Christmas Highlights II

Previously I posted about Tyler’s diligence in picking out the perfect present for Danielle. It was not quite as arduous picking one out for Daddy, but it was close. Tyler decided early on that he wanted to buy popcorn for Ron. That’s what he got him last year and it worked, so why not do it again this year? Last year Tyler picked out popcorn that was in a Nascar tin. It had brightly colored race cars on it. I guess he was looking for the exact same tin this year. All we could find were popcorn tins with Santas and puppies on them, so Tyler decided he wanted to get Ron something else. He found some Christmas magnets near the wrapping paper and thought surely Dad would like one of those. He considered it further, though, and decided maybe that wasn’t the right thing. And then he saw “it” – the perfect gift. Tyler gasped and ran over to the shelf. “This is it, Mom! This is what I what I want to get Dad!” In his little hands he held a decorative nutcracker, covered from hat to boots in shiny sequins! It was a little over the price limit, but I thought it was well worth it! Tyler was super excited, and I couldn’t wait to see the look on Ron’s face. After further inspection, the nutcracker’s leg was scratched, so Tyler settled on one with a “really cool hat”. Although I found the whole thing amusing, this was actually a rather thoughtful gift. Some weeks ago we were all in a store looking for Christmas decorations. Tyler & Ron looked at a couple giant nutcrackers and commented on how neat they were. In addition to being caught up in the glimmer of the sequins, I think Tyler really thought Ron would like this because of their previous conversation. Tyler picked out some shiny wrapping paper (with blue on it because “that’s Dad’s favorite color”). He proudly wrapped his gift, covered the package with bows, and gently placed it under the Christmas tree. I thought he would burst with pride. He presented it to Ron just as proudly on Christmas morning.

Danielle had heard Tyler talking about getting Ron popcorn and decided she wanted to get him some, too. Well, popcorn was actually her second choice. She really wanted to get him a stuffed bunny rabbit, but I convinced her Daddy wouldn’t really have time to play with one. On a separate trip to the store, she chose one of the tins covered in puppies wearing red Christmas bows and was quickly satisfied. She was excited and wrapped it immediately, too. Both kids did a great job keeping Christmas secrets this year, but as soon as she handed the present to Ron on Christmas morning, she proudly announced “It’s poptorn!” (She can’t make the “ka” sound.)

I guess not as much thought went into my gifts. Ron said both kids had specific ideas of what they wanted to get me, but when they found the bath section, the scratch & sniff scents caused them to abandon all other plans. Did you know someone actually makes a scent called Grapefruit/Tangerine? Or Pomegranate/Mango? For Christmas I received bath gift sets in each scent. The kids couldn’t wait for me to open them so they could scratch the smelly sticker on the cellophane wrappers. (Pictures courtesy of Tyler)

Tyler & Danielle enjoyed exchanging their gifts, too. It was hard to tell if they were more excited about giving their gifts or receiving them. After Danielle opened her gift from Tyler, she put it on the floor and flung her arms around him. It was the perfect reaction and the perfect start to our Christmas morning.

Ron and I weren’t going to buy anything for each other for Christmas this year, but decided within a week or two of Christmas that we could each buy each other one small gift (<$40). I kept my end of the bargain, but Ron did not. (Apparently he had this planned all along.) He presented me with a very nice digital camera. I love to take pictures, but my digital camera broke several months ago. I’ve been using his “inferior” camera since then. I was totally surprised and might have even shed a tear or two. He couldn’t have picked out a more perfect gift for me.

This was one of my favorite Christmases.

Christmas Highlights I

Once again we had a wonderful, relaxing Christmas. Our visits with family were spaced out just right, making each visit even more enjoyable. For some reason I didn’t get many pictures of our Christmas with Grandma & Grandpa R (except for all the snow pictures previously posted). They spent their Christmas on one of two cruises taken at the end of December, so we celebrated with them early in the month. It was a nice way to get us all in the mood for Christmas (like we really needed any help!).

When we celebrated Christmas with Mamaw, Papaw, and the rest of the gang the week before Christmas, we had a great dinner and enjoyed watching the kids play together. Here are a few pictures from our Christmas celebration with them:

On Christmas Eve day we went to church with Grandma & Grandpa C and Uncle Ron. The last time I went to church with them, my grandpa sat with us, looking handsome in his full suit and singing the old hymns from memory. I missed him this time. We had a wonderful lunch and spent a very comfortable afternoon watching the kids delight in their gifts. Here are a few pictures from our Christmas celebration with them.

Tyler's Christmas Program

After what felt like months, my computer is finally fixed & I’m back online. I suppose the down time was good. It enabled me to finish all my Christmas wrapping in good time, and I even managed to read a couple books (the kind without pictures!).

