The Hunt for Missing Bathrobes

It is Christmas morning, I could not sleep well, as there was a party next door. They kept the music at a reasonable decibel, but since my bedroom above the garage is right next door to their recroom, I usually hear everything. At least, they kept indoors this time. Apparently, a new wife will be joining my neighbour in the New Year, from a foreign country. It is a long awaited bride for a bachelor or many years. Sometimes I wonder if people know what they are getting themselves into. I'm afraid that this bride will have a lot of adjustments to make and shake into, dealing with adult children, and an almost absent husband who loves his job. Sadly, the hanging of a carrot, makes us reach into the unknown, and only then do we realize what we caught or who caught us.

Thankfully this Christmas is going to be elsewhere. We are invited for dinner, and all I am preparing is the potatoes and the cranberry sauce. So as soon as I am done writing I will start peeling the potatoes. I'm not putting fancy things in it like mashed cauliflower, with the acception of roasted garlic paste squeezed out of the foil saturated with olive oil. One batch of potatoes will only have the usual. Mashed potato, some sour cream, milk, butter, salt and pepper.

In my problem shopping habit, that I wrote about,  to this day, I have not been able to find the 4 white bathrobes that I got each of the girls prior to Deborah's passing. I had mine unwrapped, which she wore on her baptism, but theirs have ties, instead of a zipper in the front. I thought they needed a new bathrobe and I invested in beautiful cotton ones; full lenght for them. You never know when you need a nice one right? So since my husband and I have been looking for them for weeks, under beds, in the garage, in suitcases etc, I have thought of a game for my three girls. This is the plan. They get up, we read the Christmas Story, from Luke, we now add on and read the Beatitudes also, which was part of Deborah's funeral service, and they can go on a present hunt in our house. They cannot open any other presents until they find those bathrobes. These kind of games occupied their growing up years, I always tried to make a lemonade out of a lemon, but now.... will they comply with the game? They are adults, times have changed. I have grown much older, and now my hormones are running wild too. I don't have to see them comply to my wishes, nor hear what I have to say. It would be nice, but now they are adults. I stressed independence and a wise and gentle heart for them. However now, they must make their own decisions. Somehow I have to take the back burner, sit and simmer, role model, and if they want my help, then pick up the pieces. What a role!

I loved the fact that we were all together in church last night. One girl had to be bribed by her sister to go. I think it was a MacDonald's hamburger, but nevertheless we were all there.