The Dynamic Duo

December 20, 2006
It sometimes is not all that much fun to get back to real life is it? But along with the tiresome and the mundane also comes the warm welcome of missed loved ones.
Things at work are not all that great right now, frankly. Joe, my main clerk is gone, having been transferred to another prison camp. Major bummer for me, as we have changed vendors and new ordering procedures must now be figured out. Also, my mail basket is full, after being gone a mere three weeks, and the store is running out of just about everything. I am grateful for the help of Jackie, the store clerk from Windy Camp who came out twice while I was away and ran store for the Calvin prisoners. She has left me a pageful of notes. I am unable to log onto my computer and while waiting for the help desk to answer their phone, I read through it. She tells me I may have log-in issues, due to her working from my location. Too right, but soon I am reset and ready to go. I work two hours over, and could have used at least two more. Not having had time to go to the grocery store, I hit up sisterinlaw Pat for the wherewithal for UltraDad’s dinner and next-day work lunch. She has a care package waiting for me to grab when I show up 5 minutes before UltraDad is due home. Today, Saturday, she and I go “to town” and I fill my grocery basket with food to stock empty cupboards and fridge.
My house is a stuff-everywhere-just-returned-after-a-three-week-absense mess, but I whirlwind through it. I’m about to have some very important company. Johnny, on break from Law School in Tennesee, Jim on break from College in northern Idaho, and, most importantly, his girlfriend Jessica, whom I have yet to meet. I get a call from Jim, en route. “Do you want me and Jessica to make pizza for dinner tonight? Do you have all the ingredients?” An emphatic “Yes” to the first question, and “I will by the time you get here,” to the second.
They arrive and noisily fill the house with their welcome presence. I like Jessica immediately; she gamely teams up with me as partner for Cranium and Catchphrase. And, I gotta admit, though the pizza crust recipe she uses is mine, she takes it to a new level. Hail the new pizza Queen. The boys have brought a football, and one afternoon, Jim, Johnny, Jessica and I head off to the park to play a little pigskin. Unlike the Thanksgiving day game, I am catching terribly, at least until I remove my gloves. I decide frozen hands are a small price to pay for good catching hands until my hands start feeling like two blocks of ice dangling from my wrists. Finally Jessica and UltraMom decide to watch from the car as the UltraBrothers throw long passes and attempt to kick the ball through the goalposts. At a Tabloid Teaser game a bit later, UltraMom dominates as the others are unable to differentiate her made-up tabloid headline from an actual one. UltraMom is justifiable proud of her prevarication skills.
Monday, UltraDad finally has a day off and takes the kids into Elko for dinner at the Star, a local Basque restaurant that serves the best steak sandwiches on the planet. When UltraMom gets off work, we all head back in for a Christmas Party put on by one of the prison officers. This house is the scene of nearly all the parties, and I have heard it described as the ultimate bachelor pad. Not an exaggeration. Lots of stuffed animals (real ones), drinking plaquards and slogans on the walls, a bar, and a large Elvis memorabilia collection. The food is awesome, including some gumbo made, as was most of the food, by the officer’s sister, who lives nearby and works as a nurse at the local youth correctional facility. We are given tickets for periodic drawings held throughout the evening. Jessica walks away with tons of prizes, including, to her delight, lots of chocolate.
On Tuesday, the kids head for Howe for other visiting and adventures.
UltraMom has her first Weight Watcher meeting since returning from Japan. The scale news isn’t pretty, but still within her weigh goal. There are a coupla new members, and everyone is welcoming. What a great group.
Wednesday morning, early, UltraMom and Pat head into the hospital. Pat is having some long-needed, long-put off surgery on her knee and toe. As we chat and wait in her surgery-waiting room, UltraMom keeps dozing off in her chair. Pat is envious; she will need drugs to fall asleep before going under the knife…..........and scope. Kathy, sister of Pat and UltraDad will come to town to drive Pat home and spend the night with her.
Work continues to be stressful; I work about 8 extra hours for the week, and am still not caught up. But Christmas is coming; UltraDad will have 4 days off in a row and the UltraYoungestSons will be home on Friday.

Dec 25, 2006
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
What a great day. The UltraSons made it home late Friday night, after taking Jessica back home to spend Christmas with her family. UltraDad and/or I are going over to Pat’s a coupla times a day to help with her dogs, though she is recovering nicely and says she will soon be able to manage on her own. Sunday we have lunch in Elko and do a little last minute shopping. We usually have “Hickory Farms” type snacks for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner, but this year UltraJimbo is going to make his famous hamburgers. “I always feel a little sick after just eating sausage and cheese for dinner,” he comments. We all agree, and iin the end, have Jim’s famous burgers AND sausage and cheese. Not sure about the others, but I feel a little sick…...........
Then its time for our traditional Christmas Eve program. It is one we have done in my family since I was a child, and we have continued the tradition with our own kids. UltraDad reads the program, stopping in appropriate places for carols to be sung, Bible passages read, and lines recited while candles are lit. The story is ageless; the birth of Jesus to a virgin, Mary and laid to rest in a manger in a stable because there was no room in the Inn. God sent his son so that we might be reconciled to him. We end by praying for loved ones not with us.
Christmas morning starts out a bit anti-climactically. but once chores are done, breakfast eaten, and UltraMom has cleaned up the broken glass from the small snow globe she knocked to the floor, we are ready to start anew. Jim has been sleeping in the living room where the tree is, but I hustle him and Johnny back into the hall so they can enter the room and pretend to be surprised by the stuffed stockings. Both of these youngest UltraSons were born in December, and at that time, the Hospital Auxilory made a red Christmas stocking for each child born in that month, large enough to contain a bundled baby, and packaged with a tiny Santa baby-head-sized hat. The boys always lay out these stockings for “Santa” and the pets usually use the hats. Rowdy sneaks up and pulls the treats out of his “stocking” and is going for Murphy’s before I intervene. Soon everyone, including UltraDad is dumping oranges, nuts, candy and small toys out of their stockings.
Now its time to unwrap gifts. True to tradition, we take turns selecting gifts, and open them one at a time, savoring. Some are tricky, as a note inside may direct you to look elsewhere or give that gift to someone else. UltraDad gets an awesome Cabella’s walking stick and a lounge chair. UltraMom gets a leather jacket and a nano. UltraMom is spoiled. Jimbo gets a digital camera and, from the girlfriend, is blown away to open the GPS of his dreams. Johnny gets a new football game for his Game System and a New Orleans Saints freezer mug.
We bring Pat over and have ham dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy, and peach pie. Perfect.
Later, we play a little pinochle. The only team combination not tried thus far is UltraMom-Jimbo and UltraDad-Johnny, so we try it out. Johnny has been bragging that whatever team he is on always wins. Jimbo and UltraMom prove him wrong. Twice.
Tomorrow, its back to work for UltraMom and Dad. I guess all good things must come to an end. How was your Christmas?

UltraMom