The Festivities

Christmas Eve we woke up bright and early to join a bunch of other families in our ward to go clean the church.  Brian and I were put in charge of cleaning the bathrooms, which is a good things, because I threw up in the toilets a few times while we were cleaning them.  Even though I was feeling crummy, it was fun to get out as a family.  We stopped at Yokes on the way home for a some doughnuts, and then enjoyed those once we got home.

At noon we went to the church for our family get-together, which was also my Grandma Harris' birthday party.  We had a ton of fun eating, watching the dads play with remote control helicopters, watching the kids perform the nativity, singing Christmas carols, and eating Grandma's cake.  There was a tiny little pregnant kitty freezing outside the church.  My brother went home and brought back some cat food and milk to feed it outside, while we all debated what to do.  It seemed as if she was dropped off by someone who didn't want a pregnant cat or that she got lost when her family moved in, but we thought it was most likely the former, because the houses around the church are so close that if a family moved in, it would be hard for her to get lost.  My brother ended up taking her home, and the plan was to call the shelter or vet on Monday.  They named her Mary, because, like Tallia said, "She was pregnant on Christmas Eve with no where to go.  What else were we supposed to call her?"

Brian and Mike pulled a couch from the foyer into the gym for me, and I took a nap while everyone played.  We took off while everyone was singing Christmas carols to head to Brian's parent's house for Christmas Eve dinner.  We stayed there until bedtime, so we would be able to put the kids to bed right when we got home.  It worked for the boys.  They were both asleep by the time we pulled into the drive way.  We had to wait a little while for Alyssa to go to sleep for Santa to come, which was hard for both Brian and I.  I didn't feel well at all, and he was dead tired.

Christmas morning was perfect.  For starters, Christmas was the first day I felt better in a long time.  (Just to update you on that: the other day when I posted when I felt better, I ended up puking my guts out quite violently, and when we went to the doctor a few days later, we told him about the Zofran issues, and he put me on something new, which is helping a lot.  I started feeling better on Christmas, and things have been sufficiently better ever since.  I still feel nauseated all the time, but it's low enough that I can ignore it for the most part.  Things are better.)

 So back to Christmas morning.  The kids slept in until almost eight o'clock.  Ethan woke us up at seven by yelling, "Is it morning...yet..." and then he went back to sleep, so Brian and I laid in bed, waiting for the kids to get up, until finally we started checking on them to see if that would wake them, which didn't work until Ethan woke up close to eight.  We got the camera out and had him wake Alyssa and Marcus, then we all went downstairs.

Santa outdid himself this year.  Everyone loved their present.  Alyssa got a friendship bracelet making kit, Ethan got a Fisher Price Trio blocks helicopter and airport tower set, and Marcus got a Fisher Price Trio blocks Batmobile.  I got an eye medication that's the equivalent of Latisse that makes your eyelashes grow long, because Brian said the pharmacy was out of Latisse.  I've used Latisse before, because Brian didn't want to recommend it to patients without knowing if it was good or not, and I loved the results.  Brian got a crepe cook book in his stocking, and he looked through it real quick and learned that it's best to have the batter sit for an hour or two before making up the crepes, so he declared that we should make up the batter and then open our other presents.

Everyone was happy with their family presents as well.  We got scriptures for each of the kids - a quad for Alyssa, with a beautiful cover I made for her during one of my better moments these past few weeks, and the cheap hard cover Book of Mormons for the boys.  Brian got a lava lamp for Alyssa, and cars for the boys.  One time while I was at Walgreens getting a prescription filled, I looked around their toy section and found some labled, "Buy two for $12.99 and get one free," so I picked up a matching game for Ethan, Disney princess figurines for Alyssa, and a Toy Story 3 backpack for Marcus, which was his absolute favorite.  Brian opened up a crepe maker, which we're both thrilled with, and his parents came over for a crepe breakfast.

We spent the rest of the day visiting Brian's grandma, then going to Mike and Tallia's for Christmas dinner.  It was a wonderful Christmas, a beautiful day.  I loved watching my kids get excited for the holiday and play with their presents all day long.  We just had a happy, relaxed feeling in our home all day long, and it was wonderful.