Christmas 2022 – A Look Back

Hello, my friends. When I last blogged, we were gearing up for a big snow storm. While we didn’t get as much as they were saying, roads were still dangerous and as a bonus we got our white Christmas. I had to laugh at something I saw on Facebook, and had to share here. This pretty much sums up every winter storm forecast here in Michigan:

Snow was to move in on Thursday night and into Friday morning. Many patients called to cancel their appointments that night, so because of low volume, I got to stay home. It was nice to have extra family time. It is very rare to get that time.

I had already taken Friday off. Usually my boys will come over and spend the night and we do Christmas Eve morning as our “Christmas.” Because of the storm, we decided it was best to postpone things until the Monday after Christmas.

On Christmas Eve night, we usually go to Crossroads Village and do the drive through light display. It’s not too far from us and it is always a beautiful sight. On certain nights, you can board the train and see more lights, but the drive through is neat because you get to go through the little village. They pipe Christmas music through the speakers and every thing is just beautiful.

We got the kids dressed and ventured out. It didn’t take long to see just how bad the roads were. We hadn’t been out since the storm, but the roads were just awful. We take many back roads to get there and the wind was blowing across the fields and made the roads solid sheets of ice. It was actually pretty scary. I would have kept driving, but Sam told me to turn around and go back home. That’s what we did.

Earlier in the day we made cookies for Santa. Ella told Sam that Santa should drink milk from a “fancy” cup, so we put it in a wine glass. A few years ago, Sam’s sister Grace (who passed away earlier this year) made a Christmas plate. We have decided that as part of our Christmas tradition, Santa’s cookies would always be put on on that plate.

We placed the cookies on the plate and started to get things ready for the rest of the evening. We had to get the kids in their Christmas pajamas, they had to brush their teeth, and Santa had to get ready to build some stuff. After walking to the living room to gather up a few things, I walked back in the kitchen to see Andrew standing on Ella’s step stool – eating Santa’s cookies!!! Smart kid!

Once the kids were in bed, I went to work. I only had to put together a couple things, and I love being Santa. Ella got a Frozen Castle (she calls it the Elsa and Anna castle) and Andrew got a vacuum (he is all about the vacuum when we clean). They also each got a book from Santa and the rest of the gifts were from mom and dad.

It was nice to see the tree lit, with presents under it, and the baby gate out of the way!!

Honestly, I anticipated that Ella would be the first one up on Christmas morning, but instead, it was Andrew. We actually had to go in and wake Ella up. She seemed uninterested in getting up until we reminded her that it was Christmas and Santa had come.

Andrew loved his vacuum and played with it all morning. It was a hoot to see him “cleaning” the rug!

Ella loved her princess castle and when she got a princess dress, too, she had to put it on!

She was so into it and had all her princesses playing on the castle. I was lucky enough to capture this very cool picture of her playing –

I just love it! She had no idea I was taking this.

We were invited to Sam’s folks for Christmas dinner, which is always nice. My mother-in-law always puts out a big spread with ham, turkey, scalloped or potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and a ton of desserts. My nieces and nephew were there, so the kids all got to play together. It’s always kind of crazy with all of Sam’s siblings there, so I neglected to get any pictures.

Andrew gave us a memorable moment while we were there. Sam’s folks have one of those thin Christmas trees. Andrew, of course, is always curious. While my back was to him, he grabbed something on the tree (probably the string of lights) and started pulling. Naturally, the entire tree came crashing down on top of him!! When I turned around I couldn’t even see him! Thankfully, only one ornament broke. That boy is something else!!

I’m not sure when we left but it was later in the evening and Sam and I were talking about being a bit hungry. We decided to be like the Christmas Story family and we ordered some Chinese food and grabbed McDonald’s for the kids. As crazy as it sounds, we may need to do that every year because it was delicious.

On Monday, the boys came over in the morning. I made up some chocolate chip pancakes, sausage links, eggs, toast, and coffee for me. Ella and Andrew don’t see their big brothers often enough, but they seemed glad to see them.

