January 1 – “Goin’ ‘round the Corner”

Well, Christmas with the family is finally done.  I’m left with a very cool Whataburger shirt with a logo that looks suspiciously like Wonder Woman’s, some amazing indoor-outdoor houseshoes (didn’t know they existed), funnel cake flour, an 80^th anniversary Superman comic book, a box of magic tricks, a Ned’s Head game, a puzzle book, and another book with a great title – Happy, Happy, Happy.  There might have been something else as well, but I am enamored with the random. 

We did do an impromptu cousins sleepover.  How could we not?  They watched the movie Home Alone.  Lots of laughter to that one, and every one of them had already seen it at least once.  Throw in some pizza and popcorn and Dr Pepper floats and you pretty much have the essence of a Vaughan Cousins Sleepover.  They were all finally headed to their respective homes by around 1:30 the next day (New Year’s Eve).  Well, except for Cailyn.  We took her home because her Daddy was sick in bed running a fever. 

Chris immediately set to cleaning house.  I immediately set to … the couch … to recover.  I dozed for a while and watched some football games and a few episodes of the Twilight Zone marathon.  We finally left to have some supper with our Arlington friends staying in the retreat center.  Gumbo.  Yumbo.

We rounded out the night by exiting to the other building where a group of Seasiders was gathered for a New Year’s Eve game night.  The Pictionary game was certainly a hit.  The ladies summarily decimated the guys in the first round … the “easy” clues round.  But the guys made a miraculous comeback in the “really, really hard, no one even knows what these words are” clues, and showed their true mettle by snatching a well-earned victory.  The most interesting game of the evening was one I had never played before.  They called it Farkle 5000.  Gotta say, if nothing else, I like the name.  Kind of rolls off the tongue.  Like drinkle or gomnifertitious.  It involved five dice and someone who knew how to make up the rules for scoring as we went along.  I still have no idea how to keep score.  I just rolled until they told me I was done.  By far the most exciting part of the game was when someone was allowed to have an extra roll of the dice.  When that happens, everyone sings a country-western rendition of that old folk-favorite, “Goin’ ‘roun’ the Corner.”  It can get quite emotional at those times.  Word has it that Jim is planning to sing it on Sunday morning.  You might want to bring along some extra Kleenex …

Psalms 119:175 says, “Let me live that I may praise you”

Father, thank you for the expressions of love in gifts and gumbo and “Goin’ ‘round the Corner.”  Help me do that “Praise Living” in 2019.  Amen.