Incoming

Well, here we sit, braced for the Great Blizzard that seems to be headed our way.  St. Louis is supposed to get about eight inches, and Chicago is expecting 18.  As we are in the middle of the two, I’m guessing we should be in the 13-inch range.

We shall see.  Evidently, there hasn’t been snowfall like this since 1999, so I guess we can truly say that the Blizzard of the Century is coming.  Maybe.

As it is the end of the month, I was pretty much out of food yesterday.  Jeff checked the weather and suggested that hitting the store before today would be a good idea, so we made a menu and grocery list, and Charlotte and I headed to Walmart about 7:30 last night.

While it wasn’t a bit crowded, the shelves were pretty bare.  I think that there were maybe a dozen cartons of eggs left, and the bread aisle looked as if locusts had hit it.  There was also a big shortage of canned green beans, which I found a bit strange.  Nevertheless, I was able to get everything on my list except for granola bars (there were none of my kind to be found), and we had everything put away at home by 9:00.

As today progressed, I had to chuckle when I checked Facebook.  Evidently, EVERYONE went to Walmart today.  One friend posted a picture of a completely empty egg refrigerator and a completely bare banana display.  Other status updates suggested that people are shopping as if the apocalypse is imminent.  It kind of reminded me of when snow was forecast in Tennessee or Mississippi…there was never any bread, milk, or eggs to be found!

This all certainly made me glad that we made it to the store yesterday!

All of the local schools have cancelled already, and we’ve been warned that the streets will probably not be cleared until it gets done snowing and blowing, perhaps by Wednesday.  But, hey, we have food, we have power, and we’re all here together.  It’s all good.

In other news, Charlotte scored her first points in a basketball game this past weekend!  Four girls on her team were sick on Saturday, so the five that did show up had to play the entire game.  The other team had eight players, so our poor girls were pretty worn out by the second half.  The final score wasn’t pretty, but Charlotte made two baskets, and the team played some really good ball.  It’s a real pleasure to watch her and the other girls improve as the season progresses.

I’ll keep you posted about our incoming blizzard…

Walk This Way

So Jeremy is slowly perfecting his walking technique.  Just today, he started venturing out for four or five steps at a time.  And, of course, he has his own special way of doing it.

We applauded enthusiastically for him when he took his first few tentative steps.  So, now, this is how he walks.  First, he stands up against something solid, like the cabinets or his sister.

Then, he totters off toward whomever is beckoning to him.

Next, he stops in his tracks, balances himself, smiles, and claps.  Because, of course, one cannot walk without applause.

Finally, he makes his way to the person with out held arms.

I have to admit, this is almost too cute.  We’re going to have to take a video before he outgrows this.  If we don’t applaud with him, Jeremy gets this perplexed look on his face.  Very funny.

One more baby story before I sign off…when Jeremy was sick, I guess we must’ve held him a lot more than usual, especially when he was falling asleep.  I don’t remember holding him more, but, when he started feeling better, his behavior indicated that we probably had!

Anyhow, Jeremy started doing the thing where he would fall asleep in our arms and then wake up the minute his back hit his mattress.  He would then proceed to scream until someone picked him up again.  Then, he would almost instantly fall asleep, only to repeat the same scene, over and over and over.

Well, by Monday, he was over the rotavirus (or whatever he had), and we (as in Jeremy and I) had to engage in some sleep re-training.  That particular morning was miserable, as he shrieked and threw a fit for over an hour before falling asleep…and this is how he finally fell asleep.

Yes, he is bent over double on himself and sleeping nearly facedown.  The minute he heard the camera snap, he sat bolt up in his crib, bobbled his head, and starting screeching again.  I know I probably sound like a heartless mama, but I could not help but laugh at his dramatics.  (In case you’re wondering, I did check on him every ten minutes.  I would lay him down, pat his tummy, cover him up, and leave the room.  He would look at me as if I had kicked his puppy.)

