I am always amazed when I think back to what my parents did. There were no signs (decorative-wise) of Christmas in our home before Christmas day. When we went to bed on Christmas Eve...my mom and dad got to work...all night long. They put up the tree and decorated it, put decorations around the house, wrapped gifts, putting together bicycles and other toys that needed assembly. It's just remarkable to think about it. I can remember the absolute awe I felt on Christmas morning, walking into the living room and seeing the tree, the lights, and the gifts.
As amazing as it was, I couldn't imagine doing that myself. It took everything I had to stay up and wrap gifts until 11:30 or so.
On Christmas Eve we went to visit Steven's grandmother who is in a convalescent home recovering from surgery and awaiting another one. We stayed for about an hour, and to my delight, the children were very well behaved. It helped that she has a roommate that's a pistol, and just gushed over Linus. Of course, it didn't hurt that Grandpa had homemade cookies for them.
The rest of the day I spent in the kitchen preparing Christmas Eve dinner, and a cake to take to my mother in laws on Christmas. I was attempting to roast a cut of meat I had never worked with before, and failed miserably. It was tough and dry...uck! It was the first time I cooked something that couldn't be hidden or masked some way with a sauce or great side dishes...it was just a compelte wash.
After dinner I decided to whip up a batch of bannana muffins for the morning. Realizing I had no eggs left, I sent Steven out. While he was doing that, and the kids were occupied with Grandpa, I took the opportunity to start packing for the weekend at my in-laws. Steven returned with the eggs and I continued my muffins, but heard a strange dripping noise behind me.
Aside...I have to say here that half of our ceiling in the kitchen is missing from a bathroom re-do 2 years ago, so there are exposed pipes etc.
Turning around, I discovered water dripping into the kitchen from the bathroom above. Linus, I thought....where's Linus?
Well, Linus had taken all 10 rolls of toilet paper and shoved them in the toilet. All the flushing was creating a waterfall effect, and he was really enjoying it. Ugh! What a mess...and no toilet paper left to boot!
Christmas morning the angels were working overtime, because the children were all relatively good at Mass. Linus only asked to nurse once (I think he's finally getting that we won't be nursing in church anymore :o ), and there was no yelling "Jesus is coming" during the consecration. Yay! Steven and I are waiting anxiously for the day when the children are all old enough that we can re-join the choir.
The children got a Wii this year with the help of grandparents, and pretty much played all weekend. Steven and I are a bit anti-video game. I just think that there are far too many electronic devices around these days that are de-humanizing us, and keeping us from face to face interaction...but that's another post for another day. Anyhoo...we agreed that a Wii would be a great family oriented game. I'm excited that something has come along that we can all do together, and doesn't involve one child sitting solitarily huddled over a 3 inch screen. With Noah and Peter out of town for the rest of the week, I'm enjoying playing it with the younger kids. Oliver is already a pro, and Linus is thoroghly frustrated.
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