Saturday, December 27, 2008

Jingle Bells, White Knuckles, Gold Medals and Puke

There are a couple of themes that came out of Christmas this year:

Jingle Bells: Christmas was truly merry and bright. We packed a ton into our trip home and delighted in how much Sam enjoyed seeing his cousins, grandparents and friends (aka our friends' kids). We snuck in an adults-only dinner with my college friends and loved meeting Jen's fiance for the first time. Sam was buried in gifts at the Peckhams on Christmas Eve, but was really only interested in doing laps around the kitchen, living room and dining room. We brought Sam to mass on Christmas morning and Steve and I were absolutely astounded by Sam's behavior. We spent most of last year's mass in the church basement and were expecting to do the same this year. Totally not the case as Sam was perfectly happy to scope out the people around us and listen to the music. Definitely a highlight in my book.

Our afternoon was filled with food, more gifts and lots of laughter. We finally wrapped up the celebrating at about 10:30 and promptly fell into bed. Sam gave us a very nice gift and slept until 7:40 the next day. Again, another highlight.

White Knuckles: Our ride home to Chicago was pure hell as a dense fog descended on most of Wisconsin. We chose a semi that was going about 55 and stuck behind it almost the entire way (the longest 7 hours of our lives). Steve's hands were sore from gripping the steering wheel and I don't think either one of us has ever been so happy to see 2234 West Charleston. We highly recommend against driving through Wisconsin on a dark, windy and foggy night.

Gold Medals: Grandma and Grandpa both get gold medals for putting up with us and our mess while we were at home. It's amazing how a family of three can descend on a perfectly clean and neat house and immediately turn it upside down. In the midst of that, they managed to pull off another memorable Christmas celebration and some excellent beef tenderloin. Sam gets a gold medal for being an great traveler. He slept in the car when we wanted him to, only fought a couple of naps and handed out lots of hugs and kisses along the way.

Puke: Unfortunately this Christmas will be remembered for its puke. Within 48 hours of Christmas, Angie, Claire, Grandma, Meghan and I all had the flu. I can't remember the last time I felt this terrible, and again, would recommend against it. I just thank God that we made it home before my gage reflex started up. And speaking of gold medals, Steve gets one for driving us home and then welcoming me with open arms when I tapped him on the shoulder at 5 a.m. and told him I was deathly ill. Of course he jumped right in and spent the day taking care of Sam and nursing me back to health. Another priceless gift for me.

Hope you had an equally enjoyable Christmas, minus the white knuckles and puke, of course.

1 comment:

Heidi said...

So sorry for your sickness and the fog. Glad that everything else went well and that you had a wonderful Christmas despite the drawbacks!