And So this is Christmas

(Complements of Grandma)

traipsing about, what fun!

Oh we have been having a grand old time!
I wish I had time to sit down and do my new memories justice.
But in the interest of not getting so far behind that I give up and skip everything....

Our days have been full of:

Sledding



Building gingerbread structures


Visiting the Hill Aerospace Museum


Visiting delightful Friends


And riotously fun family Christmas parties. I don't know when I've laughed so hard.
Here's my brother winning one of many scouting-inspired competitions:


And the grandkids (and great-grandkids) Rudolfing:



(Dear family, the rest of our party photos and videos are on my flickr)

Brilliant!

Guess whom we caroled at our Christmas party last night?

One little boy was in heaven!

in which we hit the ground running

We have landed (minus Sir O's coat that mysteriously disappeared from our stroller's basket between gate-checks) and are vacationing, inasmuch as one can stay in their parent's house and call it a vacation. (Not intended to be a comment about my parents, just the non-exotic locale).

I have such a complex love-hate relationship with Utah, it's pretty remarkable. And if I were to make a two-column list, half of the things I hate about Utah would also be things I love about Utah. There is no other place quite like it.

(And my dear Utahns who wish to see us - shoot me an email. We are making progress on the scheduling front).

I managed to arrive in mediocre health (we think a sinus infection accompanying my stubborn cough turned bronchitis-ish-ness), and am slowly nursing myself back to functionality. The boys are warming up to my family at about that same speed. (Or rather the Captain is, Sir O loves anyone who will play with him or feed him sugar).

Mr Renn is playing hard and resting hard. I think the man needed a break. This last semester has been an intense one for him in the clinics, and as soon as the holidays are over he "gets" to start studying for boards. "Oh, goodie" says my sarcasm.

Amidst all this craziness I have become determined to inflict as much holiday magic as possible on Sir O. I think he's just reaching the age where he's going to remember things, and I want those memories to be superb. I want him to get excited about every little thing, (and I want him to learn to be grateful).

So today we drove our little family down to Thanksgiving Point for the lights and the reindeer, and for the fun of singing Christmas Carols all the way there and back again. (And since I sound like a dying moose when I sing right now, this is bound to be a great memory....)

Sir O + Christmas lights = oh the entertainment!(in the dark....and I'd taken my seatbelt off to bring SirO into the front seat while we drove 4 mph though the light display - hence the seatbelt light being on and him being fixated upon it)



And Sir O's gift to us today: he made it through an afternoon nap and this lengthy outing in underwear, without incident. It was quite the breakthrough. I have yet to determine whether he's actually making potty-training headway, or is just dehydrated. I dare not get my hopes up too high after so many months of disillusionment.

A handle on it

I am, or I should be wrapping up the preparations for a very long trip. Because both of my boys have opted for last-minute low-grade fevers, (the sort where the pediatrician hesitates to have them come in), I have been even more frazzled than I anticipated. I am excited to spend some un-rushed time with family. It's the getting there (tomorrow!) that has me freaking out. (There's a crippling amount of freaking out going on inside my head).

This morning I was vaguely aware of Sir O watching a Super Why episode of Rumpelstiltskin. I have issues with kids being introduced to classic stories via weird and watered-down versions like this, primarily because most of them will never get exposed to the original text and they'll think what they experienced is it. BUT, Sir O still has a very low tolerance for suspense, so I've consigned myself to a need to spend a year or two reading him some Grimm brothers once he's old enough.

Then again, the story of Rumpelstiltskin has never sat well with me. Who wants to marry someone who threatened to kill you if you couldn't do something impossible? Where is there a remote chance of happiness in that? I spy serious dysfunction in that royal family.

The boys are getting lovely hardback versions of Peter Pan and The Secret Garden for Christmas. Which of course they will care nothing about for years, if ever. But there you have it. I am that kind of mother.

I must now put my shoulder to the wheel and pack and clean and pack some more. And nurse the semi-sick boys who have just enough energy to make messes. And cough and cough and cough because my cough has decided that it wants to live in my lungs forever.

and ever.

amen.

compulsions

As I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped today, I realized that over 90% of the Christmas gifts I purchased were books.

Um, whoops? Is that a Freudian slip? In other news, the Captain is thiiiiis close to taking his first steps,


and Sir O finally caught my cold. He spent most of the day yesterday moaning on the couch. Ah, my life.

Seasonality

Is anyone else in panic-mode getting ready for holiday madness?
I just about can't blink without missing something I needed to have gotten done already.
(And I finished my Christmas shopping two months ago - so that's not it...)

Luckily Marta reminded me it was St. Nicholas day today. That's a tradition I'd been meaning to start with our family. And this was the year! Sir O got to choose which shoes would represent each family member, (hence his rainboots, more loot capacity) and we set them outside our front door before he went to bed. (Now if I can just remember St. Lucia day on the 13th!) Anyone have other holidays/traditions they love?


I think if I can just shake this super-sized cold&cough of death that has taken over my body I just might be able to make it!

I have decided that life before Sir O must have been terribly boring. He is, without a doubt, the life of our party. Every day. I am a fan. (Though I think the neighbors might appreciate it if he toned it down a notch, or twelve.) And in case you are wondering what "necklaces" he's talking about.... that's his interpretation of my saying "St. Nicholas will put treats in the shoes"

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar? (and fed it to his baby brother?)

Sorry for the influx of videos and not much else.
I am still in the midst of Mr Renn's interview absences,
and am gearing up for a loooong trip to Utah
and Christmas....

Forgive my Tolkeinism, but I feel like butter that's been spread over too much toast.