We are slowly emerging from our post-holiday hibernation. Graem got a snotty nose for Christmas, so we’ve been resting up to let her get better.
We had a great visit with Grandpa, Gala and Uncle Dennis. We spread out gift unwrapping (for Graem, of course) over three days, more if you count other gifts from friends. Christmas Eve we opened all the non-Santa gifts, and had the grownup gift exchange. Grammy hadn’t taken a nap all day, so you could imagine her mood. She was actually pretty cheerful, just louder and chattier. Finally, in an attempt to get to the Christmas pageant at Lydia’s church, we put Graem down for a nap. It took 7 minutes for her to fall asleep. We woke her up at a little before 7 o’clock, but she was a wreck and we decided not to go. We repackaged her in some pajamas and put her back to bed.
Us grownups decided that we hadn’t eaten in 3 hours, so we warmed up the roast suckling pig that my dad brought. Shawna was freaked out by the fact that it looked like Bailey in a pan with Maraschino cherries for eyes, and its paws clutching the sides of the pan to escape. My dad had to surgically remove the meat and place it neatly on a serving platter (and dispose of the head and paws) before any of us would touch it! After cleaning ourselves up, we played a few rounds of Jenga. My dad, of course, had to make the running commentary after each of his successful removals about “The skill of a plastic surgeon!” I think his strategy was opponent intimidation.
Christmas morning, we opened the remainder of Grammy’s presents after breakfast. The first thing she saw was the grocery cart, which she quickly ran to and squealed! She proceeded to push it around our tiny living room and pulling out the toy cell phone and holding it to her ear. Just like Mama… There were so many toys that Graem got overstimulated and lost it. She started screaming and crying, so I took her upstairs to nap. Her mood immediately changed in the dark, quiet room, but she had no intentions of falling asleep. We brought her back downstairs and she turned into demon-baby once again.
We decided to do her mini-birthday celebration before the folks left, so we propped her into her chair, passed out the cupcakes, lit the candle, attempted to sing “Happy Birthday” without setting the child on fire, blew out the candle, and let her go at the cupcake. Grammy smeared the chocolate icing all over face and hair, and grabbed handfuls of cake and squeezed! It was so much fun. She left a faint corona of cupcake around the high chair that the dogs lapped up. After the key videos and photos, Shawna whisked our little cupcake into the tub and into some new pajamas. I saw my family off, and Shawna and Graem laid down for a three hour nap. It was bliss–my gift to myself was reading a book and eating leftovers while they napped.
