That flew by

My family came to visit for Christmas and before I knew it they were gone again. I can't believe how fast that went by! My mom & dad got here last Friday. My brother was already here, he came before they did. I had a really good time showing him around before they came. Just like me, he loves the historical part of downtown Fredericksburg. I was really excited when I woke up Friday morning because I knew it would only be a matter of hours before I'd get to hug my mama. I was thrilled when I called them that morning to find out that they had left nearly 2 hours earlier than they had planned. I waited for her on the front porch and I know on the inside I was jumping up and down like a 5 year old. I didn't realize just how much I did miss her until I saw her. Funny how that is really. I don't think you really know how much you love someone until there not around as much or at all. When she got here she had furbabies in tow. One of which loved to be in this position most of the time. Before they got here I knew my mom had a lot of shopping to do. It hadn't even been 2 weeks since she had moved and she had a list of things she wanted to buy for her new house. She was here a whole hour before we headed out. I didn't think I was ever gonna get her out of Burlington Coat Factory. Geez! That woman can spend with the best of them! LOL! After we finally left there, we headed for the mall where we spent the next 2-3 hours. The mall we had back in Texas was rather small and seriously lacking so she was really fascinated with this one. It's REALLY large and for whatever reason, they're expanding. They'd better print up maps when they do. If it gets any bigger I might need one. We got back home pretty late and made our plan for the next day. Saturday morning we got up and headed over to Super Target. She loves Target and had never been in a Super Target. Once I got her in, I realized I might need some horses to pull her back out. After 2 hours I pointed out that if we spent too much more time in Target then we might not be able to go downtown. That got her attention quick so off we went. I should have been spending more time watching the road while I was driving but couldn't help paying more attention to her face when she saw all the things I've tried to describe to her on the phone. When we got downtown and she saw all of those shops and I saw how thrilled she was I knew we'd be there a while. We went to several shops but her 2 favorites were the Fudge Factory and Everything Cross Stitch (Me too!!). When we went to the stitching shop we noticed a sign that said all of the clearance merchandise was now 75% off. We were there a reeeeally long time. Neither one of us tried to hurry the other along there...lol. We both left with some really great goodies and I'm thinking maybe I should go back..lol. After we left we headed over to the Confederate Cemetery. She'd never been to anything like it and was really wanting to go. After we left there she wanted to stop back by Burlington's to pick up something she saw the day before. After that we stopped by the market to pick everything up for Christmas dinner. We had our dinner on Christmas Eve since they had to leave on Christmas day. We brought everything home and unloaded it. Stayed for about and hour and a half and left again. This time I took her to Central Park since we hadn't been yet. I knew she was gonna love it there! You can find just about anything you want in Central Park. We got home late again but when we did we found some time to make some sugar cookies. On Sunday we had a lot of presents to wrap so we did that. My mom wanted to go out again when we were done. I felt bad that Mike and the kids hadn't gone with us before so they came this time. My dad had to go back to WV for a day because he had to work. My brother went with him to keep him company. We went to eat lunch, then she wanted to go back downtown. We did that and then she wanted to go back to Central Park. After that we came back home and she made me some yummy chicken and dumplins for dinner. YUMMY! My dad and brother got back late that night. On Monday morning we got up and starting preparing things for dinner. After my Thanksgiving adventure, I was SO happy that she was there to help. Everything was really yummy and now I've decided if she can't come to me for the holidays, then I'm going to her :). That night we opened our gifts. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't seem to get that angel finished that I started to stitch for her. I really felt bad because I always have an angel for her for Christmas. I told her I had it, it would just be a little late. I did have a framed piece I stitched for her though. It's a piece from Blackbird's Peppermint & Holly book called Dear Mother. Cassie had a stitched gift for her too. She stitched a little Lizzie Kate piece. She did the stitching and I did the finishing for her. I hated for the night to be over because I knew they were leaving in the morning. Santa came and they watched them play with their goodies for a while, then off they went. I hated for her to go but at least she's only a 4.5 hour drive now. I can't wait until we get to go see them. There's a ski resort nearby and I'm looking forward to taking the kids sledding and tubing. They got a couple of Target gift cards for Christmas so yesterday I took them to buy snow suits and other snow gear. The first 3 day weekend they have from school after Winter break, I'm taking them up there. I think there's one coming up in a few weeks. We'll probably spend a lot of school holidays up there. I'd better go. This turned out a lot longer than I planned. Mike's mom is coming on Saturday so I've got a lot to do. She's flying in to Reagan so we'll probably spend a nice portion of the day in D.C. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday :)