Santa Claus found us!

Christmas went off without a hitch this year. No one got sick, no one cried about what they didn’t get, and the Utes won their bowl game. Again.

On Christmas Eve we trooped over to Kate’s mother’s house, and my sister Kat tagged along. It was an eye-opening experience for her. Though Kat has been exposed to Kate’s family before, she hadn’t met the Browns. Drew’s family was over, and they add a certain element of strangeness that Kate’s family lacks. Not that Kate’s family is not strange. They are just strange in other ways.

When we got to the Browns for the festivities, those of us who wished to view the end of the Broncos/Bengals game were relegated to the bedroom upstairs. Toward the end of the game the Bengals scored, threatening to tie the game with a PAT. After the touchdown the Bengal gave the mile-hi salute, which upset my brother-in-law, Jim. I had to briefly cover Samantha’s ears, and I am thankful Patrick wasn’t in the room: he remembers everything. Just before the snap on the PAT Beth said, “They never miss these.” The snap was bad, and the Bengals did not tie up the game. It was a great finish.

Kate’s family came over for breakfast on Christmas morning, and we decided on 9:00. That way the kids would have time to open their presents before breakfast. Everyone arrived at or shortly after 9, and my kids were still asleep. We made breakfast and ate, and yet the Shirley kids were still sacked. At that time I figured that they were the only children in America who were still asleep. Mike pointed out that kids in Hawaii were probably still asleep, but I beg to differ. Normal kids are up before dawn, chomping at the bit to see if Santa Claus came. Finally at 10:00 Samantha woke up and roused the other children.

Whitney’s big present was a bike, though she took a few minutes to notice it. However, my mother is in hot water over the presents she gave Whit. She gave her a jewelry kit, complete with a million tiny beads. My mother should also note that it is a bad idea to give a child who has OCD an origami kit! It is torture for the kid and twice the torture for the parent. Patrick, of course, got trucks, cars, helicopters and other ‘boy’ stuff, including a set of Spongebob underpants. Pat asked if they were extra absorbent. Samantha was most excited about a box full of dress-up shoes. ‘Mantha also got a toy shopping cart, which was Bean’s favorite toy. She is finally learning how to walk, and likes to push the cart around. Lauren also really enjoyed the wrapping paper more than the gifts inside. Santa brought the kids a huge tin of varying colors of Play Doh and Grandpa Stretch gave the kids a Play Doh table for activities. These were a huge hit. It’s pretty amazing that with all of the technology and advances in toys, something as old as Play Doh still holds its own. I spent a good part of the day trying to clean up Play Doh crumbs and finally gave up. When it comes to Play Doh, it is best to just let it dry, because you can’t sweep or vacuum it until it dries.

Grandma Poopy (which is what my kids call my Mother, don’t ask) made dinner and brought it over on Christmas Day. I was really happy that we didn’t have to go anywhere on Christmas Day. I didn’t even change out of the pajamas that Kate made for me. When I was a kid my Father’s family lived in Idaho, so we didn’t see them on Christmas. My Mother only had her parents, so they came to stay with us. So on Christmas Day we stayed home, and we all got to spend the day relaxing and playing with our toys. I have always wanted that for my kids, instead of racing around all day, and finally we have it. I think we’ll do it again next year.

Kate and I generally don’t get each other anything big for Christmas. It started when we were dirt poor and couldn’t afford presents for each other. Now we still act like we’re dirt poor and don’t get anything for each other, except for stocking stuffers. Each year she buys me the ‘Dad’ Christmas ornament, and each year she gives me a rough time for not buying her the ‘Mom’ ornament. So this year I went and bought the ‘Mom’ ornament from Hallmark. We were both amused on Christmas morning when the ornaments we got for each other were the same, ‘mom’ on hers, ‘dad’ on mine. Each year I fill her stocking with candy, and each year she doesn’t eat it. This year I replaced the candy with fresh fruit. She ate it and was grateful. She’s too healthy. It kills me.

We had a great time at Christmas this year. This morning as I came back to work to see the hallways empty and some of the clinics closed, I thought I should have taken the day, or even the week off. Maybe I will so that I can stay home and get schooled in Connect 4 by Whitney…