For his afternoon nap, he cried about 20 minutes before falling asleep like this again.  He woke up once, cried some more, and then fell asleep in a normal position on his tummy, with his bottom up in the air.  On Tuesday, he cried all of five minutes for each nap, and, then, today, he just let out a five-second squawk before hunkering down to sleep.  Mission accomplished!

I must admit, we do hold this child a lot more when he’s sleepy than we did the other two.  They always went into the crib sleepy but awake.  Jeremy usually falls asleep in our arms and then wakes up briefly when we put him down, only to fuss a minute and drop back to sleep.

There’s not much nicer than holding a sleepy baby.  It’s about the only time he’s still enough to snuggle!  These days are passing way too quickly, so I’m going to enjoy them while they’re here.

Hitting the Slopes

Yesterday, Jeff took the day off work, and we drove three hours to Dubuque, Iowa, for a day of fun on the slopes.

Jeff had suggested this sometime last week, but I was really hesitant.  I was fine with his taking the older two kids and going, but how would Jeremy do?  With his coming off of the rotavirus, the thought of hanging out with him all day in a ski lodge sounded like a nightmare.

Then, I put things in perspective.  Jeremy is a very happy, agreeable baby who has been dragged strange places his entire short life.  And, really, the worst that would happen is that he would get a bit grouchy as the day progressed because he probably wouldn’t get great naps.  Why not try to enjoy the moment instead of worrying about what might happen?

So, we loaded up and hit the road shortly after 7:00 a.m., in the hopes of arriving at Sundown Mountain when the slopes opened at 10:00 a.m.  Charlotte had her heart set on learning to snowboard this year, and the resort offered 90-minute group lessons every two hours.  We figured that, if we could get there when Sundown opened,  we would have plenty of time to get our equipment and get her to the first 10:30 lesson.

Well, we arrived shortly after 10:00 to find two school buses in the parking lot!  However, this turned out not to be a problem.  We bought our lift tickets, got our equipment paperwork, and signed Charlotte up for her lesson.  The lady at the front desk told us that we wouldn’t have any trouble getting our equipment and to the lesson on time, as it wasn’t necessary for us to wait in line behind the school group. 

The school group was so well organized, though, that all those kids had most of their equipment before we even got over to the rental area.  One guy got Charlotte her stuff right away, and Jeff took her out to the lesson area with time to spare.

Now, here’s the really cool part.  Those 90 kids who were with the school group were all out in the 10:30 group ski lesson.  Jeff found the snowboard instructor, who asked Charlotte, “Are you the only one in your class who wants to learn to snowboard?”  Jeff told her that Charlotte wasn’t with the school group and that she was home schooled, and the instructor, who was 20, replied, “You are?  I was home schooled, too!”  So, Charlotte got a private snowboard lesson for the cost of a group lesson with a delightful young lady who had also been home schooled!

Here are a couple of pictures of Charlotte learning the ropes.  Her instructor is in the bright pink pants.

Since I hadn’t skied in two years, Jeff agreed to take the first shift with Jeremy while Elijah and I warmed up on the bunny and green slopes for awhile.  Skiing is like riding a bike; it all comes back, thank goodness!

Elijah and I spent the duration of Charlotte’s lesson on the slopes, and we even moved over to the blue runs before we had to meet Charlotte.  Jeff got a couple pictures of us on and coming off of the lifts.

After Charlotte’s lesson was done, we all gathered in the lodge to eat our picnic lunch, and Jeff got ready to ski.  He and Elijah hit the slopes while Charlotte stayed in the beginner’s area.  Her instructor had told her that, once she could make it down the hill without falling, she was ready to move on to the real slopes.  Well, about an hour after they all went out, Charlotte came back to the lodge to get her lift ticket upgraded from the beginner area to all of the slopes.

At that point, I gave her the option of switching out her snowboard for skis, but she wouldn’t have any of that!  She ended up staying on her snowboard all day long, and we could see her improve as the day progressed.  It was very cool!

