To all a good night

Finally. Everything is done. Cookies baked and frosted. Presents wrapped. Dog bathed. Soup simmered.

It’s a Wonderful Life is on television (real time– not TiVo) and Jack is, assumedly, asleep in his bed with sugar plum visions. My living room has been swallowed up by a train table for Jack to find tomorrow morning. Robby, I suspect, is as excited as Jack will be. In an hour we’ll head out to church for a midnight service with incense and the Luke Account and familiar hymns. We’ll stop off at the cemetary to light a candle on my Dad and say a quick prayer and return later, in the wee smas of the morning, to see it glow bright against the dark stones. My in-laws will have a small gathering after church where we’ll drink out of glasses with rings of jingle bells and snack on wicked things.

Tomorrow we’ll snuggle with Jacky in bed and read the Christmas story and play with his little wooden creche figures. Later we’ll have a Christmas with Robby’s folks and some old friends and another at my Momma’s where we’ll eat a rich meal and stay late into the night– changing into our jammies before the drive home.

The next 24 hours are full of family– in the very best way. I’m lucky in that I have a warm bed and full stomach and good health. I’m extraordinarily blessed that I am surrounded by family. I’m insanely fortunate to have a little boy to celebrate Christmas with– not to mention the other two boys in this house.

I hope your Christmas is merry and bright and whatever you most want it to be. That beyond the treats and ribbons and lights and song you have someone or someones that you love fiercely.

Happy Christmas.

Away in a Living Room

And they found the babe wrapped in unfolded clothes, lying in a laundry basket.

Jack’s playing “Baby Jesus!” this morning. He’s announced that I am Mary and Robby is Joseph. So far the Little Black Dog has escaped his attention and hasn’t been called to play a sheep or camel. I’ll keep you posted if that changes.

And Mary (me) pondered these things in her heart.

Sleep– or Nap– in Heavenly Peace

Jack didn’t nap this afternoon– which– at first thought– seemed like a disaster in the making. I’d made arrangements with my father-in-law to come sit with sleeping Jack for an hour while I ran to work and the Christmas Cookie Exchange there (or Exchange of All Things Delicious as I called it). When Grandpa arrived Jack was wide awake… Both of them ready to play.

When I returned (with a sack full of Christmas Baking Goodness) they were happily playing while watching Grandpa’s Stories. (Which I mock only because he watches a different set then I do.)

Jack was fussy after Grandpa left (with a mini sack of treats) and I dreaded the long 2.75 hours until Daddy was due home… Napless afternoons do not go gently into that good night.

I was tired. Jack was tired (even if he’d never admit it). The pup was tired. And so, it was a Christmas miracle when we all ended up on the couch together without fuss or bother or ado and fell asleep. We didn’t mean to– but I’m glad we did. There are few things equal to a sweet sleeping son on your chest and Little Black Pup on your head.

But I’m not sure what they’d be.

My Christmas List

I want another week.

I want to sit and enjoy my decked halls and gay apparel.

I took a bath tonight to protest all the Things I Still Need to Do. (I can’t hang our stockings with care because we don’t have any.) I left the cookie dough in the fridge (Yes, Virginia-Trisha, you CAN stop by for some) and open house invitations undone so that I could soak, up to my chin, in aqua colored LUSH bathbomby water. It had sparkles in it. I’m glittery now– which is a nice bonus.

I’d still like another week though.

Elmo and Jesus now through Ephiphany

Happy Christmas. Around here it’s all about Elmo and the Baby Jesus. Momma found an animated Elmo thing that sings carols and wishes us a Merry Christmas at the push of a button. Jack loves it. We’re treated to the occasional duet performance of Jack & Elmo complete with Jack’s sweet dance moves.

The Baby Jesus comes in many forms. First there’s Jack’s little french creche scene… Momma brings back a piece or two each year. We started him off with a shepherd, herding dog, and sheep family. Momma brought him an angel and the tiny Holy Family– complete with a wee little manager from which the little Baby Jesus can be lifted out and stowed away until Christmas Day. This year came a donkey and a goat. She also managed to find, with the help of her french husband, a wee little pregnant Mary– a brilliant addition. Now the stashed Baby Jesus has his postnatal Mama with him… while the expectant Mary is clumped with the angel, Joseph, and the donkey. Jack and I like to look at it. For him it’s as simple as it being “Mommy and Daddy and Baby Jesus!” which, at 3 or 37 is rather delightful.

Baby Jesus gets quite a bit of airplay on the TiVo, too. A few years ago, on the Dead Nun Channel (it might be EWTN on your cable network?) there was a broadcast of “The First Christmas”– a really well done claymation rendering. Christopher Plummer narrates almost verbatim from the Luke account. Jack and I love it. Jack calls it the “Camel Story” because he’s most enchanted with the three kings and their mode of transportation. Robby and I have all we can do to keep a straight face when Jack parrots back the narration. “I am Balthazar– I bring myrrh for the Prince of Peace” is a hoot.

We bought Jack a little wooden nativity scene this year that he can play with without worry of shattering ceramics or crumbling clay. Balthazar has some kind of equilibrium disorder (or maybe it’s the long ride on a swaying camel?) because he tips over unless you prop him up between the other wise men. (He naps a lot.) And the shepherd has only one sheep to tend. Either he’s a lousy shepherd or he’s got an incredibly easy job. It’s a simple set with little round faced figures… but it’s nice to see Jack play with them as easily as he does his Thomas trains or blocks.

My nieces had a nativity scene they could play with, too, when they were small. I loved how when their’s was set up it ended up including a few Polly Pockets and Barbies that had shown up for the birth.

One of the Lost Treasures of My Childhood was a tiny, plastic nativity scene that, when impaled on a Christmas bulb, sparkled and shone. I loved it. My mother did, too– but somehow it’s been lost over the years. Every year we wonder what happened to it.

Well. Enjoy whatever it is that makes you happy this Christmas. Be it a glass menorah like my sister, or a tiny plastic and glittering Jesus, or Christmas carol singing Elmo.

Waiting for the other sock to fall

Jack’s full of it today.

He’s impish and silly and more mirthful than usual– which is saying a lot. And he’s being exceptionally sweet. I’ve lost count today of the times he’s said, angelically, “I luf you Mommy!”

In an hour he’ll probably be pulling the dog by the tail across the room or tipping over the Christmas tree… so I’ll just enjoy this day as it is now.

Double, double, Boil and Bubble…

I made a kick ass beef stew the other night. I pulled the recipe out of cyberspace because the ingredients intrigued me– a cup of Guiness and a cup of red wine. (I figured right there alone Robby and I would be happy. He could have the Guiness while I drank the wine. “Dinner’s ready!”)

Beef, potatoes, carrots, onions… check. Broth, check. Seasonings, check.

Like I said, it was a REALLY good stew.

Invite yourself over and I’ll make you some.

Grocery Cat Call

Jack’s a funny kid.

Today we ran to the market to pick up the three things I managed to forget in my Big Grocery Shopping Trip last night. (Apparently it’s easier to make beef stew when one has beef broth… Huh. Go figure.) As we pulled into the parking lot Jack read the letters out loud from the sign. “P-O-L-L-Y-whistle-S!”

The whistle in question was the apostrophe.

Do I have to correct him?