Christmas Bliss(ter)

Christmas was spent at home this year, so we were pretty relaxed and glad we didn't have to try cramming everything into our dinky car and take the fam on a long drive.  Also, we could live in our pajamas amongst piles of discarded wrapping paper and bows for several days afterward with very little shame.  I'm not saying we did, just that we, um,  could...if we wanted to, that is.  In short, it was a deliciously lazy Christmas this year, with the exception of an Instacare visit.  I'll get to that later.  First, some elvish fun!

I finally acquired an advent calendar this year and got to work filling up all the little drawers with various goodies and slips of paper with Christmas activities on them.  We made ornaments, read Christmas books, watched holiday movies, built a snowman, etc., but the most enjoyed one was: dress up like elves and dance to Christmas music. I took pictures of it, of course.

 Okay, I'll admit we look more like homeless elves than North Pole elves, but I believe an elf is an elf despite itself.

 On Christmas Eve Addie put out treats for Santa (egg nog, a clementine, and a small handful of popcorn) and his reindeer (carrots).    For some reason, Santa failed to eat the popcorn.  My theory is that he peeled the clementine and ate it first, and then forgot about the few popcorn puffs because they were hidden under the peels.  Just a theory...

Christmas morning was fun, as it should be.  Jack was carried out of his room and placed in front of his stocking, an event that left him stunned.

Despite his stunned state, he was still able to place the contents of his stocking in his mouth without even looking.  He doesn't let much get in the way of his research.  In fact, he researched things all day.  See the following three photos.

Addie's most exciting present from Santa was "a whole tea set."  She tells everyone who asks what Santa brought her that she got a "whole tea set."  That's right, people.  Santa didn't skimp and give her just a tea cup or a sugar bowl, he gave her an entire tea set.  I'm not sure if she's including the tablecloth, table, chairs, and donuts, but she was pretty impressed by it anyhow.  We tea-partied all morning.

Jack got a rocking horse from Nana, which opened his eyes to new experiences.  Literally.  If I'm being truthful though, Jack always looks a bit surprised, Christmas or not.

We went to my parents' home for more Christmasing later that day.  Addie received the above track set from Uncle Stevie, which, and I quote from the box, "brings experiences of ultimate joy".  Quite a claim, I know.  We were spoiled rotten, as we usually are from both our families each year.  The best part of Christmas though, and maybe its because I'm getting old now that I feel this way, is family.  We did video phone calls with Jason's family even, so its like we saw everyone this year.  That's the biggest and best gift of all!

Sadly, Addie's Christmas fun was temporarily put on hold due to injury.  She was leaning down to pick up a present from under the tree when she fell forward a little and bumped her arm on the fireplace glass, which was incredibly hot at the time since the fire was on.  I grabbed her and somehow magically teleported ( I must have tapped into my super mom powers) into the bathroom where I immediately began running her arm under cold water.  After several minutes, we switched to icing it.  It just looked like a huge gray spot on her arm, kind of weird but not too bad.  About an hour later it began to get little blisters.  And then the little blisters started joining forces until it was one huge blister.

We put her in the car and headed to Instacare at around 7, just two hours after the initial burn.  Instacare, however, was closed for the holiday.  I made phone calls to Primary Children's and a nearby ER and talked with various staff about what we should do.  We eventually decided to take her home, keep it covered, and take her in in the morning.   Later that night we gave her a blessing which made us all feel better. 

We took her in the next morning to get it checked out.  When the nurse asked her what happened, Addie began telling her how she was reaching for a present, bumped the glass, had to run it under cold water, etc.  But then she kept going with her story, " And we tried to go see the doctor, but it was closed, so we went back to grandma's house.  Then I ate a turkey sandwich (it was actually ham) and some chips and soda, then we played a game..." and on it continued, outlining the entire evening.  She cracks us up, this one.  Then they asked if she had any allergies, to which Addie answered, "No, but my mom does.  She's allergic to cats.  She used to looooove cats, but then one day she was petting one and then her eyes started to look like she was going to sleep.  Her face got all swolled up and now she can't pet them unless she washes her hands right after."  Very informative for the staff, I'm sure.  (And for the record, I have never looooooved cats.)  This experience has made me wonder what other things she has babbled off to people...  Anyway, we received instructions to put on an antibacterial prescription cream on it two times a day and keep it covered with gauze and co-flex (the cool bandage stuff you get after donating blood) for a week.  As the nurse was wrapping up her arm she said, "Sorry, I'm trying not to hurt you." To which Addie replied, "Actually, ( long and thoughtful pause) it's not hurting me at all!"  She really was a pleasant patient and wasn't bothered by any of it.

It has healed up pretty nicely, although it looked bad for the first week.  It's too early to tell if it will scar, but she does have a large pink oval on her forearm still.  She has been brave about the whole thing and never once complained about it hurting, which I attribute to the blessing she received.  The cream looks just like vanilla frosting, so twice a day we played a game where we "frosted" her arm, pretended to put sprinkles on it, and then "packaged" it up for delivery.  Heck, it was almost fun.

You can see her spiffy arm bandage in this picture.  She's busy doing a science experiment (which she takes very seriously) with a science lab set she got for Christmas.  She is making a volcano, which is pretty dangerous stuff and requires large safety goggles.

In all, it was a pretty memorable and overall enjoyable Christmas.  Now, on to the New Year!