Jankers

We stayed in PA for Christmas this year, so it seemed less hectic than usual. We went to the children’s service at our church on Christmas Eve. It was at 4 in the afternoon and nothing like the adult candlelight services that I’m used to! There were a lot of children singing and performing on various instruments. And costumes – stars, angels, wise men, etc. There were restless children, including Nora. It will be a long time before I go to another candlelight Christmas Eve service. Oh, how life changes with children!

After church, we came home and had pizza for dinner with my parents. It was great! I really love pizza, even if it was reheated because the pizza place closed early! We put Nora to bed and then got to work. We brought the tree up from the basement and found that a strand of lights wasn’t working. So we looked at each bulb and Mike found the culprit. Not a burnt out bulb, but a loose wire. Mike fixed it and the tree was lit, phew! I decorated the tree. Mike spent his time putting together Nora’s Christmas gift – a little table and chairs from Ikea. I told Mike that it was supposed to take about 10 minutes. Well, about an hour later, I was finishing with the tree just as he was finishing the table. We put the gifts under the tree and went off to bed.

We woke up on Christmas morning at home. I came downstairs first to light the tree and get the video camera ready. Then Mike walked Nora down the stairs. She noticed the tree pretty quickly. She didn’t really notice the gifts. We started with our stockings. Nora had three little train cars in her stocking and that was all she needed! She wasn’t interested in opening anything else. Eventually we got through all the gifts. My favorite gift was the new book by Wally Lamb, which I haven’t started yet. And some Sex and the City DVDs. Mike was glad to get some new underwear and socks! And peanuts in his stocking! He’s so easy to please sometimes. I think Nora’s favorite was her train set, but it’s hard to say. She really likes the little car that her grandma got for her, too.

We went to my sister Jody’s house for dinner. The food was delicious – turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes. And pies for dessert. My brother-in-law Bill made a cherry pie that was the best I’ve ever had! We opened some more gifts. Toys, books, clothes. And a new wok for me! Nora spent time playing with her cousing Olivia (or Eeya, Nora’s name for her). They struggled a little over Olivia’s new stroller. Olivia wanted the baby doll in it and Nora kept putting Elmo in it. Nora’s still working on sharing. But overall they had a blast.

Nora’s big milestones in the past few weeks are more and more words, putting a few words together, and a new molar. And the biggest milestone of all, climbing out of the crib! She was supposed to be taking a nap, but was doing her usual talking before she fell asleep. Then she got louder and louder, calling out, “Mommy, Mommy!” So I proceeded to ignore her for a while thinking that she’d quiet down (bad mommy!). And Mike kept saying he’d get her and I told him to wait. Well, I finally went up and she was perched on the corner of her crib, hanging onto the windowsill! So Mike removed the front of the crib and Nora is now sleeping in her daybed. This brings with it a new set of challenges. We had the toughest time getting her to nap today, because she kept getting out of her bed. Next time, I’ll post a picture of her in her “big girl bed.”

This entry was posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2009 at 11:06 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.