Merry Christmas!

It was this little bug's first Christmas! (And I took advantage of every opportunity to put him in this lil Santa hat from a friend.) Being just 6months at Christmas, as opposed to his siblings' 11months, he couldn't get into any more mischief than reaching for a package. He's weighing in at a whopping 17 pounds and measures over 28 inches long (not far behind Ada ... currently!), and he's toying with sitting, eating, and storytime with the big kids.

Back to Christmas shenanigans. 

A cousin-priest who lives in Florida, Fr. Scott, visits New Orleans every year and is great about getting those of us who live in town together for a lunch. So here we are in festive gear with Aunt Mollie on the Monday before Christmas. It was a bit chilly, and the kids have learned how to keep their hands in their pockets - yay - but Ada was running back to the car and - splat! - face-planted on the sidewalk, poor dear. She had concrete marks on her forehead til about Saturday...

...but it didn't really matter because on Friday night this horrendous tumble happened! Can you make out how far that big ol' egg is sticking out in the photos?! We hit the road to Houston at 3:30am, the magic time Dylan and I have figured out gets us the easiest, straight-through shot at the trek (we manage it with one stop and zero traffic), and we arrived before 10am for the whole day with Nana & Pappy! Kids are excited, as are the adults, doing lots of Christmasy things together, including looking at neighborhood lights, of course. Paul and Ada were riding in Pappy's rockin' beach wagon, but right near the end, after a good 45minutes of everybody doing the right thing, Ada happened to stand up and throw a leg over the side just as Dylan happened not to look back at the kids before racing down the (tiny) incline of a driveway. She landed with the loudest pop Nana had ever heard. I (very gently) tossed Jack on some neighbor's grass and ran to her, and within 5 seconds, she had the gnarliest, grey egg on her forehead I'd ever seen. And a busted nose & upper lip. She's a tough little cookie, but this tried her bravery; she cried and she cried and she cried, cried, cried, cried. It was about 8pm. We tried different forms of ice on it - bag-o-peas, cooler packs, wrapped and not wrapped - for the next 3+ hours, keeping her awake watching Christmas movies til almost midnight. Boy, if it hadn't reacted to the ice so well, we would've had an ER trip for sure because this thing was huge. The swelling didn't go down completely, but we could see it was going in the right direction, and she was answering questions and otherwise being normal-but-hurt. It wasn't until last week that our pediatrician, Dr. Emily, had a quick look (while otherwise there for Jack's appointment) and said a big egg is a good thing -- a skull fracture would tend to dent the bone, not go out. Yikes! Anyway, by Christmas Day, she had some bruised eyes, and through the New Year, she's looked punched in both eyes. They're starting to lighten to green now, but that girl looked some rough with that scabbed over nose, black eyes ... and a forearm tat.

Stuff like this always happens when she's tired; the downtown lunch spill happened when skipping nap, and this one was at the end of a travel day at bedtime. Gosh, bubble wrap for this little soon-to-be-3-year-old, please.

Better things, yes? Christmas Eve Mass! Man, Christ the Redeemer parish knows how to do it up big - it's just a bit of a shame that everyone else in town seems to think so, too! There was SRO from 3:15 for a 4pm Mass in a church that holds a couple thousand. Oy. We came, we sang, we visited the baby Jesus, and we returned home for egg nog, steak-n-potatoes, and oh, so many Christmas carols!

Then, of course, Paul and Ada baked Santa some cookies, and Pappy read Twas the Night Before Christmas to a captive audience (love!).

And then came Christmas morn! Santa came! Oh my goodness, the joy! It was a cozy morning just us, missing Ginny, Ryan, and Peter, but the kids enjoyed it immensely. Paul and Ada did a great job in Pete's place of reading the name tags and divvying up the pressies, and Jack got to scratch at a present or two. Paul was honestly surprised by a couple of things, and that precious reaction is so sweet - Nana called it: he looks to Mama to share in the surprise! So cute. It was Batman pjs, fyi. Ada was in hog-heaven right away with some girlie-girl toys she's honestly just interested in! We don't play up the gender role stuff, and she plays with a mean truck or two, but she honestly likes to brush hair and push babies. Y'all, she nursed the baby Jesus in our play nativity set after we got home.

 

 This is the one thing he mentioned to Santa, 

and he was so excited it was under the tree!

And he played and played and giggled

... and then it broke. After 15 minutes.

Next time, ask for something that's not 

plastic & battery-operated =/.

I felt awful seeing his disappointment.

But he voiced gratitude for "all the ovver fings".

Pete on the job, saving lives, and Ginny & Ryan en route back to H-town from Omaha and Christmas Eve with the Bivens. And then Nana & Pappy on Christmas in the 70s. It might not be like the Christmases in books, but there's certainly nothing wrong with 70 degrees, ever. 

Oh, I'm forgetting Boxing Day Bowling! I'll have to dig up a photo of that and post here the next time I get a minute. That was fun - as always! Paul and Ada had a ball, and Paul's old enough to figure stuff out. He kept his eye on the roster and called up who was next, and they were the best cheerleaders: Yay, Nana, you got one!

Then Tuesday saw another 3:30am departure before coming back to our green house to open pressies from Mama, Papa, and a couple of extended family. We had hot cider in our German Weihnachtsmarkt mugs and filled what was left of the morning with Christmas songs ... before Dylan headed in to work.

The next two days were filled with suitcase-swapping before leaving for Charleston, SC! With Nana & Pappy who arrived Thursday! It was a last-minute idea that we finalized at Boxing Day Bowling after we watched Peter open his Christmas pressies on skype on Christmas night alone. We didn't pity him - he's gotta do what he's gotta do - but we missed him, especially Mom and Dad, especially at Christmas ... especially when he had time off at New Year, and especially when we offered to go, too, in Vincent Van Geaux, Geaux, Geaux! SO! Our New Year's road trip to Charleston is next up on the blog when I can grab a moment to gather the photos and stories.