Christmas 2015

Photo Folly-la-la-lah


After Thanksgiving Day, on 11/28, we were photographed for our family Christmas/End-of-year photos by the same photographer who shot Tot's newborn photos. I informed Heather that we were running late and she agreed to fit us in her line-up by rearranging her schedule.

Tot, again, was not cooperative. He was uncomfortable, fussy and we had a difficult time getting him to smile. After all the planning and the money it cost us to secure the photographer, I wasn't sure we'd manage to get any decent pictures, but we were fortunate to have been able to get a small number of good pictures that we could share with family and friends.


Baby's First Christmas Tree


As much as I had wanted to celebrate Little B's first Christmas with family portraits and a Christmas tree, I was too tired, too sick and without money. This year, however, I was not going to let Christmas go by without a tree, and so we took Tot on 11/11 to our local Christmas tree lot and allowed him to "pick" his own tree. And pick a beautiful tree, he did!


We were not able to put up the tree the very same day, but it wasn't too long before it was displayed proudly by our large front windows. Jeff wrapped some twinkling lights around it and I placed a few ornaments that I was hoping would not be broken easily by Tot. I placed the two resin ornaments that I selected especially for him on the tree and he broke one. He decapitated my 2015 Jake ornament, unfortunately.


Birthday Blues and a Busted Car


Jeff was fighting a stubborn cold before we brought our Christmas tree home. And after Jeff got sick, Little B got sick, too. He was feverish a couple of days, and we assumed it might have been related to his teething. On the day of my birthday I took Little B with me to Denny's for my birthday pancake breakfast. The year before he was very young, so I awoke very early to go to Denny's while he slept in order to get back before Jeff had to leave for work. This time I took him with me and I was anxious about how that would go as I had never dined with him by myself.


He did well. I had to stop him from clanging his silverware on his plate like he likes to do, and he made a mess with the food on the table, and at one point a piece of sausage flew past me and landed a few feet away from me on the floor. But, otherwise, he did pretty good. He sure liked his orange juice and pancakes.


And so it was that I believed Brian was feeling better, but that evening he was inconsolable. I had wanted to go to dinner for my birthday, but I suspected that something might not be quite right with our car. When Jeff came home that evening he gave the car a try and also agreed that it seemed to have a problem, so we didn't go anywhere on the night of my birthday. And, not only were we unable to go out, but Little B had a rough evening. He cried and cried and cried. I wanted to give him pain reliever, but Jeff discouraged me because we had been giving him a lot of pain-reliever to combat his fevers and to relieve him of the discomfort associated with teething.


By morning, however, it was evident that Little B was sick, too. Like Jeff, he had a cold.


Well, it was only days before I felt like I ,too, was fighting a virus. On 12/23 I insisted that Jeff take Little B to see Santa at Bass Pro. Our car still wasn't well, but I figured they'd be OK as Santa wasn't too far from home. I was sick and didn't want to go to Bass Pro with Jeff and Little B to get others sick, but I also hated the idea of missing Little B's visit to Santa's. Although I had wanted to go, I awoke tired and only helped Jeff get Little B ready to go meet Santa.


Jeff returned a couple hours later with a portrait of a terrified toddler screaming on Santa's lap.


On Christmas Eve. I was still sick, so it was Jeff who cooked our Christmas dinner. He heated the pre-cooked ham we buy every holiday, and he made mashed potatoes, green beans, and an apple and cranberry crisp. Our meal was delicious. He refused to make the sweet potato casserole I requested, however, as he felt he had prepared enough food. Otherwise, his Christmas dinner was delicious.


On Christmas morning we led Little B to our Christmas tree where we helped him open his Christmas presents. He received an assortment of toys. Santa brought him a mini shopping cart. I gave him a xylophone and a shape sorter, Jeff gave him a copy of the Minions' short films. His grandpa Brian and grandma Karen gave him an assortment of goodies that included wooden toys, DVDs and clothes.


New Year's Eve.


We had considered going to Grandma Parson's for Christmas, but we were informed that Jeff's brother and his family would go for Christmas, too. We missed my sister's and Ethan's visit for Christmas because I was sick. Because we were unable to go visit Jeff's grandma for Christmas, Jeff considered the idea of going to his grandmother's for New Year's Eve. While we had all recovered from our colds, it is the our car that still hadn't been functioning well. On the 26th and 27th, Jeff took the car to two different shop that were unable to identify the problem with our car, so we didn't go to the ranch to spend New Year's Day with Jeff's grandmother.


Once again we were home for New Year's. Jeff and Little B were asleep when the clock struck 12 AM. I like to be awake to ring in the new year, however. I went and kissed my sleeping prince to wish him a happy new year and informed a half-asleep Jeff that it was the new year. I'm sure the barrage of fireworks, or gunshots, informed him as well.


May we all be blessed with a very healthy and very happy new year!