The Lunch at Brooklyn's

So Lisa told me on very short notice yesterday that Brooklyn's mom invited she and Johnnie to come over for a small Christmas get-together today. I assumed I was invited too and told Lisa I wanted to go. To which, she had no objection to whatsoever. In my mind, when it came to Brooklyn and her family, it was already implied that I was invited. I see far more of Brooklyn and Bailey getting dropped off in the mornings at the school gate by her grandmother. It was me that took Johnnie to pizza the day of his actual birthday WITH Brooklyn and her mom. So for me there is actually a comfort level with this family and  I kind of surprised myself actually at the enthusiasm I showed about going. Hey it's Saturday and Johnnie and I are supposed to be hanging out today anyway aren't we? It was supposed to be a lunch at noon which gave me plenty of time to lollygag around MY house for a Saturday morning without any sense of urgency whatsoever. I got up, made myself some hot tea and Hawaiian bagel breakfast and watched some YouTube videos. And even had time to clean my toilet which I hadn't done in a couple of weeks. These days the apartment is cleaned in sections, and I get to the dirtiest  parts first. Or should I say visibly dirty LOL LOL.  And so I got to Lisa's house at 11:45 and Lisa was barely done taking a shower. Usually I'd be twitching mentally about being late but today, without that sense of urgency whatsoever I didn't care when we got there. We were definitely not late at all actually and when you go somewhere where you get the feeling that you're expected, it's all good. Very cool even. Besides Brooklyn, and Bailey there were a couple of other kids there already playing with some put-together-and-paint stuff and so Johnnie immediately joined them and launched into build mode. And then he wnet into play mode and would stay at that "setting" for the rest of the day.  The cool thing about the backyard of Brooklyn's grandmother's house was that there was a mini gym out there with monkey bars and  a mini rock wall and everything. The kids had a blast. Look at the pics I took of him hanging out with Brooklyn. They are pretty cute together I will admit. And so is little Bailey. In the meantime, Lisa and I did manage to socialize with the other adults that were there, particularly with Blair <Brooklyn's mom> and Michel <Brooklyn's grandmother>. We kind of went indoors because it had gotten warm out. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day. And Lisa and I were winterized, with sweaters and everything. I mean it  had been really cold all week. Which was why kept going inside LOL. Who knew it would warm up a bit today?!  They had plenty of food to be sure. We had turkey and stuffing and meatballs and lots of chips and dip. I will say that for the 2nd day in a row I had a really huge lunch, which is the earmark of the holiday season.  Hang out with friends, eat a lot. It didn't happen last year, it wasn't allowed. We were all doing the celebrate from the curb thing. Actual get-togethers are very much welcome this year. And then later on when Lisa got a call from the hair groomer that Claire was done with her haircut, of course she had to go get her and bring the dog to the party. Last time at Brooklyn's birthday party, the dog was pretty much a huge hit and so this time why would it be any different LOL? <see pic> The dog certainly did not want for attention. And even got a nice walk around the block in with several people from the party in tow. By the time we left the party it was well past 4 PM. And both Lisa and I were yawning. I could have used a nap at this point and I would have loved to go on home to do so. But Lisa sort of asked but didn't actually ask if I could stick around and watch Johnnie while SHE took a nap. Oh well, she gets to go first. At least I got a whole bunch of steps in while I was waiting for Johnnie's pizza to cook. Yes, by this time it was already dinner time for Johnnie, especially since he didn't really eat a whole lot of lunch. REally just a bunch of grapes and strawberries and crackers. In other words, his usual lunch LOL LOL. And so I basically made Johnnie 2 Trader Joe's pizza for dinner and by the time he got done, so did Lisa's nap. As soon as she came back down, out I went on home. I was tired too. Remember I need immediate downtime when winding down from social situations. I made a pit stop at Mitsuwa to get my dinner as well. Pork katsu curry over rice. Something that would heat me up on a cold night like tonight. And I spent the rest of Saturday night binge watching the Witcher on Netflix. And I thought it was pretty good actually.  And by the time I got too tired to keep my eyes open I merely reminded myself that I am in full on holiday mode already a week before Christmas. And the get-together's that I had already gone to, even in this time of a continuing pandemic, I felt grateful that I'm getting to celebrate it with other people and that this year is already way WAY better than last.