To pick up where I left off – Tyler’s very first school Christmas program. As I’ve mentioned before, Tyler’s preschool is part of a larger Christian school containing grades K-8, in addition to preschool classes for ages 3, 4, & 5. On the 19th, the preschool and kindergarten classes had their Christmas programs.

When I reminded Tyler of his upcoming performance earlier in the week, he looked alarmed and said, “But I don’t know all the words yet!” When the time came he knew enough of the words, though. After his class filed up on stage, he puffed his chest out and shouted out the words to “Go Tell it on the Mountain”. He took his job on stage quite seriously. He told us earlier that they weren’t supposed to bow after they sang, just smile while we clapped. After each song, Tyler put his hands to his cheeks and pointed at his smile. He clapped for himself once or twice, too. He did the typical little kid stuff – waved at us from the stage, flipped the hair of the little girl next to him, stomped his feet on the stage to hear it echo. Fortunately before he went on stage I suggested he put his hands in his pockets if he didn’t know what to do with them. He made a point of stuffing them in his pockets when he first got up there. No telling where he might have put them otherwise! (Ron was hoping for a Funniest Home Videos moment, though, and was disappointed I said anything.) At the end all the classes went back up and sang Away in a Manger together.

It’s difficult to relay exactly how special this night was. For me, Christmas is a time of high emotions anyway. The humanity of Christ’s birth gets to me, especially when I think about how Mary must have felt. Luke 2:19 says “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Although she was the mother of Jesus, she was still a mom who must have felt the fierce intensity of love for her newborn son. Thinking about that inevitably makes me choke up. Add to that our son, standing so tall and proud on stage with his friends and classmates, confidently belting out his Christmas songs. It was also our 14th wedding anniversary. Don’t tell Tyler & Danielle, but we weren’t too interested in having kids (ever) when we first got married. Who would have thought 14 years later we’d be celebrating our anniversary by proudly watching our not-so-little guy sing about Jesus’ birth. It was truly a special night.

I treasured up all these things…

Please Stay Tuned

My computer is on the fritz, so I have had very limited internet access lately. While Ron tries to fix my computer, I've only been able to log onto one of his old, also broken, laptops to check my email a couple times a day. Fortunately I've completed all my cyber Christmas shopping and was able to get my online order from Gymboree completed before my laptop completely broke down. (You know - the important things!)

Last night we celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary by attending Tyler's first ever school Christmas program. When it was his turn, I laughed until I cried. He took his task so seriously and really belted out the words to "Go Tell It on the Mountain". I was so proud of him. There's more I want to share from last night, but I'm certain this laptop will suddenly blue screen and kick me out. So, until I get my own laptop back, please stay tuned for more details, including pictures, from last night's program.

Tis Better to Give...

I took Tyler to the store tonight to pick out a Christmas present for Danielle. We had talked about what he might get for her, so I thought this would be a quick trip. Not so.

He had originally planned to buy her a Littlest Pet Shop (LPS) toy. I had envisioned the $4.44 toy; however, he had the $38.95 one in mind. Since $5 was his limit, I had to veto his first choice. A little dejected, he stood in front of the huge racks of the $4.44 LPS toys and tried to pick one she might like. He settled on a chinchilla with a little cage. We walked down another aisle and then headed up to the checkout counter. About half way there he stopped and said, “I don’t think I want to get this for her after all. It needs to be something else.” So we headed back to the toys.

He put the chinchilla down and studied the rest of the LPS toys. He picked out a St. Bernard puppy on a snowmobile and held it for a minute. Then he put it back and said, “I think I should get her one with 2 animals in it instead.” Then he added, “Do I have a time limit?” He studied them some more and ended up with a pack that had a cat and a fish in it. Again we walked toward the checkout counters.

As we were walking he paused. Finally he held up the cat & fish and said, “I don’t think this is what I want to get her, either. I don’t want to get her a Littlest Pet Shop toy. I’ll get her something else.” So he put that one back and we started over.

We walked the pink aisles in search of the perfect gift: “How much is this?” “I think she’d like that.” “Is this more than $5?” “Aw, nuts.” There was one toy he kept coming back to (a Polly Pockets van and doll). Maybe he was hoping the price would change each time he asked? He looked at several items and rejected most of them. He picked out a little Dora figure and carried it around for awhile, but he ended up discarding that one, too. (By this time I was thinking maybe I should have imposed a time limit.)

