Its the last Saturday I get to spend with my Dad before he and my sisters head to Colorado for the French Family Reunion and I head out into the world for the next 11 months. All I know at this point is that Dad asked me to save the entire day to hang with him. We leave the house at 9am, make a quick stop at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to grab me a White Chocolate Mocha Latte (w/ whip cream of course) so I can function for the day and we head to the beach. We find the spot we used to go to when I was a kid. We called in “Flat Rock”, it was a big flat rock with enough space for both of us to hang out on comfortably. It was also the perfect location where I could sit and watch him surf and he could still see me when he was in the water. Dad and I spent many days on that rock. We used to chase the sunsets, he’d pull up to the house and yell “come on, its a race!”and I would jump in the car and we’d fly down the 101 just in time to see the sky change colors. We’d sit on that rock and he’d eat his sandwich from Steak & Hoagie and I’d grub on my bag fries. Some of my best memories came from hanging out with him at that beach. It was the perfect way to start our day. It was already 75 degrees, the sky was bright blue a few surfers were out in the water and we sat on Flat Rock sipping our coffee and Dad shared a few verses from his bible, it was perfect. He then tells me that we are picking up Stacy at 11am and she is joining us for lunch, so we jump back in the truck and head over to my Dads BFF’s house.
He pulls into the drive way and we both hop out of the truck and head up to the front door. There is a Christmas sign on the door but I pay no attention to it, after all we are at the Mattox house, Christmas sign in July wouldn’t be that out of the ordinary. We knock on the door and Stacy answers wearing a monkey Santa hat and one of the best ugly Christmas sweaters I have ever seen! She hugs me and yells “Merry Christmas”! I just laugh and hug her back thinking “man I love this crazy women”! I walk into the house and see a hole bunch of other people who are now also yelling “Merry Christmas”! There is a mini Christmas Tree set up with gifts surrounding it and tons of Christmas lights and decorations all over the house, I look over to the dinning room and see my Grammy who came all the way from Arizona and my Auntie and cousin who drove all the way from Nor Cal. and my jaw drops!
How awesome is this! Christmas in July!!! We have cinnamon rolls for breakfast and other yummy pastries and fruit. Then we have a White Elephant gift exchange where everyone is stealing gifts left and right. After that I open my stocking and we sing Christmas Carols and take pictures. It was sooooooo much fun!
Little did I know it was just the beginning. Next thing I know my dear friend Kat is hugging me and says she’s gotta go but “lets hang out soon” and rushes out the door. The rest of us hung out for a bit longer before Dad announces “ok time for phase two”! Phase Two!!! You mean there is more?! We all rush out of the house and into different cars and a huge caravan starts down the road to phase two.
One of my closest friends Megan leads the charge and we follow her to Kats house. We all pile out of the cars and head inside. Kats house is covered in Birthday and Easter decorations. There is an Easter basket for me, my favorite Easter punch (made by Megan) and even Peeps (How the heck do you find Easter Peeps in July?!), the Easter Bunny even showed up! They sang Happy Birthday, we ate birthday cake and I beat the heck out of a Piñata. We take hilarious pictures at the photo booth and I am lavished with birthday presents. I don’t know if Ive ever had so much fun on my Birthday or Easter.
Im told phase 3 doesn’t start till 4pm so we’ve got about an hour to relax, everyone goes there separate ways and Dad drives me home so I can have a breather but there is no relaxing for me. My mind was spinning a million miles a minute! Did we really just have Christmas, Easter and my Birthday and the day isn’t even over yet? I couldn’t help but think about how much I am loved and how blessed I am to have such amazing friends and family. Im looking through all of my Christmas and Birthday gifts when Dad comes into my room with the best smile on his face and says “ok, time for phase 3”.
We jump back in the truck and head to my friend (and self titled Fundraising Coordinator) Joanna’s. We walk into her home and I can’t believe it, it feels like Autumn, it smells like Autumn, it was absolutely beautiful! Thanksgiving decor through out the entire house, fall scented candles burning, and the best part, an amazing Thanksgiving spread ready to be devoured! After my hard work out from beating up the piñata at my birthday party I was starving! I said grace and shared how thankful I was for all of these people and we dug in to my favorite meal of the year. The turkey was delicious, mashed potatoes amazing, and of course stuffing and green beans, cranberry sauce and rolls, home made corn bread, oh and pies! Pumpkin, Apple and Carrot Cake! We ate and ate and ate until our tummies were so full, then we sat around the table rubbing our bellies and talking until the turkey kicked in and we all needed another nap. Dad announces the last phase is at home and starts at 7:30 and everyone again goes there separate ways.
We get home and I go to my room while my Dad and sister set up. People start arriving and everyone is dressed in costume and if they weren’t they were soon. Dad set up a table full of masks, mustaches and wigs, and a bunch of other fun costume stuff to grab and throw on. Once everyone had on there Halloween costumes with scary music playing in the background we started the Watermelon carving contest (because good luck finding Pumpkins in the middle of July). The competition was heated and my team wasn’t about to lose. I sat there shoving candy corn into my mouth (again, no clue how they found candy corn in July), Kat and Joanna were carving away while creatively using black licorice bites in the mouth of the watermelon as rotten teeth. Using a watermelon instead of a pumpkin was a genius idea, especially because we got to eat all of the stuff we scooped out of the inside and once we lit the candle inside of the watermelon every glowed red making it even creepier. Oh and of course our Watermelon won first place! Next on the agenda Trick or Treating! Don’t ask me how every house on our block just happened to have a bag of candy or why none of our neighbors batted an eye when our crazy group banged on there door and screamed trick or treat. But they did and we got tons of candy and even a few honks from people driving by.
It was dark now and time for the next holiday. Costumes came off and some even changed into red, white and blue, Dad lit fire works and we danced around with sparklers celebrating the 4th of July. We got down to our last pack of sparklers and and when we lit those we all counted down 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!! It may have only been 9:30 on a Saturday night in the middle of July and all of our neighbors had just finished passing out Halloween candy to us but we yelled happy New Years at the top of our longs as we laughed and danced around with sparklers in our hands. At that point it felt like midnight and our Holiday Extravaganza had come to and end. I never imagined I could feel so much love. Seven Holidays all in one day and from the decorations to the celebrations and everyones willingness to participate, I couldn’t of dreamt of a day so sweet. Im going to miss all of these amazing people so much over the next year but I will never forget this day. I will forever have these memories of the time we celebrated 11 months all in one day. To everyone who participated, I love you more than you will ever know, from the bottom of my heart thank you!
