Billy, upon noticing that there were bones in the dog’s stocking, exclaimed:
“Oh! It looks like St. Francis came last night for Greta!”
Category Archives: Christmas
Christmas Everywhere
by Phillips Brooks
Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight!
Christmas in lands of the fir-tree and pine,
Christmas in lands of the palm-tree and vine,
Christmas where snow peaks stand solemn and white,
Christmas where cornfields stand sunny and bright.
Christmas where children are hopeful and gay,
Christmas where old men are patient and gray,
Christmas where peace, like a dove in his flight,
Broods o’er brave men in the thick of the fight;
Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight!
For the Christ-child who comes is the Master of all;
No palace too great, no cottage too small.
No hustle and bustle
The forecast called for 1 to 3 inches. I think we got 5 or 6. It’s very pretty.
The temperatures are expected to get a bit above freezing in the afternoons the next two days. I think we’ll still manage to have a white Christmas, but I don’t know how pretty it will be.
Our neighborhood is quiet. Probably half of our neighbors have “gone home” for Christmas.
The shopping is done. The baking is done. The Christmas postcards are in the mail, as are all the gift boxes. The lights are on the tree, and we’ll put the ornaments on tomorrow. We have a good supply of wood for the fireplace. We’ve got all the ingredients for several more batches of eggnog.
We have no plans to travel, and no expected visitors. Although we miss our relatives, we aren’t missing the stress of packing, the nightmare of driving several hours with little children, or the futile attempt to clean the house before guests come.
This is perhaps the quietest, calmest Christmas I’ve ever had.
Last minute mailings
Back in November, an email went around suggesting that everyone send a card to Walter Reed Army Medical Center addressed to “Any Wounded Soldier.” Then, we all found out that WRAMC would not deliver those cards for security reasons.
I just found out that Red Cross volunteers will accept, screen and deliver cards (only) to wounded soldiers. Cards must be received by December 27th. If you have leftover cards that you don’t want to save for next year, considering sending them to these troops. You can get the address and guidelines for the program here. If you can’t get it in the mail by today, it’s probably too late.
If you want to do more for wounded troops, considering supporting Operation Undergarment. No deadline.
You can put a child in bed, but you can’t make him sleep.
And a thirsty horse has more sense than an exhausted toddler.
My kids are spooled up. Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, packages seem to arrive every day by post (or by Brown), and then said packages disappear, cookies are baking, decorations are going up, we’re going to parties, the kids are drinking soda and staying up late. My older ones know that the real fun hasn’t even begun yet, and are getting antsier by the minute.
Within the hour, my boys will wake up and Billy will say, “It’s three more days until Christmas!” And Fritz will respond, “Three days and a wake up!” That’s what they do, every morning.
All of my kids seem to be having a bit of difficulty getting to sleep, some are even getting up earlier than normal, and everybody’s moods are a bit more…delicate. The worst one, though, is Peter. He fights his naps, despite demonstrating all morning long that he is in desperate need of one. If he manages to fall asleep, a big IF, he might sleep for an hour instead of his usual 2 or 3. Then he’s miserable all afternoon long, but when bedtime comes, he fights that too. Instead of compensating by sleeping late the following morning, he may wake one or more times at night and get up earlier than normal in the morning.
And then it begins again. Each day has been just a bit worse than the day before.
This morning I felt so bad for the kid. He climbed into my bed at some early hour. But from 4 am until after 5, he tossed and turned like a true insomniac. I finally offered to rock him in the chair in his room. First he tried his own bed and rolled around there. Then he let me rock him as I silently prayed a rosary with the intention of this poor child to get some rest. He seemed to be asleep, and three decades later I tried to put him in bed. He woke up. I brought him downstairs and put on Noggin, hoping he would zone out in front of the TV. He rolled around on the couch and then the floor, trying to get comfortable, trying to go back to sleep. Finally I had him snuggle on my lap until he was snoring soundly. He’s there now, but I doubt he’ll get more than an hour of rest before the din of the day wakes him.
I’ve never given my kids Benedryl, but I think this kid needs some help.
I think this mom needs some help.
Progress
The baby sleeps in our room – mostly in our bed, but, more and more often, she will take a good nap in her bassinet and often she’ll begin the night with four or five hours there.
That’s great.
Except all the Christmas presents are in my room, and they need to be wrapped. I’ve tried, several times, and failed, every time, to wrap while she sleeps. No dice.
Thankfully, last night, I was able to put her down on the couch. After I cleaned the kitchen, finished baking a batch of cookies, and even tidied my desk, I really wanted to go to bed. But still, she slept. I decided that it would be foolish of me to not take advantage of this, and so, I wrapped.
With the exception of one present for Bill, one present that has not arrived yet, and a balance bike we intend to assemble on Christmas Eve, all of the Christmas presents are wrapped.
Ahem.
