12.19.2011: Christmas Week Prep

Vince and I stayed in Riverside the whole week before Christmas.  I spent most days at Gramma & Papa's house and Vince worked.  We also did lots of our shopping this week....mainly because I always find the best deals at the last minute and we also didn't want to have to drive all our gifts out from AZ. Worked out very well!!  This week was once again FREEZING in CA.  Windy, cold, wet....very Christmasy!

Worst part of the week....one morning when I went over to Gramma & Papa's, I got there to a big mess.  As I drove up just before 7am, Papa was just walking down the driveway to the front yard.  What we both saw about the same time was that someone had completely ruined their front yard.  And by ruined I mean destroyed.  Their house is 110% decked out for the holidays....lights everywhere, little candy canes lights lining the whole yard, all kinds of Christmas decor, animals, signs, and moving things.  When I got there, there were stings of candy canes in the trees, and up & down the streets displayed in the neighbors yards.  Obviously it was some teenage prank.  Nothing was stolen, broken or missing (except a couple base poles for a tree), but everything was unplugged, relocated, and up & down the street.  I wanted to cry, then shoot someone, then cry again.  I was sooooooo mad that someone would do something like that to the nicest people ever who spend days putting up all these decorations for the kids & neighbors to enjoy.  This is not an easy task, especially for Papa anymore.  So to see that someone would do this, even as a prank, is extremely disturbing.  Not to mention that this was the coldest day of the year. 

So Papa and I spent the next 3-4 hours reconstructing the front yard....after it took me about an hour to comb the street, gutters, neighbors lawns, and even neighbors trash cans to find all the parts & pieces that were missing.  So, I reconstructed and Papa supervised and directed.  The wind was kicking like crazy so it took us FOREVER to agree on how "straight" one of the trees should be.  After many trips back & forth from the workshop in the back to reconstruct the tree, we finally agreed it was straight enough "for now".  Which meant only until after Papa's nap when he decided it wasn't straight enough.....so we started over.  We ended up doing a pretty good job...and the tree was never-ever coming out of the ground  (glad I won't there for the deconstructing party when all the decor has to get put away again.)

SO, while it was a horrible day all the way around, it was a great experience I had with Papa spending the day at his direction and actually convincing him that "my way was better" on some things.  No easy feat, let me tell you, but just like Papa, I am pretty stubborn too when it comes to thinking your way is the best :)  --Just ask Vince!--  The day ended up being a lot of fun....again, with many stories to tell......once my fingers/toes/nose/ears thawed out a few hours later.

I wanted to spend the next few nights with a gun on the porch waiting for those kids to come back & try it again.  Luckily for us all I didn't have to...and they didn't mess with it again.