Christmas -- before, during, and after
Yes, I know it's been WAY too long since I posted. However, if my not posting has caused you undue stress and hardship, then I suggest you take a good, long, hard look at your priorities.
Christmas Eve... Mary and Rosie dropped Hope off at gymnastics camp for the morning while I ran some errands: mostly shopping and a trip to the post office. I had some last-minute gifts to pick up for Mary, all of which I was able to get at one mall (Hecht's, Waldenbooks, and Victoria's Secret). Meanwhile, Mary and Rosie did some shopping of their own. They picked up Hope and met me back at the homestead. The mad rush to clean the house then began. Granted, we had been working on it all week, but not to any great extent. Plus, with two small kids, a lot of re-cleaning was involved. We managed to get dressed, pack up the kids, and try to make it to 5:00 mass (which is the more "family-friendly" one). Well, we got the church at about 4:57, looked through the door and saw that it was standing room only -- not conducive to small children at all. We went back home, intending to try and make the 7:00 mass, but it was not to be. Our friend Kathy and her daughter Emily came over to socialize, and another friend, Paul, came over a little later. We cleaned and wrapped gifts while we socialized, got the girls to go to sleep, said goodbye to our guests, and finally had a little quiet. Mary and I exchanged one gift apiece -- I gave her a gold cross, set with tiny gems, and she gave me a gym membership. Now, this is a bit ironic, because the gym membership gift was in lieu of the Gameboy Advance SP that I had mentioned to her. Message, Spock? Yes, Captain: Your wife loves you and would like to have you around for the next 40 to 50 years. Message received (and very much appreciated), loud and clear.
Christmas Day... Hope was up at 7:00 a.m. This wouldn't be too bad if Mary and I hadn't gone to bed at 4:30 a.m. Or if Rosie hadn't awakened crying at 5:30 a.m. Anyway, let's just say we didn't get much sleep. Santa was extremely kind to all of us. I received four DVDs: "Shaun of the Dead," "Hero," "Napoleon Dynamite," and The Star Wars Trilogy (ep. 4-6); while Mary got mostly clothes, two CDs (including the soundtrack to "Assassins"), and a game for the PC. Hope and Rose made out like bandits, with gifts too numerous to list here. Breakfast followed the gift frenzy (I made french toast and sausage), then Tasha--Rose's birthmother--came over. Let me explain something here. For those who don't know, both of our daughters are adopted. Unfortunately. we have had no contact with Hope's birthparents, and we probably never will. However, we are fortunate enough to have a very open adoption relationship with Rose's birthmother, Tasha. Anyway, she came over, we exchanged gifts (barbecue tools -- Yay!) and had dinner (roast beef, potatoes au gratin, and carryout Chinese appetizers). She left around 7:30 p.m., and we immediately started getting the kids to bed. I was exhausted, and was in bed by 8:45. Mary had intended on staying up to put food away and do a load of dishes, but she crashed as well. Rosie woke up crying at 12:30 a.m., and I had to put her in bed with Mary before she'd calm down and go to sleep. Wide awake, I decided to go downstairs and putter around the kitchen. What I ended up doing was baking a few dozen cookies (Oatmeal Scotchies -- Yum!), washing the dishes, partially cleaning off the dining room table, and mixing up the dough for a couple loaves of bread. I was in bed by 4:00 a.m.
The Day After... Rose and Hope both up by 8:00 a.m. We went downstairs to let Mary sleep a while longer. I punched down the bread dough and put it in the pans to rise for the second time. Started cleaning up the Christmas mess, as we had guests coming around noon. Mary was up at 9:30, and made us breakfast (creamed chipped beef on toast). We then set to cleaning and readying the house for company. They started arriving around 12:30... Paul, Pat and Lisa with daughter Grace, Peter and Kathy with daughter Emily, and Andrew and Laura with daughters Olivia and Ariana (What's up with all the girl-children?). It was a casual, pot-luck gathering, and we all had a pretty good time socializing, exchanging gifts (Heroscape -- Yay!), eating too much, and just plain hanging out. The last guest (Paul, as usual) left around 7:30. After that it was clean up a bit, get the girls to bed, feed the cats, clean the ltter boxes, take out the trash (which amounted to 3 cans, 4 bags, and a huge box of cardboard and assorted gift detritous), do some laundry, and go to bed.
