Christmas 2016, Part 1
Greetings to all.
Christmas came early for us this year. Actually, it came in two parts; one is yet to come.
Xavier's Aunt Chelle graduated with her MS degree this past Friday. Grandma Penny flew in for the event. This created a trifecta of events, if we fudged the Christmas date a little. We celebrated Chelle's conferral of a post-graduate degree, Rebecca's birthday and a little Christmas while Grandma was in town.
Next week, we will host Aunt Kathy, and will celebrate Christmas as well.
Grandma Penny sent her gifts ahead to Chelle's home. Both Penny and Chelle wrapped their gifts when they arrived at our house. Xavier was excited by the large gift Grandma Penny had. It was wrapped in Spiderman paper, and that alone got his heart racing.
Once it got set under the tree, he tried several times to open it up. He sneaked into the room with the tree (or thought he sneaked—Dad caught him on digital film) to open the gift.
Shortly after that, he was back near the tree, and the two bows on the package had mysteriously found their way to the floor. Shortly after that, the tape holding one of the sides of the gift no longer secured the wrapping paper.
We made him wait to open the gift, which took much straining on his part to comply.
When he started opening other gifts (after the adults were finally ready), his joy from the other presents distracted him from the big gift. Distracted, but he never forgot.
At last, he got to the big, Spiderman decorated box. It was worth the wait; the Tonka truck inside made him light up with glee!
Not to be outdone, the last gift he opened came from Mom and Dad. His joy at the new Hot Wheels kit sent him through the roof! He dropped everything and hastened Dad to help him set it up.
Friends came up from Colorado Springs for dinner. They also brought Xavier a gift. Once again this year, Xavier's parents' gift was overshadowed (two years ago, it was the Red Ryder wagon; last year a train set). This year, the Buzz Lightyear toy stole Xavier's heart.
After dinner, Xavier and the two children of our friends (Emerly and Ben) headed outside to play in the snow. We had a nasty storm move through Friday night and it left behind six to eight inches of snow and single digit temperatures.
Ben and Emerly brought with them an inner tube and a toboggan. The three of them spent much time outside making snow angels and riding the toboggan. This was Xavier's first time at sledding. He loved it! The slight hill in the back yard was just the right length and pitch for him to enjoy.
Of course, we celebrated Rebecca's birthday. After enjoying a wonderful meal of ham, green bean casserole, home-made cranberry jelly, buttery popovers and scalloped potatoes—all on the fine china, we hunted down some birthday candles and put them on the two cakes brought in to celebrate with.
Happy 43rd, Rebecca!
2016 Christmas Pagent
Greetings to all.
Today, at noon, Xavier sang in his school's Christmas Presentation.
He was not feeling up to it today. Dropping him off at school, he clung to Dad like a Velcro® monkey. He clung to his teachers throughout the morning.
Entering the auditorium, one of Xavier's teachers carried him down the aisle while all his classmates walked.
He spent much of his time on stage hiding behind a chair. Mom managed to walk around to a place he could see her. That settled him a little. He actually engaged in singing O Come All Ye Faithful and performed the hand and arm movements.
After a short reception following the program, Xavier was ready to go home and sleep. He slept on the floor inside his new house we erected last night.
A New house
Greetings to everyone.
In less than a week, we will have been living in this house three full years. Still, we have not fully unpacked everything from our move.
As Christmas is nigh upon us and we have guests flying in to stay with us over the next few weeks, Rebecca wanted to hang some of the pictures still packed in boxes and lining one of the walls in the basement. She especially wanted to hang a mirror and some pictures on the newly painted wall over the fireplace. There already empty stocking hung waiting for Santa to fill, and garland and lights made festive the hearth. The mirror and pictures would pull the seasonally decorated room together with a cozy feel.
The process of hanging the items required not only some rudimentary math, but tools. And tools, of course, attract Xavier, who we knew would want to help.
So, on a shopping expedition this evening, Rebecca found a cardboard house on clearance. Designed for children to color in the prints decorating the house, Rebecca also picked up a set of forty markers. These, she thought, would keep Xavier busy and out of our hair while we hung the items.
It was a good plan for any child other than Xavier.
Of course, we had to build the house. Though it came with an instructional set of pictures, it still took nearly an hour to put it up. Then, as we left Xavier to his own devices coloring his own house, we heard it.
"Mama. Daddy. Come color with me."
Oh, how pitiful he can sound when he wants to! So, Xavier helped hang pictures but staying out of the way and playing with tools he found in the open toolbox. After we had hung enough for the night, we followed Xavier into his room to help him color his house.