And then a ray of light broke through the false ceiling of the Walmart store and shined upon a miniature Polly Pocket with a pint sized car on an end display we hadn’t noticed before. “This is what I want to get her! Is it $5, Mom?” I was delighted to tell him that it was actually less than $5 and he could pick out 2 of them for her! He was so excited! He grabbed 2 of them and was ready to go. He had found it – the perfect gift.

As we headed up to the checkout counter he was already begging to wrap it as soon as we got home. When we got to the counter, Tyler slapped the toys up and hopped around eagerly. Fortunately our cashier had a personality and talked to him about his gifts. He gushed about picking out the right present for his sister, wrapping it (“My mom said maybe”), and surprising her with it. Honestly, I got a little teary. It was so touching.

On the drive home he formulated his plan. “I know what I’m going to tell her. I’m going to say, ‘Danielle, want to know what I got you? I got you a big lump of coal!’” ha ha ha. He practiced it several times. Sure enough, as soon as we got in the door he shouted it out, as rehearsed. She was less than amused.

I let Tyler stay up a little later to wrap her present. He cut the paper all by himself! He wrapped it up with very little help from me and even redid the end when he thought it didn’t look nice enough. He got it all taped up and then wrote “To Danielle” on the front and “From Tyler” on the back. I didn’t even have to show him how to make any of the letters. (Boy, is he growing up!) Once he was done wrapping it, he placed his package carefully under the tree. He did all of this – this whole process - with so much care. It was so sweet. And never once did he say anything at all about Danielle getting something for him. It was all about making her happy.

This experience was so much more moving than the time I took him out to buy her a gift for her first Christmas. (I think that was the occasion.) He picked out a soft football with Pooh on it from the dollar store. When the cashier asked him who it was for, he replied, “Oh, just some baby that lives in our house.”

In So Many Words...

My favorite word mix-ups today and the sentences in which they were used:

Nubbles: Look, Mommy, I’m poking my nubbles.
Kanoleum: Let’s play with our cars on the kanoleum .
booGARs: Baby Jesus has booGARs.
Malmations: Mom, “d” is for malmations!
Anxious: Let's go into the anxious pyramid first. [ancient]
Sweet Streeper: The sweet streeper is cleaning the street, Mom.
always lickin’ it : Misinterpretation of a toy that says “always wingin’ it”

Fun in the Snow

Danielle's side of the snowman

Tyler's side of the snowman

Our Thursday

My day started off normal enough: I woke up. That’s when everything went crazy.

I had a follow up appointment for my broken finger this morning at 10, so I was feeling a little rushed to get breakfast on the table, the kids clean enough for public appearances, and everyone loaded in the van early enough to make it on time. During the rush of getting breakfast on the table, Tyler screamed up the stairs from the playroom, “Mom! I have something to tell you and it’s an EMERGENCY!” Danielle’s hamster escaped some time during the night. The playroom was SO messy she could have been anywhere, if she was even still in that room. We moved toys around in vain. Eventually she came scurrying out from behind a bin of toys. Danielle was so relieved we found her…whole and alive. Later today I found a little pink Barbie shoe back where Danielle’s hamster had been. It had a perfect little hamster bite taken out of the toe. I thought it was really funny, but Danielle did not. (Turns out Danielle didn’t latch the door all the way when she stuck a cracker from her Lunchable into her hamster’s cage on Tuesday. It took the hamster 2 days to figure it out.)

We finally made it out the door and to my doctor’s office. We walked in right on time, which is quite an accomplishment for us. We ended up waiting 30 minutes in the waiting room. Fortunately I had even planned ahead and had the kids each pack a backpack with toys. However, I didn’t have time to screen the packed toys. Turns out everything Tyler brought made noise – Buzz Lightyear, a jet, and a very noisy dump truck. The doctor said my finger was healing well but ordered a follow-up xray. He said the pain would probably continue for another 4-6 weeks, though, and that the urgent care doctor should have told me I could remove my splint after 2 weeks. Ugg. Now that would have been convenient. Anyway, we moved on to the imaging department where we had to wait…again…for my xray.

When we finally made it home, I had to canvas the neighborhood in search of our missing trash can. I drove right by the emptied cans on my way out of the drive this morning and thought about dragging them into the garage, but the search for the missing hamster ate up my extra time. Sure enough, the wind blew one of our cans down the street and into a neighbor’s yard. At least, I think that was our trash can. Honestly, I haven’t spent that much time staring at ours and am not positive I could ID them in a trash can line-up.