Charlotte sat with me and Jeremy until Jeff and Elijah came back in, and then I joined the kids on the slopes.  I was so proud of Charlotte; she took a lot of spills boarding down the green and blue runs, but she always got back up and kept on going.  By the end of the day, she managed to get all the way down only falling twice, and she even went on the terrain (trick) courses with Jeff by the end of the day.

Elijah got through the day with only minor spills and no meltdowns.  His skiing has come a long ways from when we started, and he really enjoyed zipping down the slopes.  He wasn’t old enough to take snowboard lessons this year, but he’s thinking about it for next year.  Charlotte has already told us that she wants one more lesson this season and that she really wants to learn to get better on the snowboard.

Better her than me!  Jeff and I managed to only take a spill a piece, although his was much more dramatic than mine, as it happened on a very steep black run.  As I like to say, no ski trip is complete until Jeff tries to kill himself!

Here are a few photos of Jeff and the kids.

Jeff and I split the day pretty evenly, and Jeremy was great until about 5:00.  By then, too-short naps and limited space started to bug him.  Every time I put him in his stroller, he screeched, and, every time I put him down, he made a beeline for the fireplace.  After he managed to knock over a very full travel mug of water onto my Kindle and onto the floor, I was ready to leave!

Jeff and the kids came in about 6:00, we turned in our equipment, and then we loaded up the car.  We drove back to the Quad Cities area and treated ourselves to a late supper at Chick-Fil-A (we don’t have one in Peoria) and arrived home about 10:00 p.m.

Whew!  It was certainly a long day, but I don’t think it could have gone much better!  We’re already plotting when we might be able to go back.

And that was our day!  Hope yours was good, too.

Another AT&T Story

Once again, I spent two hours of my life that I can never get back on the phone with AT&T, getting another screw-up caused by them fixed.  Unbelievable.

If you remember my story back a few months ago, I dealt with them that time about a third phone line that we put on our account.  Well, last month, we received a paper bill for that particular line.  We thought it was a mistake, as the amount of that bill was what we normally pay for our family plan anyway.  We haven’t gotten paper bills from AT&T since we moved back from France.

We simply paid our bill online, as usual, and ignored the paper bill.  Well, today, I got a “past due and you better pay your bill before we shut your phone off” notice.

Let the games begin.

So, I called, and, come to find out, the line had been set up incorrectly by AT&T.  Instead of adding a line for $9.99 a month to our existing account, a whole new account and phone line were set up.  Never mind the fact we got a CONFIRMATION EMAIL FROM AT&T SPELLING OUT EXACTLY HOW THE ACCOUNT WAS SET UP.  Evidently, after the debacle when I was asked to provide a fake address off of Google in order to activate the line, the customer service representative set it up any old way he or she wanted to, which was completely wrong.

(To be honest, I’m not sure how this could even happen.  Jeff set the whole thing up correctly online through our account, thus the confirmation email.)

Anyhow, the first person with whom I spoke today assured me that the mistake was AT&T’s, and she apologized several times before transferring me to “someone who can take care of this.”  As with last time, I was transferred to someone whose first language was not English and who actually had no flipping idea how to help me.

I explained to her four separate times (and experienced four separate cycles on a lengthy hold) what I needed her to fix.  The only thing that she could say was, “This is very complicated.  I am going to put you on hold while I check my resources.”  After the fifth time she tried to put me on hold, I told her, “I need you to put someone on the phone who can solve my problem.  I don’t believe that you can solve my problem, so I need you to connect me to someone who can.

She replied, “This is very complicated.  You must hold while I check my resources.” 

I told her no and to connect me with someone else.  She put me on hold, and I hung up.

I called back the original number and told this customer service rep that I did not want her to transfer me anywhere and that I needed her to look into the situation herself.  When I explained what was going on, she apologized and told me that the other person must have been new and that she would see what she could do.

