Friday, December 22, 2006

Party at the Mansion

Let's get one thing straight, shall we? We all know that this particular family lives in the bottom floor of this dwelling. We have neighbors on top to the right and neighbors on top to the left. For all intents and purposes, I guess you could call it apartments. Well, we, and we being the tenants of this said structure....call our homes The Mansion. Why, you ask?

Well........

1. Looking at it from the outside...it's huge. Like a big house.

2. Anyone I know living in a crib this big ...lives in a mansion.

3. Neighbor upstairs brings home a valid point. We have 8 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 3 dining rooms (we opted out of that on one side), 4 great rooms, 3 laundry rooms (we only use one)...and enough kitchen space for a restaurant.

4. We all meet in the outside foyer once a day, weather permitting, to sit and chat.

5. And the decorations outside? "Officially" on our lawn....but gladly shared to let others take part and do their own decoratin'.

Just like a family.

This morning, neighbors in C came down to visit me whilst I wrapped presents. I told them to please come and eat supper with us tonight. I wanted our "family" to do something special before the downstairs unit cleared out to head back to South Carolina for Jesus' Birthday. We also contacted Ms. Unit D to inform her of our plans. Her new hubby is out in the field (military field, that is) working until Saturday morning and she's feeling the depressing feeling of being lonely.

How excited we were! We decided to order pizza so no one would have to cook or clean. I had desserts and Miss Neighbor C said she would bring something also. We set the time for 6:00 p.m.

Then I worked those girls of mine like cheap labor when they got home from school. We swept and mopped and straightened and lit really good smelling candles. Our house ....on one side....looked awesome! We were standing there all proud, then I looked at them and said...well, we're half-way done...we'll do the other side tomorrow. ha ha ha ha ha ...yes, I know I am evil.

What a good time we had. I had picked up presents for the couples but was not expecting a single thing from them. They came bearing gifts. My goodness. We had supper at our table with enough room for all when we added the girls' desk chairs. Mister C sang some karaoke with Paige afterwards. We opened gifts. The old folks (that would be Fred and I) drank coffee.

It was a really good time. These kids won't be able to go home for Christmas. They will be working for our country. I am so very proud of them and wanted to do something special for them. Instead, they turned the tables on me and showed me just how special they are.

They are ready for us to come BACK home next Friday.

We made it official. We are all Mansion-Mates.

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