Christmas to remember

I don't start singing carols the day after Halloween. I hesitate to set up the tree until mid-December. I do NOT shop on the day after Thanksgiving. I love Christmas, but I'm happy to let it creep in just a couple of weeks before the actual day. Christmas really "starts" for me at the Jensen family party, and this year was no exception. This was the first time that many family members were able to meet the boys since we missed the party last year (gasp!). It was fun, but poorly timed right in the middle of nap time. So, the boys were awake for the entire ride, wanted nothing to eat since they were busy running around and throwing wooden blocks, and were uber-grouchy by the time that Santa arrived. However, Peanut did a good job which was astounding because he really hates strangers lately. Santa did eventually talk him out of his bottle. Sam was less than thrilled but handled it well at the beginning. Then, his emotions, fear and lack of sleep got the best of him.

Then, a few days later, I received a phone call that really pissed me off. I'm probably not going to write about it here, but it (and all of the ensuing phone calls and extra work caused) did NOT bring me holiday cheer. In fact, it was generally missing from our house until Christmas Eve. Bub and I tried really hard to not spoil the events for the boys, but it was hard. It's still hard and will continue to be this way for a while, I'm afraid.

Grandma and Grandpa came out to have their yearly sleep over. We had a nice dinner and as much fun as we could muster. The boys went to bed early (thank goodness) so that Santa stopped at our house in decent time. I'm not sure why he bothers stopping, though, since the four grandparents bring the boys more loot than will ever be necessary for just two little people! After Santa left, the wind started to howl and didn't stop for more than 24 hours.

Everyone was up early on Christmas morning, but we had to wait for Papa and Nana to arrive so we started making breakfast. This turned out to be a mistake because the boys weren't in an eating mood, and Papa has no patience for silly stuff like food on Christmas morning. (I had forgotten this from my childhood, but the more I think about it, the more I remember being awakened at 4am or 5am because he just couldn't wait any longer!) So, we all shoveled food into our traps as quickly as possible so that the chaos could begin. Presents, tissue, paper, bags, and TOYS everywhere!

The wind continued to howl and a huge storm was predicted, so Grandma and Grandpa packed up and left by 11:30am (although I'm sure that Grandma would stay forever if Grandpa would let her!). Papa and Nana were out the door by 11am because they still had to feed all of the horses at three different houses. We got the boys down for a nap and tried to watch TV while the power flickerd on and off and on and off and on and OFF!!!

All power gone around 1pm. We waited for the boys to wake up, and after several calls to the power company, we decided to head to Papa's house. We were planning to meet little bro and big bro for dinner anyway, so we just arrived early. (This only meant additional time to eat....) The boys played with cousin Billy, and we hung out with little bro and his ex-wife (just get remarried, already!). The wind continued to punish us every time we walked outside. We kept in touch with our neighbor to find out if the power was ever coming on, but after five hours, we decided to go home and get our sleep-over gear and our dogs. We figured that even if the power came back on, there would be no guarantee that it would stay on, and the boys just can't sleep in such a cold house!

So, all of the sleeping arrangements were changed at Papa's house. (This would later prove disasterous as little bro walked into our room - usually his - buck naked. Don't even ASK me why he wasn't wearing PJs!!!! I have no clue.) We drank beer, played the Wii, talked, laughed, ate, and laughed some more. Little bro has finally accepted the marathon challenge, and I'm really looking forward to it. The boys didn't sleep well at all because all four of us were crammed into a small double bed, it was super dark, it was a strange place, and Wii playing went into the wee hours.

Sometime in the middle of the night, the wind finally died down, and we were hammered with snow - 8" or so. We were very happy to return home late the next morning, and the boys went down for a nap in their own beds almost immediately. This was when we realized that although the furnace was turning on, it wasn't blowing any hot air. $180 later, we had a new ignition dohickey, and it now works like a charm.

Whew! What a holiday. This will probably be one of the images I see in my mind for the rest of my life when I need to conjure up a happy moment: