Christmas 2007

It’s late Christmas day, the gifts have all been given and opened, the bulk of the mess cleaned up and I’m thrilled by the wonderful day we enjoyed….as well as ecstatic that it’s over!!

I talked to my mom tonight and agreed that I must be getting old to be so happy that the holiday is over when the kids are ready for it to be Christmas every day. I’m actually dreading next year’s Christmas chaos already…it’s only 365 days, people!!

We made a deal with our kids last night…there were certain things that had to happen in the morning for mom and dad to drag themselves out of bed. Can I just tell you that my kids are flat out amazing??

Rule #1 – All teeth must be brushed before even attempting to come into our bedroom. The first person who walked in and breathed funk breath on us would cause everyone to go back to bed for a half an hour! It was Rachael’s job to make sure all oral hygiene responsibilities were seen to.

Rule #2 – The coffee pot must be turned on, Peter had to make sure that it was set up with water and coffee, but someone had to actually turn the pot on so it would be beautifully perked by the time we got up. This job fell to Nathaniel, the one we most trust with handling our electronics.

Rule #3 – The dog must be fed and watered…this was sort of a last ditch effort in giving Peyton a job to do in the morning, so she’d feel like she was one of the big kids.

I fully expected to be roused at the crack of dawn, but was pleasantly surprised when Nathaniel and Rachael crept into our bedroom at 8:30!! That has to be a record somewhere.

They were coming in quietly and cautiously because Peyton was still snuggled in between Pete and me in the bed…sound asleep…and the dog was unfed because Peyton was still in bed. The kids had totally reached the last of their patience and Rachael whispers to me, “Mommy, Peyton’s still sleeping, if I feed the dog, is it ok if I wake you up now?” Are you kidding me? I’m fully prepared to go out and buy them all an extra present for letting us sleep until 8:30!!…AND I can smell the coffee.

I love that my kids are getting older now. They rock.

We got up and dug into stockings and quickly divvied up presents and went to work. The kids were good about waiting semi-patiently for everyone to take turns opening presents, they were excited about every gift and got many of the “must have’s” on their lists. Nathaniel wanted Pete’s old IPod and we are thankful that after some serious panic because it got lost in the moving shuffle, we found it in plenty of time to get it loaded up with his favorite music, wrapped and under the tree. He also got the coolest gift in a RoboQuad…this robotic 4-legged thing that is just a complete hoot…he got a Razor scooter from his Grandma Sharon as well as a ton of other gifts that he totally deserves for making coffee.

Rachael’s wants were simple but plentiful. She got gobs of goodies, but her favorites were the High School Musical 2 DVD and a box full of makeup. Peyton’s big favorites were her trampoline and pogo stick. Yes, I got the child with lousy balance and a penchant for bruising a pogo stick. But she loves it even if she’s not heavy enough to actually make it bounce….it’s become a wonderful full body workout for whoever has to help her bounce across the room.

You might notice that both Santa AND the Tooth Fairy made a trip to our house last night!!

I don’t know that I’ve EVER been that excited about a gift…in my entire life. Do you love that crazy-toothless combo??

Pete and I both went out of our way to surprise each other. I got a ROCK ON gift certificate to the[url=http://www.ikea.com] IKEA[/url] store!!! I know you’re all excited for me. I’m already mentally spending it for the new house that doesn’t exist yet. But I blew him out of the water with gift cards dedicated to buying a Wii…No, he didn’t lick his elbow, but I really dig him, so I’m getting him one anyway…whenever the Wii’s come back in stock. We were both absolutely delighted with our gifts, plus all the sweet things the kids had made and chosen for us.

We spent the afternoon the way every Christmas should be spent. We ate too much, we all napped and snoozed, and then we went over to visit our special friend Mary Ann, from the Children’s Cancer Center. We went with the intentions of just popping in and saying Merry Christmas…4 hours later we finally left with enough baked goods and leftovers to feed a small army! What a good time we had with this wonderful lady. A HUGE thank you to Mary Ann for opening her home to us and inviting us to spend time with her on this most wonderful of days.

What a day. I hope your day was as fantastic as ours, I pray that you celebrated in a way that will fill your heart with joy and memories. We missed being with some friends and family who are too far away to see, but you were all in our thoughts and hearts today.

Tomorrow Peyton and I will be heading into the clinic bright and early for her 8:30 spinal tap. She gets her chemo and starts her monthly steroids. What a way to bring in the New Year, right? But hopefully we’ll have a repeat of last month when the steroids didn’t seem to have too bad an impact on her. Pray for an easy procedure and for her to withstand all these medications.

We ask for many prayers for a few of our brave friends and their families:

1. Justin Gaudineer is in the hospital with fevers and a GI bleed. He’s been suffering through a LOT of pain and please keep this little sweetie in your prayers that there will some healing and comfort for him.

2. Mathew Gliddon is still in the hospital starting a new round of chemo tomorrow. It’s a NASTY chemo med, but we are all praying that this is the one that kicks his body into remission. He needs to reach a full remission so that he can move into the bone marrow transplant stage of treatment. He’s also dealing with a lot of side effect issues, he’s got a virus that’s caused him to develop pneumonia, he’s still not able to talk due to unknown reasons at this point and his family is struggling to stay on top of each issue as they arise. Just keep this family in your prayers as they cope with each new problem, that they will get the answers they so badly need and that Mathew’s body will respond to this new treatment with positive results.

3. There are so many more who need our prayers, some have needs that seem greater than others, but I know God hears and holds each prayer, so just ask for his power to be in the lives of all the families struggling with their burden. It wouldn’t take a terrible amount of time to just log onto one or all of these kids’ site and just leave a small message of support, encouragement and let them know that there are many praying them through each day.

f.r.o.G…fully relying on God
–Anissa