Christmas

Christmas Eve Eve. Doug came home from work, as usual, around 4:30. We had plans to go to dinner with my folks. It was a really nice afternoon, but a cold front was on its way. The humans were in. The dogs were out. Daniel innocently picked up Maddie's rubber bone. He looked at the bone, looked at Maddie through the window, held up her bone, said, "Matt-Matt's bone!" and let loose. Daniel hadn't ever really thrown anything before. That kid has a cannon. The bone smacked the glass dead center and CRACK! All three of us gasped and spent several seconds looking back and forth between each other and the shattered glass.

Suddenly, we (Doug and I) sprang into action. I grabbed the couch and shoved it up against the glass to keep Daniel away from it. Doug grabbed Daniel and pulled him out of the path of the couch. I grabbed the tape and started doctoring the glass. Doug pulled Daniel away from the glass. I grabbed the phone and called Ace Hardware - open until 5:30 - 35 minutes to measure, load, drive, and buy. We can do it. And we did. We barely made it, but after $14 (whew!) and being ushered out the door as they turned off the lights and wished each other a merry Christmas, we had our glass and we were on our way to eat with my folks (we needed my dad to help put the new glass in).

Dinner, cold front, rain, rain, rain. Doug and my dad are in the backyard. Doug's holding the umbrella, the flashlight, and the trash bag. My dad is pulling the glass out of the window. Daniel is fuh-reaking out that he can't be anywhere near the action. The cat is trying to escape. The dogs are going nuts. And - wait for it - the glass is 1/4 inch too short. Lesson: NEVER let Sheri measure anything. Ever. Again.

At this point (nearly 9:00 pm), my parents (pretend to) leave and we put Daniel to bed. My dad and Doug re-measure the window (correctly this time). My parents leave. Doug goes to Home Depot. Of course, Home Depot didn't have glass large enough to accommodate our dimensions. Of course, the plexiglass was twice as expensive. Of course, Doug didn't know anything about scoring and breaking plexiglass. Trust me, people. 10:00 in the middle of a cold front (read - icy freaking thunderstorm) on Christmas Eve Eve is NOT when you want to teach yourself to DIY plexiglass installation.

Doug finally made it to bed around 11:30. The glass looked great. I, being the kind and loving wife that I am, let Doug sleep in the next morning. Of course, our new (plexi)glass was conspicuously clean. So Daniel and I went on a cleaning rampage while Doug slept. It could have been MUCH, much worse.

Christmas Eve. All day, I've been telling Daniel, "Santa is coming tonight!! He's bringing TOYS!!" We've gone over this and over this. Around 3:00, Doug's dad and his new wife show up for the Christmas Eve church service. New wife is wearing a red sweater. "Daniel? Do you know who this is?" Daniel looks from Granny to me back to Granny. His eyes light up with wonder. He opens his adorable little mouth and says, "SANTA!!!" Talk about humiliating!! She took it with good grace and we all laughed. In fact, we've encouraged Daniel to call her Granny Santa. He just says Granny now, but it was fun while it lasted.

Christmas Day. Oatmeal pancakes. Cleaning. Nap. Cleaning. Ham in the oven. Family arrives. Dressing in the oven. More family arrives. Veggies in the oven. MORE family arrives. Chat. Chat. Chat. Pray. EAT! Chat. Chat. Chat. Presents! Chat. Chat. Chat. Night night.

Thus was the Christmas of 2009. We had a ton of fun, a LOT of laughter, and a lot of good memories made, even if they do include shattered windows and wounded pride. Here's to the Christmas season. I hope yours was every bit as fulfilling as ours.