So, on Sat the 22nd Brad was on shift and the children and I stayed home for the day preparing for Sunday when Brad's family would arrive to do Christmas here. I used to pride myself on my hosting abilities and absolutely go all out on the decorating end of things.......forever searching the world over for ways to liven up a home-hosted event. But these last few years I'm content just to live in the moment and enjoy the company rather than spend an outrageous amount of time fussing and fretting over aesthetic appeal. So it was that I was rather content with our bare naked tree, our still raw unfinished wall from where the bookshelf had been torn out a couple of months before and the lack of any real outlandish signs and wonders of the impending big day. The stockings still lay in a Wal Mart sack stuffed inside a cabinet waiting to be laid out on the coffee table for Christmas Eve....since Santa has to barrel through the backdoor to visit our little crew. So, not even stockings hung on the walls of our home or sung their Chritsmas melody. But I was more content than ever this holiday season....even while hosting a family get together without the seasonal fuss.
Daddy's little cooking buddy, already highly impressed by his kitchen abilities......I know, I know.....the Bumbo recall about setting this thing on high surfaces. And to think I actually was amazed at the incredulous thought of stupid people placing it on tables, wondering who in the world would do that. But it's still a sweet funny little view. He looks like a real live baby doll.
So it was that the children and I stayed home and finished the clothes folding.......as much as we could......and I tackled the preparations for the upcoming day's Christmas dinner. Having made our homemade ham last Christmas it was such a huge hit and loved so much by everyone that it was the one big request this year. The children were begging. I delegated out the side dishes and desserts and gave myself the ham, bread and sweet potato casserole to make. After preparing the casserole and double checking to make sure we had everything needed for the bread at around noon I left the now cleaned up kitchen. With the ham left waiting until 10 pm to hit the oven to slow cook I suppose somewhere in my malfunctioning brain that I just figured I was done for the day. I never looked back. And, yes, you can see the end of this story coming.
Hanging out
I loaded up the children and we set off for a late trip into Ballinger for something sweet to eat, Grayson some more bullets, flour and more toilet paper. We returned home somewhat later than we should have and I hurriedly made oatmeal for the little ones while the older ones made their homemade pizzas and got them in the oven. If turning the oven on didn't trigger something within me I figure there's just no hope at this point in my life of ever mastering the kitchen art. Admittedly, I am a very good cook if I could ever remember to cook the crap I need to. After putting a very tired Garrett and sleepy little Gavin down for the night the rest of us crawled into bed for a Little House marathon, which lasted 3 or so hours. After the rest of the children were tucked in I defied all wise counsel from Brad and stayed up waaaaay too late. I'll refrain from fessing up to the late night/early morning hour but, suffice it to say, it was far removed from the hour I should have drifted off. As in.....the sun was making noises that it was about to peek through with its first rays of its early morning rise.
Aubrey looking through our wedding album with Brad's mom, Grandma
I finally dropped into bed. I've finally figured out that not only do I treasure the quiet nights that Brad's on shift for the quiet, alone time that it gives me but I also tend to subconsciously avoid the bed. It's a horrible habit but after mulling it over again and again I have finally figured out my tendencies and patterns. I hate, even after these 8 years of being married to a firefighter that has never done anything but work 24's, going to bed alone. I hate facing the other side that is cold and empty. So, with my love of writing, my very limited amount of daytime hours that allow any amount of quality computer time and this avoidance of facing my cold, empty bed I find myself staying up until I can no longer fight the need for sleep. Sometimes that exhaustion doesn't even begin to settle in to that point of no longer being able to fight inevitable sleep until 3 or 4 am. There have been a few rare nights that the clock has glowed some 5 am numbers. The really pathetic part is that Gavin has now been sleeping peacefully through the nights for many weeks now. He started faithfully doing it around 6 wks so I suppose we are going on 16 wks, or 4 months, of uninterrupted nights. These should be the nights I am sleeping peacefully with him but instead I find myself reading or writing.
Back in the kitchen for Brad. Now for the clean up. I'm not exactly sure what I was doing at this point.....besides taking a few pics. I think I must have been cleaning off the table with Evye. I never did do any dishes. Poor Brad. I did put the entire kitchen back together the next day since he got the dishes out of the way. Since firemen happen to be pros in the kitchen, in both the cooking and cleaning category, I am quite certain I married well.
At any rate, Brad returned home Sunday morning. Having had my alarm set for 7 with every intention of rising, that plan somehow amazingly flopped and he found me still sleeping at 8 when he walked into our bedroom. I slowly got my day started as he shut his down after having been up all night on the medic. He climbed into bed as I climbed out. I sleepily made my way to the kitchen for some caffeinated hot tea and any amount of other caffeinated liquid I could find. I quickly located coffee, which I expertly turned into pumpkin spice coffee, and a coke after having downed the hot tea spiked with honey. Both coffe and coke were eventually consumed after having gotten the tea down.
