Whew! What a week!

Well, Faith and I ended up going out on Wednesday afternoon for her birthday to a little place called Deja Vu that sells anything deep-fried. We ate five different flavours of wings along with a salad (which was not deep-fried) and finished it all off with deep-fried Mars Bars. No word of a lie. This is what we did.

And then we rushed home and got the kids so I could put them in bed and Faith could go decorate for the Christmas chapel the next day while I folded laundry. Then when she got home we wrapped gifts for the kids and ourselves and addressed some Christmas cards - we don't send out many, so don't be discouraged if you don't get one. You're privileged enough to read about us here, because honestly, this is the good stuff - you escape the platitudes and niceties and brevity of the card to have a more intimate look at what is really going on in our lives. Faith figured we should likely send out a Christmas letter and picture too. I figured we could forgo that expense by making the cards with things we have in the house and trade the time spent trying to figure out what to say with some homemade craftiness and humour. Anyway, we finished just after midnight.


The next morning came far too early. We went to chapel to chase Judah around for a while, had lunch, took down decorations, rounded up the kids, and then headed off to Aslynn's preschool Christmas program. In between there we got Judah a new shirt because his elbow soaked up half of his soup and his chest ate the rest of it moments later. He ran around for a while without one in the chapel tradition of Cade. Aslynn did very well in her program! Micah joined us for a while, and then made it back to school just in time for recess, which made him so happy. We put Judah and Aslynn down for a cat nap while Faith and I prepared for supper. The kids woke up when Micah came through the door after walking home from school. Apparently he had injured himself and needed a ride home (that morning he had told us he would just walk home, so we passed the message on to our carpool who just left him there). Micah hobbled home by 4 PM and rested the ankle he twisted going down the slide backwards into the hard-packed snow.

Since the kids were up, we read the Christmas story from the gospels and had them act it our with the little nativity scene while sipping eggnog. Then we prayed and opened gifts (which excited them almost as much as the story) and had fun watching their faces with each item. Of course, all of this was done while eating a Terry's chocolate orange. Once each item had been carefully and joyously unwrapped, the kids lined it all up for a picture and then went to work testing out all their new things. (Mommy and Daddy bought each other a Wii this year because they and their kid-friendlier games have come down in price so much.) The big gifts for the kids were quilts for the two youngest and street hockey goalie equipment for Micah.

All that and the day wasn't over yet. Micah's school Christmas program started at 7 PM and so we had our traditional silly supper of appetizers and fun things after experimenting with the Wii for a while and a quick game of hockey down the hallway. It was really cute to watch the kids put their hands over their hearts and sing the national anthem before the mini-sticks game. That was Aslynn's suggestion. The pads sure improved Micah's performance! It was hard getting anything past him. It would help if we were playing on a bigger net too. The ones we got him last year are just right for our hallway but Micah seems to fill every space now. And it's hard to deke someone out in a confined space.

At Micah's Christmas pageant Judah escaped from our clutches a few times and tried to go up and say hi to Micah. Afterwards, I set him down to put his shoes on and he ran down the hallway to Micah's classroom. I was amazed by his memory - he'd only been there once or twice, and that was during the daytime from a different door! Most of the time Judah spent cuddled up with Faith in his Kockie and tried to be still and calm. He'd had a few later nights this week and needed a break. Micah did well, though he looked nervous to us. His head was down for most of the performance, although he did maintain eye contact and deliver his lines with accuracy and energy. It was a good time had by all. When we got home the kids got into their pyjamas, had snacks, and were wrapped snugly in their beds which felt ever so comfortable. By the time this morning rolled around, None of them wanted to get out of their blankets. I woke up Micah to ask him if he wanted to go to his school party in the morning, and he told me he'd rather sleep. All three kids slept until almost 9 AM, which for them is a Christmas miracle in and of itself. I'm over at the library right now and have gotten about 100 pages of reading done and a few other housekeeping matters handled. Micah is skating with the school and at another gift exchange. We're also half-packed to go at 7 AM tomorrow morning to Puddicombes in Whitecourt for supper.

Have you seen that Capital One Credit Card commercial where the family goes to the in-laws and celebrates Easter, Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and a host of other holidays all at the same time? Yeah, we didn't do that. But we still felt like we may still be in the same league as them.



- Mark