So this is Christmas....the familiar lines ring out in the chorus of my mind....
It was a crazy day that for me started at 12:30am! That's when I went to bed from the night before to do list! I went to sleep and then woke up quickly at 6:00 am. (That's when Mia woke up). She's learned that mommy is not a good morning kind of person - so she just goes over to Daddy's side and wakes him up first! (Good girl!)
She woke him up. Then Elliot woke up coughing (for those of you that don't know - she's being treated with oral steroids for Mono)...and has been sick for almost 3 weeks! Mia hears her coughing and decides this means Elliot is awake - let's go see her. So off Mia goes - and Daddy gets up to get in the shower. See us smart parents told our children the night before that we can't go downstairs until 7am on Christmas morning. That would give tired mommy just a little extra time to wake up and maybe shower and look decent for a bright spankin' early picture!!! So that's what we did.
Then we go downstairs with way too high hopes of a guitar for Elliot (from Santa)...and a movable cuddly puppy for Mia (from Santa). So that's buzz kill #1. We bring the Santa presents into the Living Room (he leaves them in the breezeway)...and then they check out stocking while I go dry my hair so I don't freeze to death. That's when buzz kill #2 happens...Elliot comes walking in looking like the saddest most disappointed child ever - and says - "Santa didn't give me a guitar". Oh - stab straight to my heart (but she only gave Santa her list LAST NIGHT). I cuddled her for 5 minutes through lots of tears and sobbing. I quickly finish my hair and we go open stockings after putting the Baby Jesus in the manger with his mommy and daddy! (a Pratt family tradition).
Then we start tearing through presents - but once we get to all the ones under the tree - the girls decide it's time for breakfast....eggnog pancakes! YUM! So just as quickly as it started - it ended - the pancakes were GONE!. Back to the presents under the tree. Elliot is so jacked on steriods for the Mono - that her little body is going CRAZY! She tries to go a million miles an hour and I try to slow her down and she cries. I feel like such a meany - but I'm not really being mean - she's crying over the smallest things...like why can't we eat our gingerbread houses now - why do we have to wait so long??? Why do we have to have a white table - why not pink. (ok - not really - but that's kind of what she's saying about other things).
The present overload began to settle in. They decided to go play for a while with all their new stuff - and we all reconvened for lunch a couple of hours later. After lunch we set up the Electronic Keyboard that Santa gave the girls so they can learn how to play the piano and learn how to read music....a small consolation for not getting a guitar or a movable cuddly puppy! That was fun (Travis quickly got his shoes on to go for a walk)! Then we settled down for a movie - "Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure".
Later I prepped the Stuffed Leg of Lamb - (yum again)...and then went to visit Mimi while Travis stayed home with the sick girls, (can't be spreading germs) but I had a need to spread the holiday cheer and visit her so she wouldn't be alone! (Travis' Grandmother Claire). By the time I got home the roast was almost done. After dinner Elliot crashed and began crying saying "I don't like being sick on Christmas day because then I don't even get to enjoy it"! (buzz kill #3!).
I cuddled with her on the couch until she dozed off at 6:30 and then took her up to bed. Normally they fall asleep in their beds no problem - but she said she wanted to stay up for Christmas a little longer. How could I say no. I came back down and fell back asleep for a little while and then played Hello Kitty bingo with Daddy & Mia.
Eventually, Mia went to bed, and Travis started to fall asleep on the couch, just as I was waking up. Go figure (buzz kill #4). So I thought I'd keep myself busy and update the family blog at 10:43 at night! Sometimes I wonder why it takes so long to get together 1 post - but typing it all out - editing (sort of)...and then adding pictures - seems to take me forever!!! (but I also just did 2 others too - so maybe that's why is seems to take forever - because it has!)
So I'm not uploading the pictures tonight (only took me 6 months! pathetic!). I still have to get them onto my computer. But I can't do that just yet, because I have too many photos in our iPhoto and it's slowing everything down as it's trying to open all the 30,000 photos. Yikes! So I'll be working on that some more tomorrow and Sunday.
I know we don't talk to many of you very often - but that is why I started this blog. I've posted 25 stories this year and only 3 last year. That's a huge increase! Hopefully I can continue to keep posting as much - maybe they won't all have pictures - but between this one and my Kid Giddy blog - it's a lot of work. So keep reading. And if you have a family blog - tell us - so we can keep up to date on your families too! It's just fun that way! Merry Christmas and happy holidays!
With love from all the Goulders!
