The Kat House

I’m currently confined to Brico’s bedroom. Unfortunately, he’s not in here with me. He’s wrapping some last minute gifts in the living room. This gives me the perfect opportunity to give an update on the last few days.

I got here on Friday around 11 PM. Brico was sleeping, so I quietly crawled into bed beside him. At 4 AM, Miss Chattie just couldn’t hold out any longer. I had to start a conversation with a very tired, slightly unconscious, Brico. If you’re interested, you can find a transcript of the conversation here. Yep, it was so memorable that Brico couldn’t resist the urge to blog about it!

A few days ago, Brico blogged about how “comfortable” our relationship had become. Boy, he sure wasn’t kidding! Saturday was the first time in many, many years that I’ve received a “honey-do” list. Before heading off to work, Brico asked me to take care of a few things for him - pick up some starter logs and firewood, pick up a new Christmas stocking for him, and pick up the ingredients for Christmas dinner.

I figured I’d leave the Christmas dinner to the experts. I pulled out a phone book, called Honeybaked Ham for driving directions, drove to Rock Hill and picked up turkey breast, green bean casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, and turkey gravy. I then went to Bi-Lo and got dinner rolls, cranberry salad, and a pumpkin pie. Yum - I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s dinner already!

Christmas dinner - check! Now on to the Christmas stocking. I went to Target and got the stocking that Brico wanted. Another item marked off the “honey-do” list! As for the firewood and starter logs, I tried. I know absolutely nothing about fireplaces. I have one in my house, but I’ve always been afraid to use it - partly because I’m afraid of catching the place on fire, and partly because there are birds (and maybe even bats) living in the fireplace! Anyway, I looked at a hodgepodge of fireplace items - logs and wood in a variety of shapes, sizes, and varieties. I finally got so frustrated that I didn’t get a thing. Brico will just have to take care of that himself!

So get this. Brico picked up Aspen on his way home from work. She came in, walked to the fireplace, looked at Brico’s overflowing stocking, and then proceeded to start a conversation with me. She didn’t notice (and neither did I) that there was a pile of unwrapped gifts for her right in front of the fireplace! Brico came in and nearly freaked out. He whisked her away into another room, and then said to me, “I thought you were going to wrap those gifts.” What?? What gifts?? What are you talking about?? Well, as it turns out, that was another item on the “honey-do” list - one that he forgot to mention before going to work! Is this what it’s like to be married?

On Saturday evening, we went to Aspen’s maternal grandparents’ house for a Christmas party. We had a very nice dinner there, and everyone laughed, joked, and opened gifts. I had been really nervous about going to this party. I had met Aspen’s grandparents before, and they had been so kind to me, but I hadn’t met the rest of the family. I thought I’d feel like a fish out of water. They welcomed me with open arms, mentioned me in the pre-dinner blessing, and even had gifts waiting for me. I felt like part of the family, and that meant so much to me.

All the fun times aside, Brico did manage to get himself into the dog house at the party. He had left his camera unattended, and Aspen walked in with it. She said that she had been showing the pictures stored on it to other family members. I didn’t think a thing about it until Brico said, “Oh my gosh. I hope she didn’t see the dirty pics of you!” What?? We didn’t take any dirty pics! The next thing I knew, Aspen’s aunt walked in and said, “Brico, you should keep that camera away from your daughter. She has been showing pictures of Tish in bed!” You cannot imagine how red my face turned. Had Brico been taking pictures without my knowledge? It turns out that the pictures Aspen had been showing were the silly ones Brico took when we were in Atlanta last month. They weren’t dirty in the least, but it still caused me a major amount of embarrassment! Brico is going to be making that up to me for a LONG time to come!

Ed and Aspen are currently at their stepdad David’s house. They will be coming back here tonight, and we will open presents in the morning. They will be getting on a plane to Arizona to visit their mother tomorrow. That means that Brico and I will have a week to ourselves. Too bad he’ll be sleeping in the dog house! Maybe I’ll throw him a bone.