So, here it is at 8 am on Sunday morning and family is set to start arriving at 11. As I opened the frig to go for the milk there it was. The unthinkable. The only thing I had to master on Saturday...the biggest to-do on my list. The big purple crinkly package that housed the ham sat staring at me in a very cruel early morning way and if I listened carefully I was quite sure I heard it laughing. I closed the frig door gently knowing full well it was just a bad dream. I opened it back up to look again...as if that was going to somehow magically cook it or something. Nope........still there and still just as cold, lifeless and uncooked as it was 30 seconds before that on my 1st look at it. This time around the door did not close nearly as gently as it had the first time. Crap does not even begin to come close to what I was saying at that moment.
I stomped in there to Brad and said as loudly as I could.......disturbing his already asleep state....that I hadn't cooked the ham. Being the tremendous help he was at that moment he asked incredulously......."HOW could you forget to cook the ham??????" Not even I could answer that one. Feeling no better that I had someone to be mad with me I marched out. I suppose I expected in some small way to feel better at having gone off on somebody and awakened them in my frustration to spout out my woes but, alas, I still felt no better and the ham was still no closer to being cooked. So instead of the long slow cook approach I threw it into a pan........quite literally.....and turned the oven on. If the ham wasn't already dead before I got ahold of it it was surely dead after I got done with it. It was then 8:30 and lunch was set for 1. So, I upped the temp accordingly but still low enough to get somewhat of a slow cook effect. In my little fit of rage I had ripped off the crinkly wrapper which Garrett found very fun to crinkle. He had then ripped off the directions for the glazing process and conveniently tossed them into the trash can...since I usually tell him that paper goes in the trash. Most days he usually shows up with gum wrappers, 1/4 of a page of a coloring sheet, tiny cut up pieces of construction paper and all sorts of other types of paper I never new could exist so unnoticed on a regularly trampled floor. So it is that he knows to toss paper trash.
At noon the timer went off alerting me to the now glazing process. I grabbed the brown sugar mix and looked around for the directions of the amount of liquid that needed to be mixed with it. Then the memory of it glaring at me on the top of the kitchen trash I had taken out many hours before came horridly back to me. Surely not. But, yep.....that was undoubtedly what was on the top of the trash that had been cinched up after having dumped all kinds of other crap on top of it right before Grayson was given the order to take it out. I improvised and just winged it at that point. I was kind of figuring I couldn't really win at that point.
But in the end we all gathered around the table and the ham made its debut despite its many problems that had to be overcome to even get to the table. It was as good as last years and nobody could tell it had suffered a fast cook instead of a long overnight cook. The children loved it which made it all worthwhile. They were certainly impressed and suddenly the whole war I waged to even get it on the table seemed entirely worthwhile. It received rave reviews from the family that was gathered and Brad's mom was full of unending compliments which made me feel better about it all. Having almost mastered the art of bread making I did not want to try any new recipes and use poor family members as experimental taste testers. So, I left the bread up to Brad. He attempted to make Nanny's rolls which in the end did turn out tasting quite like them but looked far from the normal Nanny appearance. We decided we still need to refine our Nanny roll making abilities. Thankfully we had crescent rolls as a backup and so between the 2 varieties everyone was fed and there was bread to spare.
The children sat around the coffee table beside us while the 6 adults sat around the kitchen table. I wish I'd thought to get pictures. I loved having the whole family in there and eating together instead of feeding in shifts like I had given some thought to.
The children were pleasant and a source of joy. Except for the older ones' impatience at the present unwrapping ceremony the day was enjoyable for Brad and I. Gavin seemed a little fussier than usual and slept for most of it. It wasn't until yesterday that I realized nobody was feeling very great.....him included. I felt so sorry for him since he has only had 2 little colds since his July arrival. But it explained his little fussiness issue on Sunday and some of Monday. By Tuesday his little stomach was miserable and he seemed to be having the stomach issues Grant was having. After being given some Motrin, Mylecon and chamomile and lavender tea, since that's the only stuff I felt comfortable giving him, he was back to his old little smiling, cooing self and slept peacefully from 8 pm to 8 am. I didn't bother waking him for his 11pm feeding since I knew he'd had a rough day. I just figured I'd live through the inevitable 3 am waking but it never came. He was perfect today and he went and did with us...taking in all of the sights and sounds as usual while charming the world with his sweet little coos, bigger than life smiles and flirtatious little ways.
So it was that the ham was saved in the last hour and we ended up enjoying the day but being grateful that our holiday celebration was over. Now it was time just to sit back and relax...in theory......as we waited for the big Christmas day for the children. Little did I know what still had to be done!!!! That is, if I remembered to get it done.
And to close, these pictures were taken by Aunt Abby and can also be seen on her blog. I thought I'd put a few of her pics on here since I am always so amazed at what God has blessed us with in our children. It's always so amazing to see them through someone else's eyes. I truly am amazed by their beauty and their little radiating spirits that shine from their eyes.
Look how red his hair is!!!!!!! It's orange! His hair never ceases to be a novelty to me. And he is hilariously guarding the notorious basketball that he expertly nailed his new cousin, Baby Milo, in the head with.
They're just so sweet
Evye holding her 1st cousin on Brad's side of the family.
My Sweet, Loveable, Kissable Gavin
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