Dear God,
We know every family has sick kids at Christmas at some point and we know you have blessed us with so much so we should probably just buck up and not complain, but if it isn't too much to ask, could you please not let that happen again.
Love,
The Weisses
...
Don't get me wrong. We had a WONDERFUL Christmas. I don't want to whine about it too much (no one was in the hospital!), but I also don't want to glamorize it either. Pictures can be deceiving and not one picture below shows you the piles of Kleenex, lets you hear the barky coughs, or lets you feel the burning foreheads. Somehow all the excitement of Christmas morning really helped keep me going, but by the end of Christmas day I felt ready to pass out (but unfortunately my hacking cough wouldn't let me just enjoy sleep and neither would my restless baby). I wouldn't say I slept well on Christmas Eve either, but Christmas is the only day I am a morning person and that didn't change just because of being sick. However, I was awakened a bit earlier than expected. We were basically thinking the boys would sleep to about 7 which is normal, but I made one careless mistake. I forgot to forbid them from going into the living room until everyone was awake. Now Jimmy is not usually one to break rules, but to be fair, I never really established any rules about what do to when they woke up. I always have in the past, but it just slipped my mind this year. I guess Jimmy forgot protocol. At 5:00 in the morning I heard Jimmy call, "What Dad?" I sat there in bed for a second thinking he must be talking in his sleep since Zach was asleep next to me and certainly not talking to Jimmy. As I sat there contemplating whether to check on him and not wanting to leave my warn bed, I suddenly heard a big thud which I knew was him jumping out of his top bunk. Shoot! I rushed into his room, but he was already gone. I rushed out to the living room and he was just standing there taking in the castle and all the presents and wondering what the heck was going on since no one else was there.
He looked back at me and said, "I heard you guys calling me and telling me to come out here." I knew I would have to tread lightly on this and since I didn't want to ruin Christmas and I know how sensitive my son is. When I told him he must have dreamt it, he didn't want to believe it so I didn't push it too much. I said, "This all looks really cool doesn't it. Let's just look at it for one more minute and then wait for everyone else to get up." Jimmy agreed, but wanted to come back to bed with me. I didn't really consider what this meant so I let him since I just wanted him to be happy. Once we were in there we whispered to each other a little bit and he told me everything he had seen. But as much as I tried to tell him no more talking he just wanted to so very badly. There was no chance he was going back to sleep and we still had an hour and a half before I dare wake-up everyone else. Zach had already been disturbed and really thought Jimmy needed to go back to his own bed. I set Jim up with a flashlight and a pile of books and told him to do that until other people got up. Pure torture for Christmas morning, I know, but I was out of ideas. I think he lasted maybe a half hour, which is longer than most kids could probably stand. Even my little rule follower couldn't resist sneaking out to take a good look at the presents again. I guess I hadn't told him not to do it because he saw nothing wrong with it and came to report to me and everything he had found. "Mom, I think the drawbridge on the castle goes up and down." I told him he was probably right and then I realized what he had been up to when he said, "No. I know it does. I tried it. Also, there are nuts in everyone's stalkings." Oh, well, he didn't go opening any presents and he was very honest about his endeavors. I guess next year I just need to be clear the night before about what protocols should be followed. Now that I write it all down, I enjoy even more the fact that it is a funny memory I will always remember. Someday, I am sure I will wish I still had a kid waking up that early and being that excited. Anyway, Jimmy was so anxious to get up and was watching the clock like a hawk and counting each time it changed. At 6:30 I got up with him and then Aunt Angie got up and made coffee and at 7:00 we woke Gus and Dad who were both pretty sleepy still. At this point Mom was pretty anxious to get in there, too, so I could feel the poor kid's pain. Finally we all walked into the living room and Jimmy was quick to point out all his recent discoveries to Gus. They examined the castle for quite a bit and discovered Santa had left a letter explaining that this castle would connect with all the Playmobil castles they already have. He thanked them for being good boys, but told them that they need to work harder and keep being good listeners to Mom and Dad. Then he said there was a secret breakaway wall somewhere. Jimmy was so excited to find it along with a trap door and many other cool details. Then Gus realized Santa had also brought his request of swords. Dad removed the swords from their packaging and the boys went to town.
