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Thursday, December 25, 2008

It's 2am and I can't sleep.

I could have blissfully fallen into slumber at about 11:30pm tonight but that was just when Santa needed to get going. John and I headed back up to the main floor to begin our Christmas layout. I still needed to clean up the remnants from our Christmas Eve feast with Shauna, Ty and her kids. I am so tickled even now just thinking about our "program" tonight. I had a script in hand and a playlist ready to go on my iPod but really, what can you possibly get done with kids ranging from 10 years to 3 months? Basically we summarized the nativity and had lots of participation from the boys. Oliver and Jack were trying to outdo each other with their knowledge of the nativity. "Jesus was born in a barn and he got some gold from a wise old man". Jack's words. Oliver said, "they just kept knocking and there just wasn't room anywhere at any of the places." Harrison offered, "I am a sheep and I was in the stable wondering; who are these people in my house?"

We also played the "right" "left" game where we have wrapped presents and pass them to the right or the left whenever each word is mentioned during a silly story. It is hilarious trying to play that with Elliott who is 2. He would latch onto a present and refuse to pass it either direction. Jack got very worked up at his cousin and finally refused to sit next to him. So Tyrone finally sat between his two boys and Jack moved over next to John. I was the narrator so I started cutting out many of the rights and lefts and basically read a story that made no sense. It didn't matter, the kids loved it and all ended up with a present they wanted. I got a "limited edition" Star Wars picture. You might think that Tyrone brought that. Nope. It came from my stash and I was hoping that Tyrone would end up with it and take it home with him. It got it free when I bought the boys' Star Wars Wii game I had pre-ordered from Blockbuster. I put it away immediately because we don't hang that kind of crap on my walls in my house. Well, we didn't before. Harrison asked me later if he could have it. I gave in and gave it to him. Hopefully it will be forgotten in the Christmas pandemonium later.

When Shauna's family first arrived the 4 boy cousins all begin playing with cars as fast as they could. They were running around a lot and basically being hoodlums. When it was time to settle down and eat, Jack declared he was hot and could he please take off his shirt. Let me just tell you about Jack. The kid cannot leave shirts on when he is home (or in the car). Even when it's freezing cold and we're all huddled up in blankets, Jack is running around bare chested. I find his discarded shirts all over the house. So tonight when I caved in and let him take off his shirt, his cousin Oliver decided he needed to do the same and on it went. Finally 3 out of 4 boy cousins had their shirts off.

Our dear friends, the Gardners are still waiting and praying for their daughter Brooke to recover from the car accident that their 3 girls were in. Brooke is 10 years old and is one of the girls in my "Activity Days" group (similar to Girl Scouts). She is a sweet girl who is so spiritual beyond her years. She is so smart and reads books well above her age range. She devours historical novels and refers to herself as "a language arts geek". She's a joy to have around and I miss her. Her family is all staying together at The Children's Hospital tonight waiting and praying for Brooke to wake up. Its been 19 days since the accident. Brooke is still in intensive care. Please pray for her and her dear family. We love them so much and wish them a Christmas Miracle!

1 comments:

Lolene said...

Katie, I love your posts. I love how you write. You make it all come alive. I wish I could have been there to hear the Nativity told in kid-talk!!!