Chapter 9

I jumped off the bus and sprinted to the house, it was finally Wednesday! When I entered the house I could smell the cookies baking. November was my favorite time of year. We were just let out for thanksgiving break, my favorite holiday. I loved seeing the whole family and most of all loved the family soccer tournament. My cousins’ team would always win because she went to college on a soccer scholarship. This year I was determined to win because I was bringing Valarie with me because her parents are going out of town. We were leaving to pick her up n a half an hour and then driving to Pittsburg to see my family.
“Hey.” Val said jumping into the loaded van.
“Hey.”
“I’m so excited!”
“Me too we will dominate the soccer tournament this year. Jenna’s is gonna wish she would have practiced a lot harder.” We both laughed and ended up falling asleep on the way there. We ran into a pretty nasty snow storm crossing over. When we arrived it was 11:00 and there was 5 inches of snow on the ground.
“Wake up” she said as she shook me. I lifted my head and looked outside and say the snow falling all around me. I couldn’t see very well because of the lack of light outside but what I could see was beautiful.
“We’re here girls.” My father said as the wheels spun into place. We unbuckled and stepped out into the frozen wonder land. We unloaded our things and moved them in. Most of the family was already asleep but my little cousin James was still awake watching “Charlie Brown.” We tiptoed in and talked to my aunt who was woken up by my cousin when I walked in, and then went off to bed knowing tomorrow was a big day.
In the morning we woke up to the smell of stuffing, pies a roasting turkey, mashed potatoes and the faint smell of burnt toast. I opened my eyes and say the parade on TV and everyone sitting around watching it and enjoying some toast. Val looked just like part of the family with both the twins sitting on her lap. My family considered her a long lost member. They always have ever since our 3rd birthday. I went out to the kitchen and found Jenna and my Aunt Peggy cooking away.
“Hey chick!” Jenna said giving me a hug. “Looks like we’ll have to take a rain check on our tournament.” She said pointing outside. I ran over and pressed my cheeks against the frosted window and asked:
“How many inches is that?”
“About 10.” My cousin said handing me 2 pieces of toast. We sat down and watched the parade with the twins as the family kept arrived. At around 11:30 my aunt asked us to help. We took over 5 trips to the store with Jenna. Finally at 6:30 we all walked down to the banquet hall to find a table big enough for 40 people and I watched it quickly fill up. Dinner lasted to 9:45. After that the family began to file out one section at a time. By 12:00 AM we were on our way back to Ohio for our soccer practice on Saturday and game on Sunday.