My Overthinking

Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption

Archives for December 2010

Christmas Recuperation

It’s now the 29th of December, a week after my last post. So, here’s a whirlwind recap.

Our Christmas celebration starts on the 23rd each year as we journey to Bethlehem (not kidding), drive past the spot where we got engaged on that very night (always have to point it out to the kids who seriously don’t care as we smile at each other and remember that night), and arrive at Mark’s mom’s house to finally sit and simply talk over food and coffee and hungarian kiffles after days of crazy busyness. No kiffles this year though. Mark’s sister and brother-in-law were celebrating his doctoral graduation in Hawaii (also not kidding) and Mark’s mom (St. Grammy) was watching their 4 children (yes, 4 kids. She had two quiet children of her own and ended up with 8 grandchildren….so far…had to put that in there). For some reason, caring for 4 children (9, 7, 5, and almost 2) kept her from her usual Christmas baking…can’t imagine why. So, as you can imagine, our quiet sitting and talking wasn’t all that quiet. But, the kids sure enjoyed each other until we left Christmas Eve night. We even let them sleep in forts in the basement. So not safe (please look past the ironing board and the dangling Christmas lights). Please note that Lydia slept very safely in a pack and play.

Drew is our king of facial expressions. Loved this one of the sheer awe factor as he admired cousin Wyatt’s new Star Wars figure.

And, this one, happy as can be with his new slinky (it was going to be in Lydia’s stocking. But, Grammy slyly moved it over to Drew’s upon hearing about his meltdown at the kids’ school the day before when Evan’s teacher gave the kids each a slinky and Drew could not get it through his noggin that he didn’t need to have one too).

Christmas morning — 4 kids in front of our tree. The classic picture. Lydia was super excited about the presents. Afterall, she had opened 24 advent presents from Nanma and Granddaddy already (not counting the ones she not-so-secretly opened ahead of time from Ashlyn’s calendar). And, the word “present” had become the first word she said when we got her out of the crib each morning. Nice.

We give our kids 3 gifts each year (and a full stocking)–we relate them to the three gifts of the Wise Men to Jesus. The first gift is a practical gift–the girls got a Mickey Mouse tunic top I made and the boys got Mickey pirate tees. The second gift is an experiential gift–this year, since we are going to Disney World in only 30 days, a photo of Disney World is what they were given as their experiential gift. And, their third gift is a gold gift, something they really like–the three big kids got Lego sets and Lydia got a big stuffed dog.

Despite a folded over ear in this picture, I just love it. She is so pretty modeling the hair thing I made to go with the tunic top and another Disney outfit.

We headed down to MD by the afternoon to stay with my parents for a couple days. 9 kids at this location, so the fun just kept on going. Here’s Drew and his cousin Boh modeling their new G.I. Joe outfits. 
Ashlyn with the look of a child over sugared and over gifted.

A sweet picture of my boys.
Which quickly became a silly fest.

Celebrating Christmas with my fam is always a 2 day deal. This year, we had the special experience of witnessing the baptism of the newest family member, my nephew Thatcher. 

Here are my two sisters–Erin on the left, Megan on the right, and Erin’s 3rd child, Thatcher.

After some another feast of food–I should have taken pictures of the spread–we gathered together for a family game of Bingo which is our spin of the old White Elephant game. Winner picks a gift from the pile or steals a gift from someone else. It always seems like it’s going to be lots of fun and then breaks down when children are not happy with the gift they end up with, etc. etc. Next year, I vow to come up with a better structure to this tradition so that this Mama doesn’t end up having to scold any children.

All was well. We were sorta enjoying the calm on the evening of the 26th…until we realized it was the calm before the storm. That evening, we got hit with the plague. I will refrain from going into the gory details. But, I will say that during the night on the 26th, 4 people in my family got sick. My sister’s husband called my parent’s house to tell us Megan was throwing up at the exact moment I was cleaning up Ashlyn from the same. At 6am, when Lydia woke up, Mark and I called my parents from his cell phone (mind you, they were upstairs) to ask them to come get her because we were sick. They couldn’t because both of them were sick. My grandmother and my college cousin also got sick that night. We have no idea what hit us. But, it definitely hit us. Lydia was the last man standing in the end.

Our journey home had to be delayed a day because we just couldn’t make it as we were. But, we’re home now. And, we are finally eating normal food as of tonight, some of us eating off of new food face plates that we got for Christmas.

The good news is that I don’t have to worry about any holiday weight gain this year.

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The end of an era: The mullet is no more

I gave into peer pressure. Okay, I admit, I thought it needed a trim too. But, I just did not want to cut it. I was hoping we’d wake up and miraculously the front of her hair would have grown so that we wouldn’t have a mullet any more. But, alas, that did not happen.

So, we did it. Last night, we took her and the rest of the family to get preChristmas hair cuts. In 35 minutes, 4 children and one grown man all got clean cuts–one of which was fully documented on camera. It was her first haircut afterall—well, first hair cut home at least.

Sporting the flyaway mullet, clearly needing a trim (I’m talking about Lydia here…)

Long, flowing locks

This is Lyds’ famous “scared” look. Poor thing. 

Apparently not too scared to do some nose picking though. It’s her favorite past time really.

While I look on wincing…

There she is. (sigh) Short hair. They all tried to convince me it was a cute bob. But, it’s just short in the back and very short in the front. Ashlyn wasn’t happy we cut it and told me she looked like a boy. (sigh) At this point, I was feeling a bit sad and regretful and lamenting the loss of pigtails…though the hairdresser assured me we could get some little piggies in there still. 

So, today, I’ve gotten over some of the grief of lost locks and realize it was a good move. Poor girl had to wear piggies all the time because her hair looked so ridiculous down. And, pretty soon, we may actually be able to stack the back of her hair and come up with a pretty trendy hair do for this little lady. In the meantime, she’s still cute as the dickens. 

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Thursday’s Things to Pray For: An Advent Prayer

Lord, meet me, join me. Make my aim, Lord, this Advent to bring joy to you through the giving of myself–my time, my plans, my agenda–for you to use. My gift of myself to you must take priority over my gifts to my family and friends. After all, it is your birthday we are celebrating–not mine, not my children’s, not my husband’s, not my friends’–your birthday, Lord. Part of my gift to you is loving the people you have put in front of me–those who are easy to love and those who are not. I want to give you my response to lonely people around the world–the orphan, the widow, the ones who are all alone, the ones who others have passed by. But, I do not know how to respond. Forgive me when I do not take the opportunities you have put in front of me to do it. Help me, Lord, to be able to do it.

Keep at the front of my mind that the cleaning of my spiritual house must take priority over the cleaning of my physical one, that nourishing my family’s souls is more important than holiday meals, that encouraging peace and harmony in my home is more beautiful than twinkling lights. Remind me, Lord, that in-filling times alone with you must happen alongside outpouring times with others. Remind me, Lord, and enable me to act in obedience with that reminder.

May an awareness of your presence fill me every moment of my day so that rather than you being squeezed out of my busyness, I will be aware of you walking with me as my shepherd. You are the only one this Advent season who can help me find those ordinary yet amazing experiences of joy that you provide with such grace and mercy and love amongst all the responsibilities, pressures, and heartaches of this world.

Lord, meet me; join me; forgive me; enable me; remind me; be present with me; reveal yourself to me.
Amen.

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