Gifts from Family

So I had a missed call and voice mail on Thanksgiving Day from a number that seemed somewhat familiar, but unknown. I called my voice mail and Gladys(what I call the electronic voice on my voice mail) informed me that I had one new message. I listen anxiously to find out who my mystery caller was and what they wanted with me. It turns out it was my Aunt Pam calling to say she had a surprise for me. I was so excited, one because someone had actually called me, and two because the person who called had a surprise for me! It just doesn't get better than that! So I called my mommy dearest and asked her if she knew what the surprise was, turns out she did. She informed me that Pam, her older more distinguished, wiser sister; Caroline, the younger, somewhat distinguished, playful sister; Pam's joyful and amusing daughter Emily, and Caroline's disappointment but still loved daughter-in-law Eva, where all coming in town for a visit. They would be rolling in town on January 21st. We were so excited, so much so that Wanda (my mother) almost wet her pants! We ran out and made them goody bags filled with organic handmade soaps, bath poufs for that spa feel, monogrammed tissues, personalized notepads for their purses, and sleep masks for the best slumber of their lives. We spent weeks perfecting how our house looked so they would think they were in a five star resort. We planned out the foods we would eat, the games we would play, and the store we would go to. Then a few weeks before their arrival we get a phone call from Caroline telling us that Eva had backed out due to "car trouble." Ridiculous. I would rather have no car than to have to cancel a vacay to our house. Anywho, January 21st finally arrived and anticipation was killing me. I had to work that day and I could not wait to get off and rush home. They had quite a long drive from Arkansas to our house and decided to make it even longer by stopping and shopping along the way. They ended getting to the house around 7:30 Thursday night. We had fun catching up on everyone's lives. We awoke early on Friday morning to get started on the day of fun. Caroline claimed that the air mattress she had slept on felt as if it were filled with ice water. Then she had the audacity to pretend she felt like she might be getting sick. We all ignored her, had a wonderful breakfast of biscuits and nassau grits, got ready, and headed out for a day of shopping. Our first stop was at Old Time Pottery. A strange thing happened there; a role reversal. The mom's were the ones who wore Emily and I out. We had to retire to the OTP's old people hang out while the ladies finished up their shopping. As Emily and I were plotting to have "Wanda Kay Brewer Petty Smith Sanders" paged over the loud speaker we hear our names being belted out to report to check out; the old women beat us to it! We left OTP and headed for the outlet mall. We made it around the right side of the mall and got some great deals before Wanda started dragging her foot behind her due to her Planterfacitus. We left the mall and went home to have a lavish dinner of fried shrimp, coconut shrimp, and homemade mac and cheese. After dinner it was time to play games. We started off with hand and foot, but had to rotate player because Eva backed out of the trip and left us with an odd number of people, which proves to be a problem in pretty much every game imaginable. After five rounds the game was over and my team (Caroline and substitute Pam) was victorious. We decided to play catchphrase but couldn't make it work thanks again to Eva. So then it was on to Balderdash, which thankfully, does not require an even number of players. We all had a blast and laughed until we cried. We went to bed around 1a.m. Saturday morning Caroline decides she wants even more attention than she got on Friday. So once again she is claiming the air mattress was freezing and unbearable and now she has a "fever." Last time I checked a temp of 101.4 is not a fever it's and excuse, I mean grow up, if you are not passing out from the blood boiling in your body you do NOT have a fever. So I selflessly gave up my bed to the whiner. She insisted on calling us from her cell phone when she needed something. Then Wanda was tired of Caroline hogging the lime light so then all of a sudden she is "sick." Pam, Emily, and I were sick too, sick of these little whiny babies, so we went for another round of shopping and a short photo shoot at the beach. It was their last night in town and Pam made us some delicious jambalaya and homemade apple pie. Everyone went to bed at a reasonable hour and the snuck out at 4 in the morning on Sunday. I was informed later in the day that Pam was pulled over for speeding in our lovely town of Foley. Lucky for her the Foley police were very kind and she got off with a warning. I was sad they had to leave and spent my Sunday sulking. Wanda spent the entire day in bed because of her illness. I can't wait to go to Arkansas for a visit this summer, hopefully nobody will be "sick" this time.