Jami's Christmas 2009

Ah, our first Christmas as a family of four! Christmas Eve we had no problem getting Eddie to sleep as he'd been partying all day with family and friends, and of course, he had to get to sleep so the Big Guy in Red could stop by. We put out the special S shaped cookie he'd made, egg nog (the Husband told Eddie that Santa prefers it to milk) and an apple for reindeer. Christmas morning, I woke up at what I thought was just after 6, but was actually 8 am once I located my glasses. Finn wanted fed and Eddie was in the bathroom. Eddie was desperate to get downstairs, but managed to hold it together until Finn finished eating, Mommy brushed her teeth and put contacts in and Daddy got the video camera started. The two things he had repeatedly asked Santa for were a drum set and an orange teddy bear (not as easy to find as you might think). The large blanket covered present in front of the tree was indeed his drum set - as he started to lift it he said "I think I know what this is . I think I know! I think I know what this is!!!" When the drums were revealed, he said "yup. Drums. Now, where's my orange bear?" Confident in his Nice List status, I guess. He emptied his stocking, which contained the traditional gift of my childhood - underwear. I get this now, I mean, he needs it, so I'm gonna have to buy it anyway, right? Might as well buy the more fun colors and fill up that stocking. He actually insisted on trying them out and went up to change into the camo pair before finishing the unwrapping. Finn received far less, mostly because, let's face it - he doesn't care this year. Most importantly, of course, what did I get? The Husband got me pretty much everything I needed - new undies, as usual, but desperately needed this year after the pregnancy destroyed the elastic in almost all of mine. Seriously, it's a miracle I haven't had a pair fall out the bottom of my pants in pubic. Yet. He also got me the neoprene cover for my Wii Fit board and the Wii Fit plus game so that I don't need to stretch out these new undies! My parents are giving us a game room, labor done by my father, and that's the awesomest thing in the world, instead of more stuff - more room to put the stuff we already have! Including the kids! Yay!! Finn received a playgym from Grammy and Pop, which he digs the most. Seriously, this little dude is so into that thing I could go to the store and he wouldn't even notice - a nice change from having to amuse him every moment he's awake! Eddie got a giant pile of toys, of course, including a super fun train that follows any black line you draw on any paper, and a zhu zhu hamster he named Runny, because it runs. We had breakfast and lunch at my parents house, but after is the part I am most pleased with. Our church has a Christmas dinner, totally free to anyone who wants to come, or have it delivered. We deliver around 400 dinners to shut-ins in our area (not bad for a church of about 40 regular attenders) and serve about 100 in our fellowship hall. People who don't have family in the area come, or those who can't afford to make a nice dinner, or some just come to volunteer for awhile and then eat with someone who might not have a friend to eat with. My family traditionally shows up at the end of the meal time to do clean up. I wanted to take Eddie for a little while this year to see our family working and explain what it is and why we do it. I figured in the next few years he'll be old enough to help for a couple of hours, and this way he'll be familiar with it. I told the Husband to drop us off and take the presents home, figuring that by the time he got back, Eddie would be about done with "helping". Boy, was I wrong!! When we got there Eddie was provided with a bucket and sponge and started cleaning out the delivery coolers. He cleaned and stacked all the ones that came in - this took about the first hour. Then he bussed tables, including asking people who were still eating if he could have their plates! After that he helped wipe down tables, fold up the folding chairs to put away, and even got pretty psyched about mopping the kitchen floor. My little man worked from just after 4 until 6:40!! Yes, he took a cookie and juice break, but that's a long effort for a 4-year-old. I couldn't have been prouder, especially when he told me "this isn't fun, you know" and I explained that sometimes we do things that aren't fun because it's for a good reason. He said "Maybe the people who don't have Christmas dinner can go to Giant Eagle and buy one." We talked about the reasons they can't and then he said "Oh. Okay." and got back to work!! That was my best Christmas gift this year - my son carrying on our family's tradition of volunteering. Merry Christmas!