To make a long story short, the second (or is it third?) rep did have to transfer me, but she actually walked to the department who had to fix it and found someone who knew what she was doing.  An hour and twenty minutes after I first called, the rep finally managed to get the third line added to to our first two. 

This necessitated a phone number change and my calling back yet again to dispute the $90 that AT&T said we owed for the incorrectly connected phone line.  After taking a break to put the baby down very late for his nap, I called back and spent another 30 minutes on the phone successfully disputing the bill.  It mostly took this long because how grindingly slowly AT&T’s computer system seems to run.

I’ll tell you…when our contract is up, I think that we will be getting away from AT&T as fast as we possibly can.  What I’m afraid of, though, is that none of the other companies are any better!

Oh, well.  That’s all for today.  I just had to vent.  What better place than here?!

Exciting Times

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, Jeremy has provided our family with quite the adventure.  As he experiences his milestones, Jeff and I are not only able to delight in them ourselves, but we are also able to see them through the amazed eyes of our older two kids.  Just Friday evening, Charlotte actually got to see Jeremy walk on his own for the very first time, even before we did!

Charlotte was playing with Jeremy in his room, when we suddenly heard her holler, “Mom!  Jeremy just walked all by himself!”

And, sure enough, just like that, Jeremy has begun walking.  Of course, he is not going fast or far yet…a few steps to somebody is the most he’s willing to try…but he is, indeed, walking.  He really likes it when we clap for him, so, for the time being, that is motivation enough to give it a whirl.

A friend helped me figure out today that Jeremy is most likely suffering from the rotavirus.  Although he’s been vaccinated against it, he has the classic symptoms:  two days of vomiting followed by four to eight days of “profuse” diarrhea.  Yep, that’s where we are.  Amazingly enough, we’ve managed to keep him hydrated, but we are certainly tired of washing his crib sheet and liner every morning.

Oh, well, this, too, shall pass.

While we’re waiting, here are some “naughty baby” pictures, just for fun.

In other news, Elijah finally was awarded his black top at tae kwon do on Saturday.  As I probably explained when Charlotte got hers, receiving a black top and earning the right to wear an all-black uniform are the result of working on a 100-day leadership/self-improvement project.  Elijah chose to learn how to play the guitar for his and actually took his guitar into his tae kwon do class and played “Amazing Grace” and “Louie, Louie” for Master and Mrs. Kurtz.  Elijah is now officially a full leader and will be able to lead the class in warm-ups and other things, as Master Kurtz sees fit.

Elijah admitted to being a little nervous, but his voice was strong and clear as he led the group in some exercises for the very first time.  We are very proud of his hard work to achieve this!

Charlotte had another basketball game this weekend, and she played her best game ever.  She’s been practicing dribbling and has worked on being more aggressive, and she actually put up four or five shots during this game, after having taken maybe one shot in all of the previous games combined.  She now needs to work a bit on accuracy!

Charlotte told her dad at one point that she was afraid of having the whistle blown on her, but Jeff told her she had to get over that if she had any hope of making a middle school team.  Well, she took the advice to heart and is slowly turning into a pretty decent basketball player!  She was actually tired and sweaty at the end of the game, also a first for her, so maybe she’s getting the idea.  Plus, her team won, which always makes watching more enjoyable!

Today was the first open-to-the-public service of Richwood Christian Church’s new multi-site in East Peoria, which was exciting.  Enough people came that additional chairs were set up, the local news station shot some footage, and we are off and running.  Jeff stayed home with the baby, and I was working back in children’s worship, so we both missed the actual worship service.  But it was very encouraging to see all of the hard work come to fruition, and we’re excited to see how the Lord is going to work on the east side of the river.  Off to the races!

And that’s been life lately here at Chez Wilkes.  I hope that all is well where you are!

Wrapping Up Christmas

I know.  It’s about time.

