Love Above all Else

11. Catch My Drift

"Dying to know. Afraid to find out." -Unknown

Today is the day. Christmas Eve. I have two parties to get to, one right after the other. First is Riley's lunch and then Marco's dinner. I promised them both I would come and I don't want to be late.

I take a warm shower and blow-dry my hair. After I am fresh with some lotion on, I put on some light red and gold-themed makeup and put on my red Christmas dress.

Both themes for the Christmas parties are fancy ugly Christmas sweaters. What kind of theme is that? I was so confused at first so I asked Riley to help me out. We found the perfect dress. It is a medium-length red Christmas dress with white stripes, a belt, and cotton buttons. It looks so cute on me.

I dress the sweater up with sheer tights, boots, and my fanciest dangles. I curl my hair and am ready to leave.

My mom is coming with me, so she puts the presents in the car. We drive up to Riley's house and my mom is impressed with the decor. Although she is friends with Riley's mom, she has never been inside of their house.

"Wow. This is impressive!" Although we live down the road, their house is definitely a bit nicer than ours.

"I know right? Try to look less shocked, mom."

She stops staring at everything wide-eyed and puts the two presents under the tree by the entrance. The pile of presents is pulling up to a point I didn't know it could. As a matter of fact, I didn't know this many people could fit in the house. The house is bustling with people, all smiling and laughing. I look for a familiar face and run to Riley when I see her.

"We feel so out of place," I tell her.

She looks at me sympathetically, "You fit right in. Don't even worry." She grabs my hand and pulls me into the kitchen. "I know you love cooking. Help my mom and grandma."

I look around and see her mom mixing stuffing and her grandma pulling a ham out of the oven.

"Hi, Mrs. Thompson." I wave and ask, "Need any help?" 

"Oh, hi dear." She wraps me in a quick embrace before going back to cooking. "Please grab the lettuce bags and ranch bottles out from the fridge. I need someone to mix those and go put them in bowls on the dining table. Thank you for helping."

I grab the items from the refrigerator and mix them together in the large bowls that were labeled salad on the island. It takes me around five minutes to get everything together, and after I am done, I place the three bowls on the large dining table in the dining room. The dining table originally has room for ten, but now has four extra seats, and six kids are going to be sitting at the kitchen table. The entire house has expensive gold and red decorations. The feelings of the people in the house are uplifting. 

~~~

Once Riley's mom and grandma are done preparing the buffet of food in the kitchen, everyone standing out in the living room and den is supposed to line up and pray over the food. I and Riley are standing with my mom by the kitchen, occasionally starting up a small conversation with passing people. I learned that it is tradition for the grandmother and one of her children to cook the Christmas eve dinner for the Christmas party.