December 2008

December started out with great promise. Christmas programs were scheduled, gifts were purchased and some already given out, Christmas cards had been printed since October, plans had been made for neighborhood gifts and our annual cookie baking get-together with my mom and MJ.  What is it that they say?  "The best laid plans....." I don't remember the rest of it and I guess that goes without say because I really thought I had our month planned out and we would once again enjoy a leisurely holiday full of meaning and togetherness.  HA!  

Things started out well with the tradition of going to the mountains to pick out the perfect tree. Will chose it this year. I think it took about 2.3 seconds to find t

hat tree. It really was a beautiful tree and for once, it wasn't humongous.  As always, we also drank hot cocoa, talked to San

ta and rode horses while waiting for our special tree to make it's way down the mountain.  

We even stopped for a Mexican lunch on the 

way home.  YUMMY! 

Things went well putting it up this year. I believe this is the first year that Emma did not break an ornament. She has an irresistible urge to play with each and every most delicate ornament that we own. I can just hear her thoughts: "but they're all SO beautiful! I just have to touch it!" Having a special tree to put upstairs for the children with their own ornaments may have helped.  It sure took a lot of time to run up and down those stairs with each ornament! Wink!

Jack was the first (and only one) to have a Christmas program. I arrived early enough to get a good spot for recording the event.  Thank goodness!  That boy was so stinkin' cute I couldn't stand it!  He was the LAST one to make his way out to the stage. When he finally arrived, he stood about three spaces away from everyone else.  Looking back, I think he did it so he could draw more attention to himself.  As it that would be an issue!  He danced and rang a jingle bell the whole time.  He was in his own little world, just boogieing down to his own music.  I giggle just thinking back on it!  Being a rather shy little guy (where did THAT come from?!), I am quite proud of him and his performance. He never did spot me until the very end and I think that was a blessing. 

Shortly after arriving home from his program, diarrhea set in.  It happened so much that I lost count. To shorten this story, we ended up in the ER that night after seeing blood.  

We stayed there until 3am at which point they told us there was nothing they could do and the tests from the sample I produced (I used a turkey baster to collect this) did not detect anything life threatening.  We had to wait this one out.  Luckily, on the 10th day, the blood and diarrhea ended and we didn't have to see a specialist. It was evidently just a very bad virus that has luck would have it, made it's way through the entire family.  There is more to Jack's bowel story, but that will have to come later. 

Around the middle of the month, my mom and MJ came down for our annual Christmas cookie baking extravaganza.  To shed light on the amount of cookies that we bake, I bought a 25 pound bag of flour for this occasion.  OK, we didn't use it all, but by golly, we sure did make a good dent in it! The good news is that we had a ball doing all of the baking, drinking, chatting, laughing, baking, munching,drinking......the bad news is that my cookies all turned out crappy. I am blaming it on the cheap butter that I bought because the problem with all of them was that they spread all over the cookie sheets.  They tasted good, most of them, but they looked really sick. So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  Maybe I'll have better turn out next year. 

Stay tuned for December 2008, part 2..........