The Lady Comes To Visit
Last week my
mom came down to visit. We had talked earlier in the fall about her coming down
to visit before Christmas to help me decorate for the holidays and it worked
out that the weekend before Thanksgiving was our best option. Bah humbug to all
you Scrooges who complain about people decorating early!
I love
Christmas. To me, it really is the most wonderful time of the year with
decorations galore, lit up streets and garland everywhere with Christmas music
playing on repeat. The stress isn’t ideal what with pressure to find the
perfect gifts, but I just try to ignore that. The atmosphere is magical and I
like to live in my own little bubble of holiday bliss. I’ve been looking
forward to my mom coming down so we could have a girls weekend and pick up some
decorations, even though I won’t get a tree until after Thanksgiving. I’m still
coming home to NJ for Christmas, but that doesn’t mean I can’t decorate and
enjoy my apartment in the weeks before heading north!
I picked up
Mom from the airport Thursday night, we stopped at the grocery store, and
headed home to watch movies and eat pizza. It was great catching up, and Zuzu
was probably more excited to see her than I was. She adores my family and
always gets sad when they leave her again. I was able to sneak out of work a
little early on Friday so we went to Homegoods to get some shopping in before
heading to the movies to see Bad Moms
Christmas. Highly recommend, it was hilarious and we both enjoyed it.
Saturday we
went to the Southern Christmas Show which was intensely overwhelming but so
much fun. We got great deals on some gifts, decorations, and random things like
bamboo bed sheets and aloe cream, and by the time we made it through all the
halls, we were thoroughly exhausted. By the time we finished our day after
stopping at Michael’s, Pet People (to get the most AWESOME bed for Zu) and
Nothing Bundt Cakes, we were dead on our feet.
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| This is Clooney, the super cute English Cocker who sold us adorable dog collars. Also the only picture I took at the Christmas show, oops. |
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| She LOVES her new Bowser bed! |
The rest of
Saturday was spent with our feet up, beers in our hands, and Hallmark movies on
TV. It was bliss! We did a little bit of decorating and I’m looking forward to
finishing up this week before coercing Marissa into going tree shopping with me
this weekend. Our Friendsgiving/GOOSEGIVING celebration this week is going to
look a bit Christmassy, and I’m not at all sorry.
Sunday dawned
chilly and clear, so we threw Zu in the car and headed to see the Goober. Mom
used to visit him a few times a month while he was still in NJ rehabbing post-op,
and he’s come to know her as the Treat Lady. She would always carefully cut up
apples for him and feed the pieces to him one at a time when she’d go to visit.
She’d also bring human cookies for Auntie Marissa and Auntie Dawn for taking
the best care of him while he recovered, but Goober didn’t really care about
that. Goose knows her well and as soon as she called out “Goober!” walking to
his field, he put his head up and whinnied at her. It was adorable. Out we went
to catch him and he was only slightly terrified of the electric fence. Small
win.
He’d had a
few days off and showed it by spooking at hay pallets and hanging blankets on
our way into the barn. Luckily he gave me a lovely, stretchy ride, and I was
pleased with where his brain was considering the time off and wind. Deciding he
could handle one more rider for the day, Mom got on Goose!
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| Obviously not the stretchy part of our ride |
All those
years of watching my lessons paid off and she knew to ask how to hold the reins
properly, not to pull on his face, and to keep her heels down. Since it was
windy I didn’t let her trot him this time, but she did some steering, halting,
and walking by herself. Goober was a perfect gentleman and was thrilled to stay
at his favorite gait: slow shuffle.
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