This evening we went to my mother-in-law’s house for supper. Jessica and the girls are up for Christmas break. She and her husband have different break times this year so she went ahead and came up earlier, with him being scheduled to arrive sometime later tomorrow evening. I had another day of training for my new job today but felt alright enough to go along afterward. The day was good and there wasn’t nearly the amount of mental clamor as there had been before.

The kids helped my mother-in-law put up her Christmas tree. She didn’t want to do the big one this year. There are extra pieces of furniture in her living room that are waiting for homes in the new house which is getting closer to being completed on the inside. Something happened with the original lights so they restrung it using whatever they had. The top part of the tree has blue lights and the bottom part has clear lights. I liked that it was a little unconventional.

Before we eat everyone usually takes a minute to find their own drinks. There is usually some kind of tea in the fridge, along with a variety of sodas, water, or other canned or bottled drinks from the garage. On my way out there I caught a glimpse of my father-in-law’s sweatshirt that was hanging on their back hallway hook rack. It hasn’t always been there and I’ve always thought it looked nice. I noticed the sweatshirt along with several of his hats which looked strangely so real.

My sister-in-law was in the garage and I asked her if it was her sweatshirt or his. It was from Concordia Chicago where she went to school. I knew he had a sweatshirt from there but I thought maybe she had brought one up on her recent trip and hung it there. She said it was his and then we both had a moment of needing to maintain our composure. I wanted to cry then but we were getting ready to sit down and I didn’t want to make a scene. I wished we could’ve.

She said she thinks her mom is going to keep them there and hang them in the mud room entryway in the new house. We walked back through the tinier kitchen hallway that had at one time been widened when they did their remodel. I am going to miss the old house as it is the last house remaining from earlier years of my life. We had a nice supper around the table. The girls had helped make a couple of casseroles, with salad, rolls, and pumpkin cake for dessert.