merry christmas eve

So our Christmas did not exactly start out as we had expected. Ada had ran an elevated fever for almost 48 hours so we booked a last minute appointment on Christmas Eve to rule out a potential ear infection. We bundled up and headed off.

But, not before taking a picture of our crazy Weim, Daisy. Poor think has only made the blog cut maybe two other times so since it is Christmas thought I would be generous :) Lurking behind her is Brown Dog (best dog name ever, yeah) a 149 lovable beast that we were dog sitting for friends. {side note: we love to dogsit. We have had many many dogs in our backyard and would be glad to have yours. If you are ever in a pinch with your canine, just let us know and they are welcome to come keep our crazy firstborn pup company}

Brown Dog himself

Back to the story. So for the first time we entered the dark side. The side where microscopic illness causing organisms breed. So we took a quick glance, heard the coughing, sneezing, sniffling sounds and turned around for the car. We were not ready for the dark side.

Ada took a short, I am talking brief nap in the car before she was summoned by the Doc. A quick glance down the auditory canal and the doc declared it was most definitely an ear infection which is not contagious though the cold that caused the ear infection could be contagious to possibly ease the minds that we have come in contact with in the last few weeks.

Ada's first prescription and first antibiotics sent us in this direction. Poor people have to work on Christmas Eve...Doctor, Walgreens Employees, etc. I thank each of you very much!

Her prescription packaging even acknowledged it was her first time by welcoming her to the world of prescriptions on 12/24/08. Hopefully this is one of very few times needed.

Back to festivities and such. We did something completely different with the Christmas Tree this year. You may find it creative, ingenious or completely tacky. Instead of ornaments we hung your (yes yours!) shiny happy faces on our tree. It was fun to watch our tree fill up with the faces of friends and family and made for a much safer environment for Ada. It was also very neat and very humbling to see some of my work come in the mail. Thank you for sharing my work of your beautiful families this holiday season. I plan to share some of those at some point.

For now I will share ours once again. Check out the clips used to trim the tree with cards. I got those at IKEA (one of my absolute favorite places) last year.

We normally go to a Christmas Eve service at my parents church, but were unable to attend this year with the E.I. of our little babe so instead we stayed home and read O Little Town of Bethlehem which is quite the intriguing version of the Christmas Story to a ten month old with all of the twinkling stars that go along with the story. So after slurping up her first round of antibiotics (amoxicillin to be specific) in its form of brightly colored bubble gum pink, a great nap and picking up a last minute gift for my mom (which may or may not have been a live animal hence the last minuteness of picking up the gift) our family of three headed to my parents house.

Mom fixed a delicious meal and we topped off our Christmas Dinner with a beautiful made from scratch cake from my sister Jennifer.

Ada was still not completely herself and had lost much of her desire for varied types of food.

Roman could NOT wait to open presents and gave us this face when told we were going to take a few pictures first :)

He quickly turned his frown upside down

All the little monkeys. (Roman, Peyton Carli, Ada and Preston)

Mark was unable to be with us this evening, Dad was on the phone with a friend in the hospital and Jimmy was behind the camera so just the ladies and kiddy kats in this silly pic. Left the serious ones for our personal photo albums :)

Ada's emotional progression while opening presents. It started out really rough, but by the end she could not get enough of her Busy Ball Popper that she got from Aunt Suzi and Roman nor could any of the other kids. That little machine entertained each of the four ranging in age from 10 months to 10 years. This is a great gift idea for a child turning one.

Not a great gift idea for your mother is surprising her with a dog, even though hers died earlier that year and you could have sworn she said she wouldn't mind having another one. Not only did said mother not appreciate the gift from her daughters, she insulted the gift and proceeded to cry. YES, she shed tears and said she would never be able to workout again and never be able to travel again because she would always have to come home and let the dog out. Well good think we PUNKED you mom! We are so mean, but you would think mom would not believe us because we do something like this to her every single year. After announcing the joke was on her she withdrew her insults to the gift and said she really did like the dog (I videoed the whole thing and unfortunately during a pass off with the video the volume was turned off-tragic-hopefully I can get a copy of Suzi's) Thank you Brent and Becca for allowing us to borrow Fiona and completely traumatize her. I hope she will be released from therapy soon.

Thankfully we had a "real" gift for mom and dad. It is a 26x29 family tree personalized with pictures and names of our family. They look way better in person. From the same website, a couple of years ago Jennifer got us the personalized plaque that says "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord" Joshua 24:15. Yeah, that year the joke was on her bc she spelled our last name wrong :), but we really do like the plaque.

Jennifer and I are always in competition of being the favorite Aunt. Last year she won Roman over with Crayola's Ozzie The Octopus Spout Cover that colors that bath water. He slept with the Ozzie under his pillow. Yeah, how could I compete with that? So this year, I was determined to win. It was not in gourmet packaging nor did it (they) cost a lot of money, but they were his favorite! Roman got four new fishy friends for his aquarium.

Suzi was sure to tell Roman that he was not allowed to hold the fish. After I acknowledged what he was doing in this picture he was sure to tell me not to worry and that he was not holding the fish he was just petting them. Surprisingly, last I heard all fish were still alive and kicking, but seriously if you want to win over a three year old spend forty cents and get him a couple of goldfish and so you don't feel too cheap some accessories too, even though the fish would suffice :)

Ada is so little big and I think this picture displays just that.


Do you know the tradition of the Christmas Pickle? I heard of it a few years back and forgot about it until one popped up this year at an ornament swap. I was on the tail of the Christmas Pickle the entire time, wanting to take it home and make it my so I would not forget again the tradition that this special cucumber would bring.The pickle is a German symbol of good luck. Traditionally, German parents decorated the tree on Christmas Eve, hiding the pickle ornament last. On Christmas morning, the first child to located the pickle was rewarded with an extra gift from St. Nicholas.

Mom also introduced the Christmas Pickle this year and Preston was the one who in the case received a monetary gift from St. Nick for his find.

Just a random slice of our Christmas Eve. More to come. Barf you may say. I know I know I am almost done with my ramblings. On this event, at least.