My dad and Rose came over a bit later and I was glad that my dad got to see all his grandchildren. He brought Ella a Little People Barbie apartment, which is huge and now serves as a “neighbor” to Elsa and Anna’s castle. He brought Andrew some waffle blocks and a bowling set. The boys are older now, so the each got an envelope with cash, much like his mother (my grandma) used to give my brother and I.

As crazy as it was to get everyone together, I am so glad to have gotten this picture with my dad, Rose, and the kids.

As I stated in my Facebook post, it is never long enough when we get together, but I do treasure the time with them.

I am so glad to have had time with my wife, my children and my dad over the holidays. God willing, we will all be able to do it again next year.

Toddler Words

Many years ago, Art Linkletter hosted a show called “Kids Say The Darndest Things.” The show was later revamped and was hosted by Bill Cosby. Why was the show a hit? Because it is so true – kids say some of the funniest things!!

I remember a few things my older boys used to say that still crack me up. They used to call the vacuum cleaner a “Latchoom” and Ice Cream was “High Creem.” To this day, whenever we get pizza, I will say “Pee-cah.” Whenever the Little Caesar’s commercial would come on and say “Pizza! Pizza!” my sons would say “Pee-Cah! Pee-Cah!”

When Ella got up one day this week, Sam asked her what she wanted for breakfast. “Bah-Mam-Mah!” was her response. She has been calling bananas “Bah-Mam-Mahs” for a few weeks now. We began to chuckle and Sam made the comment, “Baby, I hope you always call them “Bah-Mam-Mahs!”

She then commented to me that she also hopes that she will continue to call shakes “Ice Cream Pop!”

That phrase started when she snagged my Boston Cooler a week ago. She has fallen in love with shakes and “Ice Cream Pop” has become a standard answer to the question, “What would you like to drink your breakfast (or lunch or dinner)?”

Those along with “Kee Kat” (for kitty cat), “Bahguppie” (for Bubble Guppies), “Cah-chee” (for Cottage Cheese. This was actually worse at one time.), and “Tab-Oh-Let” (for tablet) are words I hope she always says!! They make me smile!!

What are some mispronounced words you remember your kids saying??

Nice Day For A Birthday and a Half

Monday is usually my day for getting stuff done. I do laundry. I fold laundry. I load the dishwasher and run it. I pick up the living room and vacuum. I clean up the kitchen and clear the counters. None of that got done today.

My day started with getting Andrew out of bed, fixing him a bottle, and putting his helmet on. Ella was up shortly after and mom brought her home pancakes from McDonald’s for breakfast.

It is Andrew’s 1/2 birthday (he is six months old today). We measured him, weighed him, and put him in his special onesie and took our Milestone pictures. We decided to take his pictures in his helmet so we’d remember it.

Today, my oldest son turns 20. He spent the day with his friends bowling and then playing games at his house. He is usually a late sleeper, so I waited until about 11 to call him. I used video chat and when he answered he had his mask on and was obviously in class at college! I felt bad that I interrupted and told him I would call him later!

The temperature outside was about 60, so I decided to take the kids on our first walk through the neighborhood. It’s a bit different with the double stroller, but it was just perfect. We got to see neighbors outside with their kids, raking up leftover fall leaves, and just relaxing on their porches.

It felt good to walk. I know that walking really helped me drop some weight last year, and I hope it will again this year. I just hope Ella will allow me to push her in the stroller. She loves being able to just walk.

Andrew seemed to really enjoy being outside. I bundled him up in a sweatshirt and covered him in a blanket and he cooed through most of the walk. He started to doze at one point, but he made it through the walk taking in all the sites.

When we were walking up the driveway, my oldest called me back on the video chat. He was excited to be out of class and was going to check out the video game store. He got to see his brother and sister and couldn’t believe when Ella said, “Happy birthday, brother.”

After lunch, the kiddos napped – Ella in her crib and Andrew in my arms. Tonight is the first night he has to sleep with his helmet, so I’m anticipating a rough night. He has been doing well with it, so I hope I am wrong.

My favorite moment of the day was captured by the camera. Ella wanted to get her picture taken, too, when we were getting Andrew’s taken. So we put her in the crib next to him and I caught this magical moment….

Precious!