christmas '08
As is often the case after a trip or holiday, I’m so beat that I am in no shape to give a full or accurate recounting of events. Here are some of the highlights, for posterity.
We left home on Sunday the 21st, headed for the Philly airport, then to Pensacola. I’ve recounted the details already, but in short: it took us eight hours too long to get to the in-laws’.
Monday we went out and did a bunch of shopping. We got dinner at a diner with unexciting food but very good apple pie.
Tuesday morning was pleasant and uneventful. In the afternoon, Martha got sick. One of the great things about kids is that as soon as the puke is out, they’re back to being happy as a clam. Despite being clearly ill, MJ had a great time at a really nice playground with her cousins. We went back to the in-laws’ place for dinner with the all of the family in the area, which was a good dozen people or so. Keegan showed me how to play Backyard Football, and I didn’t do very well. Dalton helped his little cousin play with the tiny stuffed animals. It was a good time.
Wednesday I can barely remember. Martha seemed better, but was super tired. She slept on Gloria for a while, and then on me while Gloria ran some errands. While MJ slept on me, I watched Cars, and it was as good as I’d been told. That evening, we went to Christmas Eve service at Jennifer’s church, and afterward went out for dinner. We suggested we should get something we could just pop in and out for, since MJ needed to get to bed and Sally needed to get back to baking, but we ended up at a semi-fancy sit-down place called Zea’s where I had some delicious twice-cooked crispy duck. Martha was extremely tired, though, and had to be carried around for nearly the entire two hours we spent there. Still, the duck was about good enough to make up for it. (It also helps that Gloria spent a lot more time doing the Martha-toting than I did.)
That night, Gloria woke up to the unpleasant realization that she was quite sick. When I got up in the morning, I didn’t feel so great, but figured it was just hunger. Half a scone later, though, it was clearly not hunger-related. We spent much of the rest of the day in bed, or struggling to remain conscious during gift exchange, baby-watching, or other socialization. Gloria spent a few hours visiting the urgent care clinic and getting a script, and also got a shot that was described to me as the worst shot ever.
I ate much, much more than she did, though, of the big Christmas spread. I had a roll and a half, two corn chips, and that half scone. I believe she had nothing at all.
The next morning, we were both feeling much, much better. That’s not to say we were 100%, but we were both feeling fit to travel, which was good news. We had some breakfast and tried to deal with Martha, who had gone into super-screamy mode. This, thankfully, ended after a nap.
The trip home was entirely uneventful. We landed twenty minutes early and got home around midnight. Martha was easily transferred to her crib and we zonked out. It was great to be home, even though we had a nice visit to Florida (even in spite of our sickness).
This morning we had breakfast at my parents’ place and opened presents, then came home and opened some more that had come in the mail. We got groceries and with that, I think, the whole holiday/travel gig is over. I’m glad. It’s nice to get out and see people, but I’m really a homebody, and routine, at least on the large scale, is my friend.
Notable Christmas gifts include: a whole mess of Ted Dekker books (I am skeptical, but will try one); The Third Manifesto; the complete Spy v. Spy Casebook; Zombie CSU; an XBox Live Gold subscription (13 months of Left 4 Dead ahead of me!); payment, by the Parking Fairy for our parking at the PHL airport. MJ, of course, had a pretty spectacular haul, including about a million Curious George toys or books and a half million Veggie Tales ones. The two biggest winners, for here, were probably her stuffed Bob the Tomato and her awesome pink Curious George pajamas, now visible in my Flickr feed.
Now that this recounting of events is done, I think I’ll go play some Braid, purchased with MS Points given to me by Gloria.