We know every family has sick kids at Christmas at some point and we know you have blessed us with so much so we should probably just buck up and not complain, but if it isn't too much to ask, could you please not let that happen again.
Love,
The Weisses
...
Don't get me wrong. We had a WONDERFUL Christmas. I don't want to whine about it too much (no one was in the hospital!), but I also don't want to glamorize it either. Pictures can be deceiving and not one picture below shows you the piles of Kleenex, lets you hear the barky coughs, or lets you feel the burning foreheads. Somehow all the excitement of Christmas morning really helped keep me going, but by the end of Christmas day I felt ready to pass out (but unfortunately my hacking cough wouldn't let me just enjoy sleep and neither would my restless baby). I wouldn't say I slept well on Christmas Eve either, but Christmas is the only day I am a morning person and that didn't change just because of being sick. However, I was awakened a bit earlier than expected. We were basically thinking the boys would sleep to about 7 which is normal, but I made one careless mistake. I forgot to forbid them from going into the living room until everyone was awake. Now Jimmy is not usually one to break rules, but to be fair, I never really established any rules about what do to when they woke up. I always have in the past, but it just slipped my mind this year. I guess Jimmy forgot protocol. At 5:00 in the morning I heard Jimmy call, "What Dad?" I sat there in bed for a second thinking he must be talking in his sleep since Zach was asleep next to me and certainly not talking to Jimmy. As I sat there contemplating whether to check on him and not wanting to leave my warn bed, I suddenly heard a big thud which I knew was him jumping out of his top bunk. Shoot! I rushed into his room, but he was already gone. I rushed out to the living room and he was just standing there taking in the castle and all the presents and wondering what the heck was going on since no one else was there.
He looked back at me and said, "I heard you guys calling me and telling me to come out here." I knew I would have to tread lightly on this and since I didn't want to ruin Christmas and I know how sensitive my son is. When I told him he must have dreamt it, he didn't want to believe it so I didn't push it too much. I said, "This all looks really cool doesn't it. Let's just look at it for one more minute and then wait for everyone else to get up." Jimmy agreed, but wanted to come back to bed with me. I didn't really consider what this meant so I let him since I just wanted him to be happy. Once we were in there we whispered to each other a little bit and he told me everything he had seen. But as much as I tried to tell him no more talking he just wanted to so very badly. There was no chance he was going back to sleep and we still had an hour and a half before I dare wake-up everyone else. Zach had already been disturbed and really thought Jimmy needed to go back to his own bed. I set Jim up with a flashlight and a pile of books and told him to do that until other people got up. Pure torture for Christmas morning, I know, but I was out of ideas. I think he lasted maybe a half hour, which is longer than most kids could probably stand. Even my little rule follower couldn't resist sneaking out to take a good look at the presents again. I guess I hadn't told him not to do it because he saw nothing wrong with it and came to report to me and everything he had found. "Mom, I think the drawbridge on the castle goes up and down." I told him he was probably right and then I realized what he had been up to when he said, "No. I know it does. I tried it. Also, there are nuts in everyone's stalkings." Oh, well, he didn't go opening any presents and he was very honest about his endeavors. I guess next year I just need to be clear the night before about what protocols should be followed. Now that I write it all down, I enjoy even more the fact that it is a funny memory I will always remember. Someday, I am sure I will wish I still had a kid waking up that early and being that excited. Anyway, Jimmy was so anxious to get up and was watching the clock like a hawk and counting each time it changed. At 6:30 I got up with him and then Aunt Angie got up and made coffee and at 7:00 we woke Gus and Dad who were both pretty sleepy still. At this point Mom was pretty anxious to get in there, too, so I could feel the poor kid's pain. Finally we all walked into the living room and Jimmy was quick to point out all his recent discoveries to Gus. They examined the castle for quite a bit and discovered Santa had left a letter explaining that this castle would connect with all the Playmobil castles they already have. He thanked them for being good boys, but told them that they need to work harder and keep being good listeners to Mom and Dad. Then he said there was a secret breakaway wall somewhere. Jimmy was so excited to find it along with a trap door and many other cool details. Then Gus realized Santa had also brought his request of swords. Dad removed the swords from their packaging and the boys went to town.
Dad got in on the fun as well.
After they dumped out their stalkings Gus discovered his favorite present of all: Hercules.