Before I start, I wanted to let you know that I am feeling much better.  It would appear I was hit with a 24-hour bug.  Jeremy is still not completely recovered, but I was told the last time he had this that babies can keep symptoms for up to two weeks.  Fabulous.  At least, I feel better.

On with Christmas…

Between our family Christmas and Hoyt family Christmas, we managed to squeeze in a few fun things.  On the 26th, after church, we did some shopping.  I got a few more winter-wear items at Dick’s Sporting Goods and Dunham Sports so that I can better run in this arctic tundra that we call home, and Jeff and the kids cleaned up at Old Navy, which had really good deals on long-sleeved t-shirts and other winter wear.  We found ski jackets for the kids for $12.99 a piece!  Jeans were also half-price, so Charlotte and I got some of those.  I also found a puffy vest, an item of clothing for which I have longed since we moved here.  Why I have not bought one before now, I couldn’t tell you.  But I have one now, and I didn’t pay much for it.

You got to love a bargain.  Or I do, anyway.

On Monday, I hit the mall by myself to do some additional shopping for me.  There went the rest of my Christmas money, but it was well worth it!

I think I may have mentioned this earlier, but we got a whole bunch of snow on Christmas Eve.  We had originally thought we might go skiing, but, when we looked more closely at that, the combination of paying peak prices and juggling a baby made that idea go away.  AS the weather was supposed to warm up on Wednesday and because we didn’t want to completely miss out on the snow, on Tuesday, we bundled up and headed for a nearby sledding hill!

I didn’t get any pictures of this, but we surely had a good time!  Jeremy wasn’t sure what to make of it all, but he took a good three or four runs on a sled with me or Jeff.  On the first run, Jeff hit all of the moguls, and Jeremy yelped every time.  When Jeremy took his runs with me, he got a face full of snow because I have a bad habit of using my feet to slow down the sled.  He didn’t like the cold wet much, but he never cried. 

When we quit taking him with us, Jeff and I took turns watching him at the bottom of the hill while the other sledded.  As Jeremy was missing his nap to participate, at one point, he sort of pitched over face first into the snow!  Poor baby.  We went home shortly thereafter.

On New Year’s Eve, we loaded the car and headed to Michigan for a quick overnight trip.  We spent some time with my mom and then settled in at Zech and Alyse’s to enjoy some family time.  My brother Thad arrived from New Jersey around 7:00, and then Alyse’s parents joined us, and we spent the evening playing cards and visiting.  Of course, we watched the ball drop in New York and then tumbled into bed.

One of the most fun things about this trip was visiting with my baby niece Elynne, who is four months younger than Jeremy.  My, how she’s grown since we last saw her!

Here is one picture of all four Hoyt grandkids.

On New Year’s Day, we had one last round of gifts.  I think that Charlotte and Elijah had the most fun “helping” the babies open their gifts.  Of course, the babies mostly wanted to eat paper.

 

Here is Alyse with Elynne, who was ready to have her mom holding her by this time!

Here is my brother Thad with the babies.  This was the first time that had met Elynne or Jeremy.

To wrap up the festivities, we took some family pictures, something that doesn’t get to happen very often.

We ate a fabulous Christmas dinner and then hit the road for home.  Whew!

And that wraps up our Christmas break!  Jeff headed back to work on Monday, the kids and I started school back up, and we marched on in to 2011.

Where does the time go?!

Color Us Miserable

Well, color me and Jeremy miserable, anyway.  He started vomiting on Monday morning after breakfast, so we immediately put him on the liquid Pedialyte diet.  He seemed better on Tuesday, and, since he hadn’t vomited for 24 hours, I eased him back into food with cereal.  Since he tolerated that, I gave him some carrots for supper.

By Tuesday night, I was feeling extremely nauseated, and, suffice it to say, I followed Jeremy’s path.  As soon as Jeff got home from basketball practice, I put myself to bed.

This morning, Jeremy woke up vomiting again, and now he’s switched to diarrhea.  I can’t really tell if I’m better because I’m afraid to eat.  Does my stomach hurt because I’m sick or because I’m hungry?

