12/20/06

Yay for Christmas.

Well, I'm officially there. You know, the place where nothing can bother you because it's Christmas!! It's the best time of year. It's the time when people have warm hearts, merry spirits and children behave as soon as you mention Santa.

I am really excited about Christmas this year. More so than I can remember in all of my teen and adult years. Christmas is absolutely, positively about the kids. It truly is. I don't think I grasped that concept as clearly as I do know until I had children.

Kaitlyn's first Christmas she was a month old. Her Christmas Eve and Christmas morning mainly consisted of sleeping through EVERYTHING, all the food, all the hot chocolate, all the presents. She actually slept on my lap while I tediously opened all of her presents. She had so many that year. I mean, mounds of presents. Even Dusty and I bought her way too much. The funny part is that I wrapped all of her presents. Seriously, what was I thinking?? How in the world did I think a 6 week old baby was going to open presents? It took me a week to get them all unwrapped, unpackaged and put away.

Last year I was really excited about Christmas. The day before Christmas Eve, Kaitlyn started to get sick. We spent about 6 hours in the ER that night with a little girl who couldn't stop vomiting, had awful diarrhea and was incredibly lethargic. The ER was crowded and didn't have a single bed, chair or changing table to admit her into. So, we were sent home with the instructions to give her ¼ ounce of fluids every 10 minutes. She stayed sick on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning I thought for sure she would be better. We left her "Santa" gift out in front of the tree only wrapped with a bow. It was the Radio Flyer Ride on that made real astronaut noises. Oh she loved it. She was enamored with every aspect of it. She didn't really open many presents, but she seemed to be feeling better. I put a pretty dress on her and we decided to head to Denny's for some yummy breakfast. We waited an hour and a half for food to come. As food made it's way to our table, it happened. Kaitlyn threw up all over me, all over her, all over the table, all over the chairs, all over the floor, everywhere. It was disgusting, warm, and miserable. So, no food for us. We headed home, I changed and we went to my parent's. Kaitlyn enjoyed the festivities at first, but quickly became lethargic again. We ended up home far earlier than we ever had before. The day after Christmas she was in the hospital at Kaiser with the Rotavirus. She had about 12 hours of IV fluids, glucose and sodium. She was severely dehydrated but because she cried tears, no one listened to how wrong I said she was.

This year, she is in good health, knock on wood. This year she LOVES Santa. This year gets excited about Christmas lights, this year she points out reindeer. This year, she looks at the presents flowing from under the tree like they are mounds of pure pink frosting and chocolate sprinkles. This year, we have been blessed with the magic of Christmas.

I have reached the delirious point. Staying up past midnight most night wrapping presents, making presents, preparing presents for shipping, addressing cards and figuring out the best camera angles for Christmas morning. I can easily say that NOTHING can take this joy from me. I am so excited. I love that we have Kaitlyn and of course my gorgeous niece Camaryn this year at an age where Christmas means something. I love kids at Christmas; it makes the long hours, hard work and expense more than worth it. I know that I am going to have a hard time going to sleep Christmas eve knowing that Santa will have visited through the night and Kaitlyn can wake up to a HUGE surprise. I am so happy that Christmas is in a few days.

I have been working on spreading Christmas cheer. I want everyone to feel the excitement that we have been given. I've sent out quite a few cards, mailed out ornaments this morning, mailed presents this morning, wrapped presents, wished everyone I see a Merry Christmas and eaten more turkey, potatoes and cookies than I could ever imagine. As a matter of fact, I think that I need a cup of hot chocolate in this weather…

I hope everyone has a blessed, happy, miraculous, amazing, magical, fantastic, merry Christmas and the best of New Years. Be safe, be joyous and spread that good cheer.