(He was a little dismayed by the fact that he didn't have a cape, but we remedied that later with a piece of felt). He hadn't asked Santa for it, but he was so excited that somehow Santa just knew that he wanted it.
Nora was as happy a baby as ever, and was more than happy to serve as a vehicle for other people's entertainment.
We were lucky to have these guys join us early in the morning...
My Christmas present was quite a surprise pulled off by Zach and Angie. I got a bike with a trailer on the back for two kiddos. Zach got a bike (which was a surprise from his parents) with a trailing bike for Jimmy (I wasn't in the middle of nursing or anything when they showed me).
I was most excited to give my boys the photo books I had worked on like a crazy person. Jimmy's was a long time in the making. We had taken lots of pictures of a Swiss Family Robinson set-up using lots Playmobil toys. I had always told him we could make it into a book, but he didn't know I was working on it late at night while he was sleeping. He was pretty excited to open it and see himself listed as an author.
Here is what it looks like, but more on that later...
For Gus, I used pictures from our Radiator Springs set-up to create a Cars storybook.
He loved it. He also loved his Planes, but this face might not give you that impression:
Santa gave Nora teething rings, but she pretty much decided to eat all of her presents.
When Baabee layed her down for a nap, he surrounded her with stuffed animals so she would have friends all around her when she woke up:
The boys were pretty excited about the castle. Jimmy insisted on moving it to their room so they could "play with it better."
Jimmy reminded us that we still hadn't played outside "like we always do" so we went outside for awhile.
Gus challenged Uncle Danny to a sword fight.
I think we could all see this coming...
The funniest part was that Gus even opted for his old small sword in the fight instead of his brand new one--tried and true I guess.
Jimmy and Aunt Erin tested out his walkie-talkies from his godmother, Bess.
Nora got more Aunt Erin love and a new cute Christmas outfit.
Zach tested out his new bike.
After that we all went back inside to rest while watching "A Muppet Christmas Carol" and playing with a few presents. Gus insisted on trying on Nora's antler headband from Jimmy (despite Jimmy's protests that he would stretch it out and ruin it). Jimmy had picked it out at the Santa's Workshop at his school along with gifts for all of us. He was so excited to give all of them.
That evening we headed over to my sister's house to see my family and many good friends. As you can see above, Johnny found his favorite baby right away. I was excited for the gift exchange with my family. This year we all just got books for everyone else instead of drawing names. I tried to find things that would be meaningful to my siblings so I tracked down some books from our childhood. I found a book called "Gone Fishing" about a boy and his dad who go on a fishing trip. It used to be Danny's favorite and I still remember how cute and excited he was to go on his first fishing trip with just him and Dad. I remember Dad bringing him home asleep with the one tiny fish they caught that my dad just had to bring back in the ice chest. He was the cutest kid and he hasn't changed much:
For my sisters, I was beyond exited to find a book that we have searched for to no avail for many years. It used to be at our local library branch and the librarian would read it at storytime. We used to want to get it all the time. We all loved it. All we could remember now was that it was about ice skating triplets, but we never could remember the name. After much Googling, I finally found it and it was even available on Amazon! It is called Flicka, Ricka, Dicka and Their New Skates by Maj Lindman (and with paper dolls in the back no less!). I wish I had filmed them opening it because they couldn't believe that I had found it.
Then at the end of the evening my Dad gave us all "Floating Wish Lanterns." While we were nervous about actually setting these free in the neighborhood, we were willing to take the riskfor the sake of fun. It was advised on the packaging not to tether them, but they are environmentally safe so we lit them up and let them go.
One came close to a tree, but just managed to miss it while we all looked up in awe and nervousness. The boys ran to watch them disappear across the sky. We were all contemplating what exactly becomes of them once they eventually come back down to earth. Hopefully, not crash onto a car or something. (I just noticed you can see Orion in the sky in the picture above.)
The kids were all having so much fun together. Is their anything happier than kids on Christmas?
We even managed to get all the kids in one place at one time to get the cousins picture that was a long time coming. Not perfect, but you couldn't ask for cuter, sweeter kids.
As always it is the best birthday celebration of the year.
Happy Birthday Jesus! We love you the most!
Happy Birthday Jesus! We love you the most!
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