Merry Christmas!!

We are having a lovely day, and I hope you all are, too! The kids have actually been getting along, there have been no fights, all phone calls have been made, and we have decided that we're getting the usual Chinese take-out for dinner. Yea and verily, it is Christmas, let there be 24-hrs straight of A Christmas Story and way too much cocoa. Ahhh.

Yesterday was one surprise after another. First thing, as I was getting ready to do the usual bi-weekly grocery run before making a dish to take to my SIL Kathy's house, the phone rang, and it was my other SIL, Jen, saying that Kathy et al had had a rough night with the babies, and they decided that they weren't going to host Christmas at their house as planned. Also, she informed me that Kathy has basically said that no one is even really welcome at their home because the doctor has told her not to let the babies have visitors due to it being cold season. So, could the family come here instead in, oh, say, three hours?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, we said yes, I mean, what was I going to say?! The house wasn't in too bad of a shape, because I had cleaned it late last week in hopes I wouldn't have to do a lot over Christmas, and I was on my way to the store for food, anyway, so.... it's probably best that I didn't have a lot of advance notice, since I didn't have any time to stress out about it! I literally had just gotten the groceries put away and hopped into the shower when people started arriving. Then, poor Jen became increasingly ill while she was here with what turned out to be food poisoning from some leftover chicken nuggets from Wendy's (but which we thought was flu at the time, so you can imagine). So, she spent most of their visit in the bathroom. Her husband was almost out flat with back problems. Everyone was mildly upset at not being allowed to see the babies at all, and being thrown out of whack, but we squeezed in here and still had a mostly pleasant time. One of the best moments was when I went down into our finished basement with my niece, Katie, who is 2, and played with the color-changing, star-projecting ladybug nightlight we got her. She was *entranced*, and it was so great!!! Kids that age are so fun to buy for.

(oh, the movie just got to the point where he drops the f-bomb!!! HAHAHA!!!!)

Jen and family left around 4 to head over to visit some of her DH's family (thankfully she had gotten most of the food problems out of her system by that point), and DH's parents stayed until it was time to go to the children's service at the church. They came with us, but left partway through because all the poinsettias were too much for his dad, who had some kind of asthmatic reaction to them. They did get to see most of what the kids were doing, though, and he was fine once they left.

My baby totally rocked the house on the organ with Little Drummer Boy!!! The choral director opened all the pipes for her, and she blew everybody away. That's my baby!! She also played the bells in the bell choir, and sang with the kids' choir. The Boy, though, is lucky we even brought them home. When the Cherub choir left their pew, where they had all sat together, and lined up to sing, what did he do? He picked his lip. The whole time. I know, I should be glad it's wasn't his nose. He looked like an Idiot. Then, when they were done, did he come back to sit with us, like he was supposed to? Like all the other children did? NO. He blew right past our pew, where we were several people in (but he knew where we were), and went to sit with his friend, his mother and grandfather, all of whom we know. We were trapped, and couldn't go to get him, because the service had continued, and we couldn't go up there without walking around the whole place and making a scene of it. That boy refused to come and sit with us for about fifteen minutes!!!! Sigh.

(It was...soap poisoning!!!)

The rest of the evening went very smoothly, though, and we had a really wonderful day all in all. All of our friends from church were there, and everyone was hugging and laughing and happy. After we came home, we all got into our jammies, and snuggled on our big bed to read The Grinch and 'Twas The Night Before Christmas before the kids got into bed. Then, of course, DH and I spent about an hour getting everything out, and I went back to work trying to make some sense of my poor, poor kitchen. We only have an 18in dishwasher, so it takes a LONG time to do all those dishes. I actually just finished them all this morning.

I'm trying not to be negative about Kathy and her abrupt decision to cancel Christmas. I mean, isn't that something she should have thought of before? The whole reason we were going there in the first place on Christmas Eve, rather than doing it at DH's mother's house like always on the weekend before when it's good for everyone, is because that was what *she* wanted!!! Everyone who came to our place actually stopped there first to drop off gifts, and they weren't allowed to even SEE the babies, not even from a distance, even though Jen hasn't seen them at all yet. I can see not wanting them to go to public places, or be around people who are ill, but... we visited them in the hospital, for heaven's sake, weeks ago, and just made sure we scrubbed up well beforehand. I guess what gets me, to be honest, is that it doesn't bother her to cancel things. She's not sorry she didn't get to see everyone. We didn't do anything until the afternoon, and it would have been easy for her, or her husband, or our niece (who she said slept all the way through the night) to come up and see everyone for a little while, even without the babies. When I talked to her this morning, briefly, she said that DH can drop off their gifts on his way home from work one day next week. I mean, I could make a trip to drop them off myself, but since I will always have the kids with me, and I can't drive all that way and make them stay in the car, and then turn around and come back home, that's not going to happen. Besides, I would only be welcome to come inside myself if the babies were asleep and away, apparently, so who knows when a good time for me to stop by would be. So, I hope she likes those carseat covers I made, and that the babies get to use them, and... yeah. I'm trying very hard not to feel like I shouldn't have bothered. I made them for the babies, not her, and whether or not I get to actually see her open them, or even see the babies use them, should not make a difference to me. I should not need the satisfaction of seeing them do it.

Of course, the good thing about all of this is that my IL's did come up to see the kids, and the weather was good, and it was a family occasion that we all pulled together to enjoy. Having everyone here was fun, and it was easier for us to not have to travel, since we had things to do in the evening, and it was closer for Jen to get to her SIL's house. Our house is clean and comfortable, which Kathy's is not, and there are lots of things for kids to do here, whereas at Kathy's there isn't really anything for them to do.

Well, Josie is upstairs playing her new MP3, Patrick is playing with a neighbor boy with his new electric car set, and I have a sneaking suspicion that DH is asleep. Hopefully, they've all forgotten that I exist for the moment while I hide here on the couch and watch my movie for the millionth time, until it's time to feed the raging hordes again. :)

I hope you're all as happy as we are today, and I can't wait to read about all the wonderful experiences you have had. Merry Christmas!!!!!!