All in all, a satisfying holiday. Looking forward to a slow week at work, and then another long weekend. If only I could shake this annoying cough...
Christmas Eve... Mary and Rosie dropped Hope off at gymnastics camp for the morning while I ran some errands: mostly shopping and a trip to the post office. I had some last-minute gifts to pick up for Mary, all of which I was able to get at one mall (Hecht's, Waldenbooks, and Victoria's Secret). Meanwhile, Mary and Rosie did some shopping of their own. They picked up Hope and met me back at the homestead. The mad rush to clean the house then began. Granted, we had been working on it all week, but not to any great extent. Plus, with two small kids, a lot of re-cleaning was involved. We managed to get dressed, pack up the kids, and try to make it to 5:00 mass (which is the more "family-friendly" one). Well, we got the church at about 4:57, looked through the door and saw that it was standing room only -- not conducive to small children at all. We went back home, intending to try and make the 7:00 mass, but it was not to be. Our friend Kathy and her daughter Emily came over to socialize, and another friend, Paul, came over a little later. We cleaned and wrapped gifts while we socialized, got the girls to go to sleep, said goodbye to our guests, and finally had a little quiet. Mary and I exchanged one gift apiece -- I gave her a gold cross, set with tiny gems, and she gave me a gym membership. Now, this is a bit ironic, because the gym membership gift was in lieu of the Gameboy Advance SP that I had mentioned to her. Message, Spock? Yes, Captain: Your wife loves you and would like to have you around for the next 40 to 50 years. Message received (and very much appreciated), loud and clear.
Christmas Day... Hope was up at 7:00 a.m. This wouldn't be too bad if Mary and I hadn't gone to bed at 4:30 a.m. Or if Rosie hadn't awakened crying at 5:30 a.m. Anyway, let's just say we didn't get much sleep. Santa was extremely kind to all of us. I received four DVDs: "Shaun of the Dead," "Hero," "Napoleon Dynamite," and The Star Wars Trilogy (ep. 4-6); while Mary got mostly clothes, two CDs (including the soundtrack to "Assassins"), and a game for the PC. Hope and Rose made out like bandits, with gifts too numerous to list here. Breakfast followed the gift frenzy (I made french toast and sausage), then Tasha--Rose's birthmother--came over. Let me explain something here. For those who don't know, both of our daughters are adopted. Unfortunately. we have had no contact with Hope's birthparents, and we probably never will. However, we are fortunate enough to have a very open adoption relationship with Rose's birthmother, Tasha. Anyway, she came over, we exchanged gifts (barbecue tools -- Yay!) and had dinner (roast beef, potatoes au gratin, and carryout Chinese appetizers). She left around 7:30 p.m., and we immediately started getting the kids to bed. I was exhausted, and was in bed by 8:45. Mary had intended on staying up to put food away and do a load of dishes, but she crashed as well. Rosie woke up crying at 12:30 a.m., and I had to put her in bed with Mary before she'd calm down and go to sleep. Wide awake, I decided to go downstairs and putter around the kitchen. What I ended up doing was baking a few dozen cookies (Oatmeal Scotchies -- Yum!), washing the dishes, partially cleaning off the dining room table, and mixing up the dough for a couple loaves of bread. I was in bed by 4:00 a.m.
The Day After... Rose and Hope both up by 8:00 a.m. We went downstairs to let Mary sleep a while longer. I punched down the bread dough and put it in the pans to rise for the second time. Started cleaning up the Christmas mess, as we had guests coming around noon. Mary was up at 9:30, and made us breakfast (creamed chipped beef on toast). We then set to cleaning and readying the house for company. They started arriving around 12:30... Paul, Pat and Lisa with daughter Grace, Peter and Kathy with daughter Emily, and Andrew and Laura with daughters Olivia and Ariana (What's up with all the girl-children?). It was a casual, pot-luck gathering, and we all had a pretty good time socializing, exchanging gifts (Heroscape -- Yay!), eating too much, and just plain hanging out. The last guest (Paul, as usual) left around 7:30. After that it was clean up a bit, get the girls to bed, feed the cats, clean the ltter boxes, take out the trash (which amounted to 3 cans, 4 bags, and a huge box of cardboard and assorted gift detritous), do some laundry, and go to bed.
All in all, a satisfying holiday. Looking forward to a slow week at work, and then another long weekend. If only I could shake this annoying cough...