Rather, all of the Christmas Day presents are wrapped. We only give some presents on the 25th. We give some on the Feast of the Epiphany, and scatter a few others in between (really, is there a better way to begin the new year than with a new book?). Nevertheless, I am pleased with this accomplishment and know that Christmas Eve will not likely be a 2 AM ordeal, as has often been the case.
Now, off to bake.
The Numbers – Part II
0 – Christmas cards I’ve addressed (I’m trying to be consistent).
1 – Lucid story I want to type up before Christmas (lucidity being a tall order when one can only type in dribs and drabs throughout the 24 hour “workday”).
2 – Hour of the morning that the baby has soiled her diaper four mornings in a row (praise God in all things and at all hours).
3 – Times I was outbid on eBay for a mobile for the baby’s crib before I finally got one at a reasonable price.
4 – Baked goods recipes I mixed up while the baby took a marathon 3 1/2 hour nap (only one actually got baked, but at least the dough is done).
5 – Packages Bill got to the Post Office yesterday.
6 – Packages left to be sent.
7 – Days until Christmas (I have a lot of wrapping to do)!
Spreading Christmas Cheer
Every Christmas, I try to buy presents for at least one stranger, and I try to include my kids in the selection and purchase. Some years, we just put a toy in one of the many Toys for Tots collection boxes, but most years we “adopt” someone whose information is hanging on a tree at church or at work. I really attempt to be as generous with the adopted family member as I am with my own children or husband. I assume that my present might be the sum total of what they get on Christmas Day, and it breaks my heart to think that someone who needs much might get very little.
One year, only a few days before Christmas, Bill noticed one angel left on the tree in the lobby at his office. He looked and saw that the recipient was a teenaged boy. It’s fun to buy toys and games for little children, and their tags get picked up early. But older children and adults often get neglected. Everybody wants to play Santa for the young ones, but I guess they think it’s not as important for those too old to “believe.”
I think everybody deserves a little Christmas magic. Santa Claus is not a jolly old elf. He is a man, a holy and generous man made in the image and likeness of the Perfect Creator, and his spirit, the Christmas Spirit, though but a shadow of the Divinity, is at work whenever we take from our own bounty and deliver joy to those who have less.
My husband, much more tender-hearted than his acerbic wit might indicate, brought home the paper angel from the tree, and I shopped for the boy who might have been forgotten that Christmas.
After that year, I lean towards selecting an older child or an adult from the tree. Although it’s nice for my kids to help select gifts for someone their own age, I really would worry about an older child being ignored. A young child may have many years left to believe in the magic. It is the older person who no longer believes in Santa Claus who is the most in need of convincing that he is alive and well.
"Fun" Christmas gifts?
A woman I know was one of 5 or 6 kids. Her parents used one of these for the family milk. It holds 5 gallons. A new one is cost prohibitive, but if I didn’t have such a tiny kitchen, I would consider scouring the used market. Milk takes up so much room in my fridge.
My kids are big fans of straws. I have a few cleanable, reuseable ones, but they tend to get chewed up after a week of use. Plus, the Carnation Instant Breakfast I encourage the kids to use to make chocolate milk gunks them up. Instead of worrying about clean straws all the time, I just buy the cheap-o disposable ones. I think 100 straws cost $0.76.
For a while, we had one of these. Cute, retro-style…but I had to re-fill it every other day. I have 5 straw users here drinking several cups of whatever a day. Frequently, it would sit empty and the kids got their straws directly from the straw bag. I ditched the dispenser.
But, the cheap-o straws come in a cheap-o bag that splits open and won’t actually hold the straws. Frequently we have straw disasters and piles to pick up. Unfortunately, yesterday, the party responsible for the disaster threw a fit at having to clean it up, and even after an act of mercy presented her with assistance, she was too far gone in tantrum mode to accept the help and threw the straws back on the ground. The straws sat on the kitchen floor. I was too busy with school to deal with the mess, and figured ten minutes would calm the perpetrator and cooperation would be more easily attained.
But then some nameless toddler took advantage of school time to hunt around the pantry and find a juice box (a rare treat). Unable to open it the proper way, he merely used his teeth to puncture the box. He then enjoyed his refreshment right over the pile of straws, covering them all with sticky juice. Lovely.
I think it’s time for a new dispenser.
I found this one, which is pretty cheap. The big, fast-food types are 4 or 5 times this price (they hold more and will stand up to more abuse, I’m sure). But I was really attracted to the 12,500 straws for $27…that’s 5 straws for a penny! So, at an estimated rate of 15 straws per day, the supply will last for well over two years.
Would it be too cruel to wrap the big box of straws and put it under the tree?
Behind the power curve
So many people are almost done with their Christmas shopping. I thought I was doing well, since I had done lots of internet window shopping, but I’ve only actually bought one thing: a balance bike for Pete (we actually didn’t get a Skuut, we found a cheaper brand).
And I will buy a half dozen of these (here’s the one from Kansas). I consider them to be educational. Of course, by December 26th, I will probably regret my decision to make my house sound like a bird sanctuary.
Reit This Way 