I guess supper tonight will tell.  I was supposed to meet my book club at a nice Italian restaurant, but I cancelled.  No use paying for a nice meal that may or may not stay down.

I’ll tell you…I don’t get sick often, but, when I do, it seems particularly bad.  And it’s not much fun chasing a sick and fussy nine-month old around when I’m not feeling very good myself.  Jeremy is about to starve, so he screams as if I’m cheating him and when he gets to the bottom of his Pedialyte bottle.  Poor little guy!

In other news, Charlotte visited Peoria Christian today.  I think the jury is still out on it.  She was very tired when I picked her up, so I was afraid she hadn’t had a very good time.  However, by the time we got home, she was babbling on about it and told me that she had really enjoyed herself.  Unfortunately, there were tests in several of the classes, so she wasn’t able to get a very good feel for what they were studying and where she might be in relation to it.  I guess much will depend on if she is able to make a sports team for the fall.  We shall see.

Elijah had a lonely day at home, though!  He asked me around 10:30 what time Charlotte was coming home.  He had finished up his scant amount of work for the day and was ready to his playmate back. 

I used the (relatively) slow day to read a book that Charlotte has to do a report on for her co-op history class, The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare.  It’s a good one.  Speare also wrote The Witch of Blackbird Pond and The Sign of the Beaver, so, when Charlotte saw that on the list, she snatched it up.  I downloaded it on my Kindle, so Charlotte felt pretty special to be reading a book that way!

Well, enough of this “poor, poor, pitiful me” post.  Hopefully, next time will be a little more upbeat!

The Commission

Well, today was a really neat Sunday.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but our church is in the process of opening a second location across the river from Peoria in East Peoria.  This second location is not so much a traditional church plant as it is a “multi-site.”  As the current catch phrase goes, “One Church, Two Locations.”

In any case, we spent the month of December having a series of launch services on Sunday evenings at East Peoria Junior High School, which will be the East Campus’s location for the next few years.  Last Sunday, we had a practice, run-through service, not open to public and mostly designed to see what needed to be done before a public launch.  One hundred fifty-three people participated.  Next Sunday, we will actually have our first service open to the public.

However, this Sunday, there was a basketball tournament at the school, and the pastoral staff saw this as a great opportunity for the launch team to be commissioned by the congregation from the original campus location.  So, this morning, we all worshiped together one last time before our senior pastor, Jim Powell, had all of us going to the new location stand up to be prayed over and to have hands laid on us, to commission us for this new task.

It was rather bittersweet.  As Jim pointed out, this was the last time that we would all be together at one location.  Jeff and I have really grown to love Richwoods and the people that we’ve met there, and, while many of our closest friends also live on the east side of the river and will be launching the new campus, we have many friends that will remain at the original location.  And the fact is, we won’t be seeing those people much anymore, without lots of extra effort.

Nonetheless, this was a neat time and a great sendoff.

After the second service today, there was also a special luncheon for everyone who had been baptized in 2010 and their families.  Wonderfully put together by Richwood’s baptism coordinator, this luncheon was a chance to share a meal, listen to a few words of encouragement from Jim, and then listen to people’s testimonies about how their lives have been impacted by their baptisms.  As Elijah was baptized this past August, we had the privilege of being there.

As there were many teens and younger that were baptized this past year, not a terrible lot of people offered testimonies, but those who did said some pretty neat things.  One lady wept as she shared that she had not been back to church since her baptism, as she is depressed and really struggling.  Nonetheless, she knows that Jesus is her Lord and Savior, and she is trying to hold on to that.  Others shared that their baptisms have helped them live for Christ in a way that they had never done before and to share Him with others.

As the Chicago Bears were in a noon playoff game, the luncheon was short but very, very sweet!  (The Bears’ win this afternoon was just an added bonus!  There were also lots of late service folks at the early service today, for the very same reason.)

