Christmas Eve

"Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus...right down Santa Claus Lane..." Yay! He's coming! He's coming! Last night Jason got to play Santa's Little Helper and got to put together one of Easton's Santa gifts...his tricycle. He's going to be so excited and Jason was relishing getting to be on this side of the whole "Santa thing". It really is pretty cool. Part of doing this as parents now ourselves involves trying to combine tradtions from our own 2 families. Does Santa wrap or not? Stockings before gifts or after? We agree at least that Santa never wrapped the gifts...with Jason as an only child Santa didn't need to, I guess? And even though I had a sister for the Santa years we still always somehow knew who's was whose. He brought what we wanted, after all... The hard part right now is the stocking thing and when to attack those. When I was a young'un we had to wait for our parents to say it was okay before we could come downstairs. There was no running to the tree first thing when we woke up like you see on commercials and stuff. I didn't mind that though. And now as a parent I really want to be there for those first moments. The other thing was in my family we did the stockings first and our house layout was such that those (the stockings) were hung by the chimney with care and the chimney and Christmas tree were not even in the same room. We had a family room where the fireplace was and then a separate "formal" living room where you could put the tree in the front window for all to see. When Jason and I were looking at houses he always called the formal living room a "Christmas room" since that is the only time most people use it. I think he's right. Last year we did the stockings first but Easton was young enough not to get it so much. This year I think we're still undecided...we gotta talk about that some more.

Speaking of houses and "Christmas rooms" (which we do not have) I totally forgot that yesterday (the 23rd) marked 2 years that we've been in this house. We moved in on 12/23 and then the next day 12/24 I showed up for work all puffy and swollen and my nurse friends sent me home on bedrest with my first 24 hour urine jug and orders to call the doctor. Well, that's not happening this year, Thank God! This morning I don't think my ankles were swollen at all. Still, I collected my jug o' wee and we dropped it off this morning. As we were driving in Jason remarked on the holiday tradtion driving up with a jug of "cider" and dropping it off before heading to my moms. Ha! I stole his joke so as I walked up to the poor girls in the lab I said, "Hi! I brought you guys some cider" and heaved my jug up onto the counter. They laughed and said, "That was a mean trick". Yes, but it was funny.

We then drove all the way down to my mom's for our festive brunch. The same exact crew from Thanksgiving was all there with the addition of one of Lauren's friends from school. I think they're all properly afraid of me now :) and no one said anything about my size. I got the safe, "How are you feeling?" and "How much longer?" questions. As for how much longer...well, it won't be more than 2 months now!!! Yesterday (the 23rd) marked 2 months till my ideal C-section date if I make it that far. I wish we had been able to schedule my C-section but with all the craziness at that office I guess we won't be able to schedule it until I go back on the 3rd. I'm afraid everyone else is already scheduled on that day and I won't get it. :( I'd be bummed. I want the 7:30 slot on 2/23, they should give me special treatment or at least priority since I devoted so many years working there, shouldn't they?

Anyway, breakfast was yummy. Easton ate 3 M&M's and maybe 1 1/2 apple slices. He had a couple of nibbles of crispy bacon because he thought they were chips and he tried a small bite of pastry because I told him it was "like a doughnut". He was well behaved though and liked eating at the "kids table" with Jason and I and Lauren and her pal. We're a fun bunch. After breakfast he played with some of the toys Gramoo keeps in a special cupboard for him. Then they broke out the Playdoh:


She's a nice Guhbah to break out the messy Playdoh with him. Before long we had to make him stop playing so we could get him home for a nap. He wasn't even the slightest bit cranky but I still make him get those naps in. I wouldn't let him fall asleep in the car and I was turned around talking to him for a bit and he was totally cheesin' it up. I had to take pictures:

Sometimes he does that smile with his eyes closed and shakes his head back and forth in a really convincing Stevie Wonder kind of way. He also read some books and magazines while we drove. I had to rock him twice but he is now sound asleep. I'm gonna wake him up before too long though. If he doesn't wake on his own first.

It's a good thing he's napping right now because I've got the bread machine going. 'Member how scared he's been of that recently? For our own special family dinner tonight we're having ham, my "famous" sauteed cinnamon apples, sweet potatoes for me at least, and Hawaiian Sweet Bread from the machine. Mmmmmm. Easton (and maybe J and I too) gets to open 1 present tonight. It's all very exciting. I'll try to pop in to keep you posted tomorrow. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night (or afternoon)!

"Jump in bed, cover up your head, 'cause Santa Claus comes tonight!!!"