was mom's breakfast casserole, Trish made cinnamon rolls and we had fruit. I wanted to make it as simple as I could. We ate, talked about weird stuff and laughed. I believe everyone was having a good time. The tables were packed on both sides. I think we had 16 people for breakfast.
We finished breakfast and I went in the kitchen and started washing the pans we used and all the plates, silverware and cups were put in the washer because dinner wasn't too far away at this point. I spent a few minutes cleaning. Everyone gathered into the living room and arranged themselves into a circle. Ben decided to be Santa and handed out presents to everyone. A few years ago we decided to pick and name and buy a gift(s) for that said person because of money, lack of time and just not knowing what to get anyone.
We all ripped into our presents and a huge pile of paper built up in the middle and of course the balled up paper bombs started being thrown around. Mom took pictures and Kevin and Karla video taped some of it. We all had fun. After we all destroyed the wrapping paper and picked up some of it before we took a family picture with the GoPro. I wanted to get everyone together because everyone wouldn't be here for dinner. A lot of people gave me compliments on how nice of a time they had and how hard Ben and I worked to make sure everyone had a great time. Everyone gathered their stuff and headed home for a few hours. Trish and Amy would be joining the in-laws for dinner in Puyallup. Kevin and Karla wasn't going to come back for dinner but they decided that they would to play games and such. They weren't going to eat dinner.
I washed dishes, started the dishwasher, started the food that would take awhile to cook and sat and relaxed for a bit. The few hours went by really fast. Erika borrowed grandma's van to stop by the hotel to pack for the beach and ended up bringing home a bunch more food we really didn't need but she wanted to contribute I guess. Mom, dad, Doug and Jen headed back to the house. Sadly Ben couldn't come with us because his station did not give him Monday off from work.
The day was going by really fast. Luckily I took Tuesday off from work to recover from Sunday and Monday. I was going to need it.
Everyone came back around 2ish but the food wasn't done yet so everyone sat on the couch and watched whatever Erika put on the TV. I was exhausted and hot. Cooking food for people was a lot of work. The turkey and ham were done, the mashed potatoes were finally done, Ben carved up the bird and the pig, grandma was making the gravy and mom was putting food on platters and bowls. We had just the right amount of bowls and plates for everything.
Everyone sat down with their piles of food, ate and visited. Kevin and Karla showed up around 3 but we didn't really start eating until about 2:30. About an hour of eating and visiting, we cleaned up the table and decided whether or not to play a game. Everyone knew about us going to the ocean so everyone was kinda weird deciding to stay or to go. Dad got a little weird and wanted to be at the ocean house right away so he, Erika and Doug left as soon as we were done with dinner. They all piled into his car and headed out. Mom, grandma and I stayed behind cleaning up after dinner. I packed my stuff as quick as I could making sure I had enough warm clothes because the weather would be subpar while we were there.
We got everything cleaned up and put away. I got my stuff packed up into the Escape and grandma put her stuff in there as well. We took some of the food with us and headed out to Rainier to pick up mom's stuff and to put the chickens and ducks away for the night. Megan was going to take care of them the next two days. Mom threw some stuff into a bag and we put some more food into bags to take with us. Mostly for breakfast the next morning and some snacks to nibble on.
We packed up everything into the Escape and left around 6ish. Traffic wasn't bad and neither was the weather. Since it was Christmas nothing was open to stop and grab a couple drinks. The convenience stores were the only place that was open. We stopped really quick and I got out and bough a few drinks to have with us at the beach house. I haven't driven to Ocean Shores in years. I think the last time I was here was probably in 2013.
We got there just before 8. The place was clear down the peninsula by the marina. We rolled in and the place looked small on the outside but when we walked in it was pretty spacious for the amount of people that were able to stay in there. When we walked in there were animal balloons on the ceiling. This summer dad bought a package of how to make balloon animals with the balloons and I told him to wait until Christmas when everyone was here to enjoy them. He remembered to pack them. That and a really old box of Yahtzee.
Mom, grandma and I unpacked the Escape and I brought my stuff upstairs and claimed a bed. They continued to make more animals and they ended up on the ceiling. I did some stuff on my computer, ate some snacks and dad put on a movie. I was tired. I got a shower and went to bed around midnight.
Next Adventure: Ruby Beach II
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