All in all, this was a very good Sunday, a nice respite before the real work continues next week.  I’ll tell you…starting up a new church is a lot of work, most of which has been done by people other than us.  We are helping in the children’s ministry for the time being, which is definitely not my first preference.  But there is a real need, so, for the time being, I am learning to dance with the kid worship songs.  (Yes, that should be a very funny image.)

In other news, Jeremy had his nine month checkup this past week.  He is growing well, still in the 95th percentile for height and the 75th for weight.  Things like the audible breathing and the constant draining nose, which are worries for us, are more inconveniences, according to the doctor, so I guess we’ll try to quit worrying.  Our doctor figures, and probably rightfully so, that if Jeremy is eating well and continuing to grow, we don’t really have any problems!

Charlotte will be visiting Peoria Christian School this upcoming Wednesday for a “Shadow Day,” which will hopefully give us an idea if it might be a good fit for next year.  I’m still ambivalent about it, but we’ll see how it goes.

And I suppose I’ll finish up Christmas and New Year’s in my next post.  About time, huh?!

Have a good one!

Christmas at Home, Part 2

So, after the “best Christmas ever” time of opening gifts, we moved on to a tradition brought to the marriage from the Hoyt canon:  a breakfast of sausage egg soufflé and fresh fruit.  We had originally had cinnamon biscuits on the menu, too, but I gave my can of biscuits to my friend Saundi on Christmas Eve.  Her family was headed out of town the next day, and she had forgotten to pick up a can for Christmas-morning monkey bread.  As our refrigerator was stuffed to the gills with food for Christmas dinner, we decided we could forgo the breakfast biscuits!

Jeff brewed himself some coffee with his new machine, Elijah and I picked out our hot chocolate, and we sat down to a terrific breakfast, if I do say so myself.

After breakfast was a mad time of actually unpackaging all the cool stuff that the kids got.  Then, around 10:00, I got a phone call from my dad.  He was all alone on Christmas Day and wondered if we would mind him driving over to spend the rest of the day with us. 

Of course not!

It takes about four hours to drive from his place to ours, and, with the copious snow that had fallen the previous day, it might take a bit longer.  In any case, he would be arriving right about the time I would have Christmas dinner ready!

In the course of this conversation, I also discovered that my brother Thad was planning to drive to Michigan on New Year’s weekend to retrieve some of his stuff that was being stored there.  My other brother Zech and his family were planning to visit us that day after Christmas for a few days, but that plan suddenly seemed a bit nonsensical if we wanted to see Thad.  So, I ended up calling Zech, and we decided that they would not come to Illinois, but rather we would go to Michigan on New Year’s Eve to celebrate Hoyt family Christmas there.

There’s nothing like a last-minute change in plans.

Anyhow, my dad got here about 3:00, and dinner was served.  It featured a spiral-cut, honey ham (seven pounds worth, to be precise, as we were expecting company to help us eat the leftovers!), broccoli casserole, loaded baked potato casserole, seven-layer salad, and yeast rolls.  Then, for dessert, we had about five truckloads of Christmas sweets.  Most excellent, again, if I do say so myself!

Afterwards, Dad agreed to watch Jeremy for us while we went to see Tangled.  As I mentioned earlier, I think that this is one of the best movies that Disney had made in years, and we were glad to finally get to see it, especially after our earlier failed attempt.

When we got back home, we opened gifts with my dad.  As I didn’t know he was coming when we did our first round of gifts, the kids had already opened their stuff from him.  Here he is, opening his gifts from us.

Then, we spent the evening playing one of the games that Dad had given the kids for Christmas.  As we had church the next day and Dad had a long drive home, we turned in.

All in all, this was a fine Christmas!

Christmas at Home

Before I get back to Christmas, I just want to say one thing.  It’s a pretty sad state of weather affairs when I have to wait until it’s 21 degrees to go running, because that’s the warmest it’s going to get for the day.  The end.

