We traveled to Iowa for the Christmas holidays. Pam’s parents live on top of a hill overlooking rolling hills in every direction. In the morning the ground was covered in frost with thick layer of fog creating a mysterious scene. It took several hours before the sun came up to burn off the fog. On Christmas day it was supposed to be 58 degrees during the day which is unheard of. Usually the temperatures are in the negative digits.
On the first night of Christmas the family gathered to play Tripoly. It seemed to be a combination of a few card games wrapped into one game. Poker played an important role to start and chips were placed on the board. I was so focused on sketching that I didn’t really follow all the rules. Pam’s brother Matt played boisterously and he is known for taking chances in his betting, sometimes placing large stakes bets even when he didn’t have a great hand.
Kim, his wife, was just learning the game so she consulted the poker cheat sheet to figure out how to play her hand. Pam and her nephew Easton played constant hands. This game can go on all night it turns out. Matt and Kim’s little girls started playing a game of tag, running in circles and using me as the home base. I had to brace myself once in a while knowing I was about to be body slammed as I sketched.
I had spent the whole day at shopping malls with Pam and Destiny. We ended up going to 15 different stores to get outfits for Destiny’s High School Senior photos. There is no activity more exhausting than shopping at a mall right before Christmas. Before the game was over that I was sketching, I decided to curl up on the couch over by the tiny Christmas tree. I immediately drifted off to sleep. At some point Pam must have put a purple leopard print blanket over me. Matt won the game and Pam decided to wake me up to actually go to bed. It was close to impossible to drag myself off the couch. Downstairs it was freezing cold and I went to bed fully dressed with my hoodie tied tight around my head so that just my nose stuck out into the cold.