Tis the Season

I've been really excited about Christmas this year. It's my favorite holiday. I love the general Christmas cheer that most people have. I love picking out gifts for each person and seeing their excitement when they open their presents. (And, of course, getting gifts myself is enjoyable!) I love the parties and the church services and the church plays. I love the Christmas lights and decorating my own house. I don't love the Christmas carols so much, but I enjoy them for the first few weeks and then get tired of the same song being played repeatedly. This year "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" became the song I hated most. But back to positive things...  I've been soaking up every moment of this holiday season and looking forward to all of the fun stuff.

Then there was a hitch in our plans. After doing our budget, we realized that all of our income had to go towards bills and necessary expenses, leaving NOTHING left for gifts. We would be fine by January, but, unfortunately, Christmas comes in December. We were hoping that Jesse's company was going to hand out a Christmas bonus check this year, as they have in the past, since that would be the only way we were able to afford anything. But 1 week before Christmas, on payday when we expected it, there was no bonus check. I was so bummed. What would Christmas be without gifts? Of course, there's so much more important things and that's NOT what it's about. But I've never not been able to afford presents. Jesse talked to me about praying and asking God what it meant for us to give in this "season of giving" when we couldn't afford to give tangible gifts. And we decided together to hand it over to God and trust Him regardless. We were surprised and thrilled, though, when we received a check for $1080 the following Monday. I believe that God is good whether we got the check or not, but I'm thankful to serve a God who cares about our needs and our wants as well! We decided to give a portion of it back to Him, pay all of our bills next, and then we budgeted out gifts for each person we wanted to buy for. We were able to buy everything we wanted and even added 3 more people to our list!

We were excited to begin shopping that very night- after all, Christmas was only 6 days away and we hadn't even begun! But just as we were about to walk out the door, Josiah threw up without any warning. We cleaned him up and as I held him in my arms, he instantly fell asleep. Anyone that knows Josiah knows that this is abnormal behavior. I wasn't sure if the puking had worn him out or if he was in some kind of shock or something. So, I called the pediatrician's office and talked to the triage nurse. She said he sounded like he had a stomach virus and to expect him to continue to throw up for the next 12-24 hours. We were supposed to wake him up after 2 hours throughout the night to ensure he stayed hydrated. And she gave me all sorts of instructions about how to treat him and what to look for. When I woke Josiah up to give him water, he threw up again, drank some water, and went back to sleep. But after a few hours of sleeping and awaking again, he seemed to start feeling better. Fortunately, by the end of the night, he was talking more and playing again. So, everything about waking him up every two hours and his possible 24 hour stomach virus ended up to be nothing. I knew, though, that several other friends of mine had also been sick with similar ailments, including vomiting and diarrhea, but some of theirs had lasted a day or longer.

By Tuesday, we thought everything seemed better with Josiah and the rest of us were fine too. So we ventured out shopping again. We successfully went to WalMart and the mall and got quite a few gifts before I started feeling pretty sick. My stomach was just hurting and in knots. I knew that I needed to head home by the time we were done at the mall, but only made it to the car before getting sick in the car in the parking lot. I came home and spent the next few hours sick, but was better within a few hours, and thankful that it only lasted so long for both Josiah and me. Wednesday, I was back to normal and so was Josiah, and no one else had gotten sick, so we continued our shopping. Thursday was the same and then Friday we went out to dinner as a family before my brother and I drove around to look at Christmas lights. We didn't see very much that was exciting, but we had a nice time together just chatting.

Saturday, Jesse and I spent the day cleaning and getting ready, and then we joined Jesse's dad, stepmom, and 4 foster kids along with my mom, brother, and aunt at the church Jesse and I attend. It was nice to have our family with us since they don't normally attend. However, there was no nursery service and Josiah was distraught over this, especially because he hadn't napped yet and so everything was that much more "traumatic"! We just grinned through it and sang the Christmas carols with our candles in hand as Josiah laid on the floor and kicked the chairs and screamed. Luckily, the music drowned out most of the screaming! The rest of the service was really nice with the praise team singing, a group of kids playing violins and cellos, and the pastor reading a Christmas story to the little kids on stage. Jesse ended up taking Josiah out halfway through and sitting in the cafe the rest of the service, but Jesse's dad also had to take out their 3 year old foster son, so at least Jesse could spend time with his dad there. From there, we went to my mom and aunt's house where we opened our gifts for each other, which is our annual tradition. We didn't have the big meal we normally have because of the church service, but had pulled pork sandwiches instead. Josiah fell asleep in his high chair and we ended up opening all of our gifts without him. Since I was the photographer, I didn't get pictures of any of my gifts, but everyone got really nice things.

