winter break blogging, chapter three

... in which the author recognizes Christmas Eve as the inevitable time of sickness in her household, and other general preparations are made for the big day of consumeristic excess...

When hubby declared he was heading off for Costco and Wegman's this morning, I figured I wouldn't see him again for at least eight hours. The fact that he was taking 2/3 of the children with him brought a relative peace to the house, at least after the other 1/3 stopped crying about the fact that he was staying home. But, that's what happens after you run a 104 degree fever the evening before.

Yes, Merry freaking Christmas, someone is sick in our family. Well, truth be told, this morning brought a relatively better Pudge, though as a terribly lax mother, I never actually took his temperature again today. By touch, I pegged him at a low-grade 99. After all these years, I've become pretty good at getting within a half-degree on my lips to the forehead test, which is kind of a neat but useless talent. But the thing with Pudge that I've learned is, that whenever he gets even the slightest sickness, he skyrockets a fever, and then a day or two later, he's fine again. When he had his first high fever that was bordering on 105, I flipped out, called the nurse line, and was ready to dial 911 and board an ambulance to care for my 1 year old baby. After a few of these, I've learned to just watch him for signs that the fever is actually something serious, and last night it was the usual- he was simply not as hungry, he drank fine and had a generally good spirit, if a little less active. This morning, he was back to his normal self, only to sink a bit back down around 5 pm again, as I predicted. I'm hoping that Christmas morning will see him back in the full splendor that is Pudge.

Day three of winter break saw some laundry folding, some present wrapping for hubby while he was off braving the stores, some Uno game playing, some cookie making and decorating, some NORAD Santa tracking, and a wee bit of The Night Before Christmas with Robert Ingpen's incredible illustrations. (I personally love the vaguely-lush-like red nose on Santa on the cover!)  Once we can be assured that the kids are close to asleep, then the Grand Wrapping Extravaganza will begin. Between the gifts that we squirreled away over the year and the gifts that we purchased the other night while a local youth sat on the babies, and with the bonus gifts purchased with money sent from the grandparents, the children will have a Christmas that shows no signs of that recession everyone's been talking about. I'm quite happy that the stuff that was acquired features some creative options alongside the screen-centered DS and V-Reader games that will be favorites. The most exciting realization? Nothing requires batteries. No beeping, booping or flashing toys. Yippee!

Now let's look at some cuties, shall we?

And, in a series of unfortunate events (i.e. me working a billion hours a week and a general shifting of priorities as of late), 2011 marked the first year in many that we did not get a holiday card sent out. We could look at it as our green contribution to the world this year, and now no one needs to feel sad to throw a picture of these adorable creatures into the trash in a week's time. If you're here reading these words, then please know that I gratefully wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Off to be less-environmentally-friendly with the wrapping paper,