The Big Christmas Update

Whoo. Christmas has come and gone, and I've got a whopper of a blog to lay on you. So get comfy - We might be here a while. As I mentioned in a previous post, the week did not get off to a very good start. Haley had a bad cough, Nicole had bronchitis, and I had some kind of sinus/ear infection. Things didn't get much better as the week progressed. LBC (Lil Black Cat) began acting erratically, and began peeing all over the house instead of in his litter box. A trip to the vet revealed that kitty had a urinary tract infection. The short of it was that if we were unable to get him to take antibiotics and a minimum amount of water every day, we were in danger of losing him.

Before you worry that our Christmas was ruined as a result of these problems, everyone eventually started to get better. We made it to Thursday evening, when Kami and Gigi arrived for their Christmas visit. Friday's big event was a visit to the fat man in the red suit at the mall. After we said goodbye to him we went to visit Santa. (Haha.) Haley had been excited about visiting Santa all week. She repeatedly told us she wanted to ask Santa for a yo-yo. Yep... Thats right... A yo-yo. After standing in line we were next. Despite her excitement, I was still expecting some kind of freak-out when she actually met Santa, but she proved me very wrong. She marched up to Santa with confidence, held her arms up to him to be picked up, and told him she wanted a yo-yo. To which Santa looked at us in confusion and asked, "A yo-yo?" Yep... Thats right... A yo-yo. He shrugged and they both smiled for the picture. I guess after a day of kids asking for expensive electronics, a yo-yo was pretty jarring by comparison.

We capped Friday with a parade. No, we didn't go anywhere for some large Christmas parade. Haley's new game is to hand everyone an instrument, and we follow her playing our instruments as she bangs a toy drum. Usually, this parade consists of Haley and either myself or Nicole. Friday's parade was a big event, with me playing the maracas, Nicole and Vicki playing kazoos, Michael on the tambourine, and Haley in the lead with her drum. At one point, Haley turned around and saw the huge line of people following her. The look on her face was, in a word, classic. If I'm permitted three words to describe her expression, I'd probably say "pleased as punch".

Saturday was a flurry of activity. Nicole and Vicki spent the entire day cooking and preparing for the big party we were having that night. Michael and I were charged with keeping Haley occupied through all of this. We spent the better part of the morning building a gingerbread house with her. Michael handled most of the construction of the house, I slathered on frosting and a few decorations, but then I handed the bowl of decorative candy to Haley and let her do the rest. She did great! You could tell she was really pleased with herself. "I built a house, daddy!" You sure did, kiddo!

Dinner on Saturday was crazy! Lots of food, lots of people, lots of kids - just the way I like it. Everyone had a great time. Nicole, Vicki, and Heather did a great job with the food. Delicious!

Unfortunately, Christmas morning wasn't as ideal as we hoped. Haley woke up complaining that her ear hurt. The pain seemed to subside and Haley was encompassed by the wonder of Christmas. Apparently, that Santa guy had eaten the cookies she left out for him. Not only that, but his reindeer had eaten the glitter-sprinkled oatmeal that was left out for them! (Lets hope she doesn't notice the rabbits in the neighborhood have glitter-sprinkled poop this week.) She began to open presents. Hey! A yo-yo! Midway through the presents, she began to act irritable. Shortly thereafter, she was inconsolably crying and tugging at her ear. We took her to Urgent Care, where she was diagnosed with an ear infection in both ears. Some ibuprofen and antibiotics later she was fine.

Despite some of the bumps in the road this week, it was still a great Christmas. Michael and Vicki had a fun visit, and we've racked up another wonderful Christmas of memories. (And some awesome gifts all around!)

One last parting thought. Today when walking around the house, Haley said, "Santa is sad." Nicole and I exchanged puzzled glances. "Why is that, sweetie?" Haley points to our Cookies-For-Santa dish and says, "No more cookies for Santa." We'll set out more for him next year, Haley.