I felt so blessed to be surrounded by so many gifts when we thought we could afford none. Of course, more than half of these are what my mom bought, but we all had a bounty of presents.

Here's Josiah asleep in his chair. We didn't dare move him.

My mom and Micah and Micah in the blanket Nana made him:

 

Me on Christmas Eve:

Jesse & Me:

Here's our family of four, complete with Josiah sleeping and BBQ sauce on his face. It's real life, though, and you just have to smile through it!:

I got about 4 shirts, a jacket, and a pair of boots, an Oregon Duck hoodie, a book, $50, a Lifesavers candy book (tradition since I was a kid), a necklace with "J" and "M" charms, and my big gift was a new laptop that Jesse, David, and my mom bought together. I needed the laptop really bad since my beloved one is literally falling apart.

At this point, my mom had been feeling the effects of the stomach virus throughout the day and my aunt had previously been sick. Everyone was exhausted, and the whole mood, although thankful and cheerful, was also sleepy and quiet- not really what I expected. My mom even fell asleep holding Josiah after we opened our gifts.

We headed home and went to bed as soon as possible. Christmas morning, we woke up early to be at my mom's house by 9am for breakfast. Josiah had not opened any of his gifts, so he had his very own Christmas that morning! I love that he's at an age where he understands, for the most part, about opening presents. With every package, he'd grab it and carry it to someone and say "PRESENT!". Then they'd help him open it and he'd say, "It's a box!" He got lots of cool clothes, a Mr. Potato Head, some blocks, and a potty chair! We also got a giant box of diapers for him and I'm hoping it's the last one we ever have to buy. Started January 1st, I want to start potty training full-force. I think Josiah's getting ready. He knows the difference between pee and poop when we change his diaper, he's begun hiding when he has to poop, and he HATES having his diaper changed. The only cue that he doesn't seem ready is he's afraid to actually sit on the large toilet. But I'm hoping that having his own little chair will make it seem special and fun.

   

Micah asleep on Christmas day in the same outfit Josiah wore 2 years ago:

(Micah on the left- 7 weeks old 2011, Josiah on the right- 4 months old 2009)

After breakfast, we attended church with my mom. It's the same church we attended for 10-12 years before switching to our new one. It was a small group of 25 people or so. We sang together, had communion, and the pastor gave a sermon. I spent the sermon portion in the nursery by myself watching Josiah, though, because he was running around everywhere in the sanctuary. It was very low-key and family oriented, though, and nice to be with old friends again.

We went to my cousin's house afterwards and enjoyed a family get-together with 10 of my cousins and their families, including 3 cousins who live out of town/state. We ate and visited and then Jesse and I had to leave to go to his parents house. We picked up my BIL and his gf and headed out to my in-laws' house. We had dinner and visited with the family before heading home. Josiah slept through all of dinner and then woke up grouchy so it was a good time to go. After dropping off my BIL, though, I began to feel really sick again. And as soon as I got home, I began with all of the symptoms of a full-blown stomach flu (I'll spare the TMI details).

This morning, we were scheduled to go to Jesse's aunt and uncle's house where family was also coming up from California to visit, but having been so sick, I didn't think I should go (even though I felt perfectly fine at that point). So, Jesse went with the kids and I stayed home and slept. It was nice to sleep so long since I never get un-interrupted sleep like that! But I hated missing out on the Christmas festivities. :-(

This weekend wasn't everything I dreamed of due to so much sickness, and it was different than ones past because of the services we attended and the families that we visited with. But, I'll say that despite the stomach flu, I enjoyed it overall and felt really blessed by everything God has given us. I have a Christmas card and poem that I wrote about our year to share with everyone, but since my cards were sent out late, I want to make sure that everyone gets theirs in the mail before I post it online. Anticipate it soon, though. It's pretty cute!

I hope everyone else enjoyed their Christmas weekends too... without the stomach flu!