Late this afternoon we had to take Casey to the vet. Again we waited in a waiting room. A very small waiting room. Let me back up. Before going to the vet I had to get a urine sample from Casey. Have you ever tried to collect pee from a 90lb female dog? She didn’t understand why I was following her around the yard and kept running from me, like it was a game. Finally when she did stop and go, I quickly jammed a Tupperware container underneath her. When she was done she whirled around, her ears straight up & head turned slightly, and watched me walk back across the yard. When I got back in the house and turned to let her in, she was still rooted in the same spot out in the yard, still staring at me. I’m sure she was wondering what had just happened. It was very funny. Anyway, it doesn’t appear as though Casey is diabetic but the vet is pretty sure she has low estrogen levels. He also suspects she may have kidney failure. They drew some blood to test her kidneys and started her on some inexpensive hormones. We should know the results in a couple days.

While we were at the vet Tyler announced to me that, “When I’m a daddy [meaning when I grow up] I want to be a doctor. An animal doctor. But I still won’t know how to write.” I reassured him that he would know how to write by then. “Oh that’s right. I will have gone to kindergarten by then.” Then he thought maybe he would be a teacher and teach at his school. It was very entertaining.

I guess Ron had a long day, too. He’s been in Canada all this week. When I talked to him before going to the vet, his flight had just been rerouted through Dulles due to all the delays in Chicago. When I talked to him again after the vet, I overheard an announcement in the terminal. He said they were announcing final boarding for his original flight. He wasn’t happy.

Finally bed time rolled around. I tucked Tyler in and was sitting in Danielle’s room with her when I heard a crash. The dogs were upstairs with us, so it wasn’t them. I cautiously walked over to the railing and looked into the family room. Our giant Christmas tree had fallen over into the middle of the room! I could hear the water from the tree stand dripping onto the plastic that had been under the tree. Yes, I was upset about the tree, but I was so much more upset about my carpet! I attempted to stuff some towels under the fallen tree until I could figure out what to do. By the time I got back to Danielle’s room, she was sound asleep. I checked in on Tyler and had to laugh. He had the covers pulled up to his nose and his eyes were huge. “I heard a noise. I was laying here trying to think what that noise might be.” I told him what happened and he went to bed.

My brother came to my rescue. The tree was too heavy and awkward for me to fix by myself. Plus it was dangerously close to Ron’s new tv. We got the tree up but couldn’t get it to stand. We ended up tying a rope around the top third of the tree and tying it to the spindles on the stairs behind it. The floor around the tree was covered in pine needles, sap, and water. What a mess. We’ve had the tree for almost 2 weeks and don’t have any idea what might have made it fall over now.

It was a long day.

Ron finally stumbled in the door around midnight…minus his luggage. Guess he had a long day, too.

Silly Serenades

Tyler's teacher held parent-teacher conferences early in November. In the course of our discussion, she mentioned she didn’t find it particularly amusing when Tyler purposefully changed or made up words to songs during circle time. I didn’t tell her that was actually an improvement - in previous years he’s just observed. At least he’s getting involved this time. She cited one of Tyler’s more recent examples: “God is not my friend, not my friend…” You get the picture.

Tyler gets this honestly. From the time Tyler was teeny tiny Ron has always had fun making up songs or changing the words in an existing song to include something silly about the kids. It’s no wonder Tyler would do this, too. We never thought this would annoy his teacher someday. (A lot of other things have come to mind, but not this.) We talked to Tyler about it and agreed he could be silly like this at home but not at school.

Tyler had his 5 year check-up last week. (Yep, we’re a little behind.) His pediatrician asked how he was doing in school. I mentioned his teacher’s disdain for songs with extra lyrics inserted. Tyler’s doctor smiled and said, “Well, I think that’s actually pretty creative.” What a nice perspective. I almost hugged her.

Lately Tyler has been practicing the songs for his school program. He enjoys making up lyrics to those, too. His favorites are “Go Poop It on the Mountain” and the little Lord Jesus is “snoring”, rather than sleeping, in the hay in Away in a Manger. After he’s done giggling at himself, he rolls his eyes and says “I know, I know. I can’t sing it like that at school.” I can just see his teacher clutch at her chest and fall off her child-sized blue plastic chair while Tyler shouts out “Go poop it on the mountain!” (I have to admit I do find the thought a little amusing.)

Tyler was talking about his day on the way home from school today. He referred to something during circle time and said that every time his teacher said ABC, he added XYZ. (Sorry, don’t recall the exact statements.) He immediately added, “But I say it quietly so she won’t hear me”. I explained that adding words is just like changing the words and can’t be done at school, even quietly. Our conversation continued:

But I have to say it.

Well, think it in your head but don’t say it.

I don’t like to think it in my head. I like to say it.

That’s part of growing up - learning to keep some things in your head and not say everything you think

I almost choked on those last words as they came out of my mouth. Tyler may have gotten the creativity of changing the words in a song from his daddy, but he certainly got his inability to think without blurting from me.

