Reading a book with Honey on Christmas Eve
Campbell is very comfortable in their house and cruises the floor plan like she's lived there for years. She even has her own drawer in the kitchen which is on the bottom so she can easily get into it and find all kind of "snax" as she says. We have dinner at Papa & Honey's most every Sun. and Wed. night with my brothers, Newton & Christopher, a close cousin, Troy, and whatever friends they may bring to the table.
Matt's parents live in Birmingham which is a bit further away but close enough for a weekend stay about every 30-60 days. They came to Troy this past weekend and Campbell got so excited to see her "Clairey" and "Papa Q". For the first hour, she just ran in circles around them, laughing and making funny faces. Of course, her daddy & I (in the same first hour) are trying to get her to say all her new words and perform the latest tricks since she saw them last. Which, as all mothers know, NEVER works when you want it to. The kid just stares at you or their audience and tightens up.
Clairey and Pumpkin cooking during the holidays.
My in-laws are younger than the typical grandparents and while I'm sure they will tell their friends that their favorite part of visiting us was seeing their granddaughter, Matt & I know the truth. They found Wii. Yes, we are the proud owners of the Nintendo Wii. Yes, we are (almost) thirty-somethings with no teenagers. And just for the heck of it, Matt came home with the Wii this past summer. I convinced myself it was okay to have in the house because its really exercise. And good marriage therapy if you consider the boxing game. Anyway, Matt's parents had heard all the rage about the Wii and how crazy people were over Christmas trying to get one. (If you are one of those people-i know you are hating us now. We have one we hardly use and bought just
because the day was particularly sunny or something. And that was one less Wii on the store shelves in December for you to fight over-sorry! :). Okay, back to the story. So Campbell is asleep and Clairey is standing in the middle of our den with her fur jacket on, holding her Wii controller and trying to learn how to bowl. Yes, a bowling tournament followed and kept us all up and this morning Clairey and Papa Q are back at it again. Not the typical grandparents at all but they sure do make life fun!
On Saturday, I took both my mother and my mother-in-law to the Storytelling Festival which is a local event. There were 4 "famous" storytellers that got on stage and well, told stories. It was humorous and touching and of course reminded me of the stories my parents have told me about both their lives growing up and my pre-memory days. I know that it will be important to pass on those stories to Campbell and preserve all her own stories so that we will forever live and be known to our descendants.
Which is I guess what all this blogging business is about after all. Sharing our stories. Katherine Tucker Windham (one of the featured storytellers, yes-the 13 Alabama Ghosts writer) was right. She says that we all have memories. Stories to tell. We all have a storyteller inside.
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