Christmas Memories...Intangible Gifts

I usually create a list each year of gifts that I want. I will admit it I am a pretty selfish person and love presents! Maybe selfish isn’t the right word…greedy? Jared’s mom likes to get lists in PowerPoint and I have had fun the past few years putting a PowerPoint together with the items I want and links to places to purchase said items. This year came and while there are always things I want I didn’t put a list together.

I’ve been reflecting on the reason for not putting a list together (which apparently made things hard for some people to shop for me). Reason number one, I have less time to think about myself since having Benjamin. Reason number two, I have a lot of stuff already. Reason number three, I feel like I’ve been blessed with so much lately that I don’t need anything.

Point in case: I have Benjamin who is all the gift I need. My brother Ed called this weekend and said he is coming up with his family for Christmas. While neither are tangible gifts or wrapped in a bow under the tree…they are gifts to me. I have a loving husband who adores me and I him. I am healthy and strong. I have a roof over my head. The list goes on.

Jared and I were discussing my lack of a desire to create a Christmas wish list and I told him I don’t need anything. He said he wanted to be sure I was disappointed on Christmas which makes sense because historically I’ve been let down when I haven’t gotten something. But I told him I am so blessed and feel no need for anything more.

Merry Christmas (aka Sickmas)

On Christmas Eve Benjamin started to develop a fever and a runny nose. We figured after talking with a few people that he must be teething. We don't really feel anything in his mouth though. Jared says it feels rougher than normal on the bottom but I can't make anything out. Benjamin's drooling as also gone through the roof. So again I'm pretty sure he is teething. Anyways he wasn't too fussy so we figured he must be feeling okay. Christmas Eve night that proved to be wrong. He woke up a ton! We were awake from about 1:30am to 3:30am. We watched some TV before finally going back to sleep.

Christmas morning came and we took it pretty casually. Jared took Benjamin downstairs to play while I got a little more sleep. Then we gave Benjamin a bath to try and make him happier. Which always works until you take him out of the bath. Eventually we all got dressed in our new PJ's I made and opened presents. We really enjoyed watching Benjamin play with the wrapping paper and his new toys.

We hung out had breakfast and introduced apples to Benjamin. He liked them. Benjamin proved to be a cranky boy until we got to Jared's parents house. There he had plenty of things to look at and play with.

We eventually headed home which was a not a moment too soon. I was starting to feel really sick and barely made it home in time. Benjamin wasn't feeling too great either. Both of us wanted our mommies. It was an incredibly long night. I remember asking Jared what time was it and he answered you don't want to know. We finally got some sleep after 4am and we've been napping all day long. And it looks like Jared is up next for being sick.

We really did have a wonderful Christmas. Benjamin is such a joy to have in our home.

P.S. This has taken me well over 12 hours to write. And Jared is now definetly sick.

Christmas Memories...Spritz and Curlers

I remember when I was pretty young going to my Aunt Linda’s for Christmas. Her house was pretty big so it was great for family parties as there was plenty of room for the food, presents, kids to play and adults to socialize. Aunt Linda and Aunt Carolyn would help us kids make spritz cookies in the back. It was always fun to have fresh baked cookies. I just remember lots of green sugar crystals. I vaguely recall green dough too.

One of the years at Aunt Linda’s someone got curler’s I believe and Ed decided to get his hair curled. It was pretty funny.

I really am enjoying writing out memories and forcing my brain to recall things.

Christmas Memories...Just Moved

When I got my first apartment it was right about Christmas time when I moved in. I of course didn’t have a tree yet so I had to buy one. Jared and I found me a cute little one to use. It was perfect to fit on top of my little coffee table I had recently acquired. It was pre-lit with colored lights. I covered it with the ornaments I had and bought some purple ones to add to it. Once it was in place I felt a lot better about having Christmas on my own.

But I wasn’t really on my own. Jared invited me to hang out with his family since I wasn’t going to my mom’s house or going to my Aunt’s. It was a nice Christmas but a little strange since it was my first one on my own.

Christmas Memories...Lights

My dad loved to take us to see the Christmas lights! I remember for several years my dad would take me out to see the lights of people’s houses decorated. There was one street in particular in Snohomish we had to always hit. There was a house that always went all out. It was crazy how much they had decorated. There were lights all over the house, the yard and the trees. They had a Santa and reindeer suspended in the sky. I couldn’t take it all in because there was so much to see. It’s a tradition that I wish still happened but we live pretty far apart now. But when I see Christmas lights at night while driving down the road I do think of my trips to look at lights with my dad.

Pivoting...not Crawling

Benjamin is close to crawling. He does a pivoting thing now. He will be sitting move to the crawling position and then sit down in a different spot. He is then able to get around to things. So yesterday I placed him facing the Christmas tree while I cleaned. I came back a few minutes later and found him in front the tree ready to play with it.

The Moral of the Story is...

Don't chase your husband because you will lose!

Last night I was sitting at the computer with Benjamin on the counter and Jared across from me. Jared was eating some chips that I kept stealing. I think I puffed out some air at Jared and then he reciprocated the action except a chunk of food flew with it. I sat their laughing, disgusted and in disbelief. Jared took his hand and patted my head like he was mashing the food into my hair. I looked at him and said you better run. I got up and we took off running around the island in the kitchen. Benjamin was watching us with great fascination trying to figure out what was going on.

Jared tripped on his pants and fell down and I thought great I will catch him. But then I couldn't stop laughing about him falling so I didn't catch him. We stopped on opposite sides of the counter and looked at each other. I decided to run the other direction into the living room and slid on the carpet with my 3 middle toes going under my foot. It hurt but I kept going. We finally stopped chasing one another and Jared picked out the chunk of potatoes chips from my hair. He said you don't think I would actually smash food into your hair?! I said no but it was fun chasing you. We laughed a lot while chasing each other and it was fun.

My toes however started to hurt more and more. Bruising eventually appeared and it became hard to walk. Before going to bed I noticed some discoloration and climbed into bed and tried to keep my foot away from Jared. This morning I woke up to this...

Looks great huh? You can even see where the nails on the other toes ripped from the skin. So like I said the moral of the story is don't chase your husband because you will lose!