The Magic of Christmas

My sister-in-law wrote a nice blog yesterday about faith. In it she mentioned that she figured out Santa wasn’t real when she was 5 years old! Although her blog was about much more than that little fact, it was what struck me most. I suppose that’s because I have a 5 year old. To me, 5 years old seems awfully young to let go of the magical fantasies that typify childhood.

My 5 year old doesn’t have an inkling that there may or may not be a Santa (until we watched The Polar Express tonight, that is). Even if he were to walk into the closet where all the gifts are being kept, as smart as he is, he still would believe in Santa if we told him Santa was real.

Tyler loves to drive around and look at Christmas lights. He talks about what he “ordered” from Santa and commented that Santa didn’t bring him what he wanted last year. Instead, he brought him something “much cooler”! He likes to sit on the couch and watch the lights twinkle on the tree. He rearranges our nativity set to look like the picture on the box. He’s been diligent about practicing his songs for his Christmas program at school, and broke into a rather moving rendition of “Go Tell It on the Mountain” during his gymnastics class tonight. (Unfortunately he carries a tune about as well as his daddy.) He wrote his first letter to Santa this year – with my help – and asked for gifts for the dogs first. I can’t imagine Christmas without this “magic”. Tyler knows we celebrate Christmas because God gave His gift of Jesus to us, to the world, that day. We discuss giving and receiving gifts to celebrate God’s gift to us. Yet I can’t help but think once our kids are “grown-up” enough to think Santa isn’t real, the awe of Christmas will be somewhat diminished. Maybe it’s because losing the innocence of those beliefs signifies a greater loss. The kids are growing up so quickly. This is one magical area of childhood I'm going to cling to as long as I can. (And I will be extra careful about that wrapping paper, Leah!)

More examples of Tyler’s naiveté:
Tonight in the car we were listening to Christmas songs on the local Christian radio station. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir was singing “Happy Birthday Jesus”. The little girl was singing and Tyler was repeating the words. When the choir all joined in, Tyler said, “Now all the VeggieTales are singing with her!”

The station also played “Go Tell it on the Mountain”. Tyler got so excited because that’s his favorite song for his school Christmas program. He said, “I bet Mrs. M** teached that song to the radio guy, too!”

Borrowed Time

The kids and I enjoyed the unseasonable weather with a trip to the zoo today. It was nearly empty, and we really enjoyed ourselves. With December around the corner, I felt like we were on borrowed time, and we were grateful for it.

When we visited the lions, the male lion was watching his handler walk away and followed him to the front of the enclosure, right next to the walkway. I suppose it's possible he was eyeing the tufted deer across the way, but it did start with the handler. Anyway, we got a very nice up close look at him. Although we were alone most every place else, a couple others joined us in watching the lion. After a minute of staring off into space, the lion shook his head to snap out of his trance and got up to walk away. (Maybe it wasn't quite like that.) As he walked away, Danielle very loudly said, "I can see his pen!s!" The lady next to me practically doubled over, chortling just as loudly. Danielle was genuinely confused. "Why is that lady laughing, Mommy?" I half-heartedly tried to explain that decent people typically don't comment on pen!ses in public, but I think it was lost on my 3 year old blue eyed beauty.

Dad, that tree won’t even fit in our yard; It’s not going in our yard, Russ.

In a moment of insanity, we hopped in the van Saturday afternoon and headed out to cut our own Christmas tree. It was like Clark Griswald said in Christmas Vacation: We're kicking off our fun old fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols.” Of course, we were in a mini-van and the weather was unseasonably sunny and warm.

We spent much more time looking for the “perfect” tree than was necessary, especially since we have a perfectly fine artificial tree in our basement that is the right price and doesn’t have any bare spots. BUT after driving to 3 different places (each 20 minutes apart) and then returning to the second place, we found the nearly perfect tree. We were looking for something really tall. In our quest I guess we got a little confused because we ended up with something really W I D E and only kind of tall.

We spent so much time hunting for our tree on Saturday, we didn’t have time to decorate it until Sunday. The kids were so excited to decorate it – especially Tyler. Danielle enjoyed blowing the icicles onto the tree like Daddy did. We had a good time and the tree turned out pretty good. It’s just SO wide.

We also put up our outside decorations on Sunday. We usually hang lights on our porch, trees, and bushes. Since we have none of the above, we had to adapt this year.

Uncle Rob & Aunt Leah gave Tyler a silly faces candy making kit for Christmas. The kids and I enjoyed making candy “suckers” this morning before Tyler went to school. It was a lot of fun. (Thanks, Aunt Leah)