Christmas:

The kids didn’t beat me awake this year on Christmas morning, as I can rarely sleep past 7:00 a.m. in my old age.  However, it wasn’t much past 7:30 when Charlotte and Elijah came pounding up the stairs.  Within 45 minutes, Jeremy and Jeff were both awake, and every last present was opened. 

It was quite the whirlwind.

The kids spotted their unwrapped Santa gifts on the hearth and were suitably amazed.  Charlotte asked for the Lego City Police Station, Elijah wanted four Bionicles, and Santa delivered.  Poor Jeremy didn’t get a stocking or a Santa gift this year.  You can blame that on two older siblings.  After all, if what the baby really wants are gift wrap, bows, and boxes, why bother with a cool stocking and a Santa gift?!

One favorite stocking item was a personal book light.  Our kids love to read in the car whether it’s dark or not, so these save us from having flashlights bouncing around in the back, inciting panic in whoever is driving, since it always looks as if a car is bearing down on us.  Elijah actually asked for one of these and was thrilled when he unwrapped it!

The kids also got their final piece of tae kwon do gear and gigantic monogrammed bags for all of their equipment.  Here they are showing the former off.

Jeremy was very sleepy, so it took him awhile to get into the whole gift-opening thing.

Nerf guns were the gift of choice around our house this year, from both our girl and our boy.  If you remember, this would be Elijah’s second Nerf gun this Christmas.

Charlotte thought that Humphrey and our guinea pig guest Oreo would like to join us for Christmas.  Jeremy also thought that was a fabulous idea!  He liked the guinea pig better than his Christmas gifts, although he warmed up to his stuff eventually.

Here I am with my gifts from the kids:  a pair of running sunglasses (although I wear them everywhere else, too), a chef’s apron from their tae kwon do academy, and a big, Sam’s-sized box of chocolate-covered pretzels.

But where I really cleaned up this Christmas was my gift from Jeff:  a Kindle!  I was initially reluctant when he asked me about it because I do truly love actual books.  However, I quickly discovered that I can now carry around 30 books in a piece of equipment the size of a skinny notebook, and that rocks.  Amazon also has lots of free books, with new ones every day, and I can get them in about 30 seconds.  So, now, I’m sold out on the Kindle.  I think I’ve paid full price for two books, $2.99 or less for several more, and nothing for the balance.

As a side note to this…over the past year, I’ve done a massive book purge.  Stuff that I know I’ll never read again?  I donated it to the library.  Stuff that I know I SHOULD never read again and that I would be horrified for my daughter to pick up and read?  I loaded it into a large box and took it to the library.  The funny thing about that particular box is that it wasn’t loaded well in the car, and about a dozen of those books landed in a mud puddle outside the library.  I’m guessing those are the ones that no one else should be reading either!

God moves in a mysterious way.  And I actually have Jim Powell, our pastor at Richwoods Christian Church, to thank for that particular book purge.  He preached a sermon some months back in which he shared his personal experience with purging once he chose to follow God.  Jim kept repeating, “I just can’t do this anymore” or something like that.  He was talking about music, acquaintances, and how he chose to spend his time.  But God convicted me that it also applied to what I chose to put in my mind.

Therefore, some dearly loved and long-time residents of my bookshelf found themselves ignominiously dumped.  It took awhile for it to feel good, but I honestly don’t miss any of them.

Well, I’m off in the grass, so I guess I’ll get back to Christmas!

Jeff got a Keurig coffee maker from me this year.  He picked it out himself, but that’s OK!  It makes single cups of coffee, and it’s the type that uses little individual plastic containers of ground beans, so you can have a different flavor with every cup.  It also brews tea and hot chocolate.  Very cool!

Gift opening ended with the kids declaring this year “the best Christmas ever!”  Score!

So, this was the first 45 minutes of Christmas Day, and it’s already a rather lengthy post!  I’ll tell you about the rest of it next time.

Have a good one.