A Christmas Story

Well, it was a Christmas to remember, and Eden and her cousins are officially “best friends forever”, with a special handshake and chant to boot.

We’ve been home just shy of a week now, and I have heard nothing but, “I’m saving this small yogurt container for the train ride to see my cousins.” Or, “I’m going to put this in my backpack for the next train ride to Michigan.” And, “Can I save these crackers for the train ride next week?” …. That’s a hard one to swallow. Needless to say, Eden is ready to go back anytime the rest of us are.

Both kids did wonderful on all the train rides and Lars ran to the window to yell, “Woo Woo” every time a train passed us on the track. There were the occasional threatening glances to each of them when the feeling of naughtiness crept over one or the other, but overall, they were well behaved & good to each other.

The commuter train from Chicago to Michigan was less than ideal, but only because it was late at night with two very tired kids, lots of rowdy (translate drunk) college students heading home for the holidays & a very crowded and brightly lit train ride that didn’t end until 0130 in the morning in a mini blizzard. Other than that, all was well.

The kids and I stayed at my sister’s house in town, due to the fact that Mom & Dad have a full house with my brother & his family living there while they finish their house purchase and some renovations. We liked staying in town, close to the shopping and restaurants, and it was easier to get together with the cousins and with grandma & papa, because they were all in one place. We just packed a few things and went over all the time. It also worked out well because we had Meegan’s entire basement to ourselves, and with Christmas and shopping, we had our fair share of ‘stuff’ to spread out and sort through. She also has a really cool gas fire place that we slept in front of, loving the glow. Eden wants one in her room now.

The girls had a great time together with Josh not far behind the crowd. His “little buddy” Lars played with him somewhat, but Josh is used to the bigger girls and Lars is used to playing by himself, so that’s what happened much of the time. They made pizza together, played house & ‘baby’, read stories, napped together, played in Eden’s new Cars tent, and did a little bit of fighting to complete the circle.

Meanwhile, I went shopping and ate at all the places I haven’t had in eons. Some were worthy of more than one trip, including every place in Lapeer that sells frozen cokes. A pregnant woman needs to stock up on that sort of stuff when she’s in the mood! Meegan and I hit the Salvation Army in Romeo for winter maternity clothes (my first two pregnancies were during HOT Nebraska summers), as well as clothes for my growing children. I had some of Grandpa Strawn’s money to do some Christmas shopping for the kids from them, and I had fun looking for last minute deals at Kohl’s. I hit the jackpot with all the Cars movie toys on sale. I hit a few places just because I had free babysitters in Cousins Zachary & McKenzie, and it was nice to be out all by myself.

Christmas was busier than I ever remember, with parties & food four days running. That about killed me, but Eden was in her glory with all the people to play with. Lars and I retreated with Chad one day for a drive out into the country. After visiting the cemetery, we drove around to the old farms and churches that were of my parents, grandparents and great-grandparent’s generation. I took a couple old window frames out of the barn that is falling down on Dad’s property and carved my name into one of the barn boards. Next time, I’ll have to bring a crow bar for it. History in front of you is a great teacher and it seems like they are all disappearing as the years pass.

A trip home wouldn’t be complete without somebody getting sick. This time was Lars’ turn, and he threw up for a full 3 nights and 4 days the second week. We washed all the bedding in both homes at least twice, so it was nice to help out in some way with the cleaning!

We also watched several slide shows of old photos that were converted from slides to a DVD and placed on my computer for that very purpose. A trip down Memory Lane for everybody, full of laughter and a few, ‘um, what were we doing?’ and laughing at clothes and styles and the lack of child safety we seemed to have in the 80’s. It’s a miracle we children survived, really. The current children thought that Little Chad was Josh, and that Young Meegan was McKenzie and the like. Apparently, my two children look exactly like their father, so Little Sarah was just that, Little Sarah or Little Mommy, depending on who was asking.

Despite the fact that Daddy was left in Nebraska by himself the whole time, we all had a nice time and were thankful that we’re able to travel so easily in this day and age. At Grandma’s, Lars frequently went to the phone, picked it up and brought it to me saying, “hi daddy!’. That was usually my cue to place a phone call. By the end o our stay, the kids were ready to see him, and were ready to board the train. Eden had a hard time saying good bye to her cousins, and now their phone conversations are a full of recent memories, which is fun to listen to.

The return trip to Ft. Morgan was 8 hours late, because of blizzard cold weather wiping out the air brakes, along with a slew of other weather-related delays, but we weren’t in a big hurry. We had lower level, semi-private seating to and from Chicago, which helped immensely. I highly recommend Amtrak to anybody travelling long distances.

The remainder of this week has been spent doing 3 weeks worth of Daddy’s laundry, unpacking, finding spots for all the new gifts, and putting away our Christmas stuff, the boxes of which I am currently looking at! It seems like I’ve been busier than that, but I can’t seem to list out what all I’ve done.

Eden, used to having somebody to play with non-stop, has been very needy in the department of ‘play with me’. So, I have done puzzles, colored pictures, wrote cards, read stories, played house & generally been worn out in a messy house. Lars, too, has been very clingy this week and I’ve had him on one hip most of the time. I’m hoping this is a short phase, and we can get back to our normal life soon.

In good news, Lars transitioned into a toddler bed upon our arrival home with absolutely no fuss or argument. I’m sure he doesn’t know his crib is going to soon be occupied by somebody else, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Speaking of the future, our ultrasound this week went well and baby looks healthy. I’m not real excited that he or she is completely breech, but we have a few weeks for that to turn itself around. Though, I hear when you have a C-section, you get to stay in the hospital 4 days. I could get used to being waited on a bit longer!

Big thank yous go out to friends and family who stopped by to see us while we were in Michigan. It’s impossible to see everyone who is important to us when we’re home for such a short time, so I appreciate those of you who went out of your way to find us. I’m sorry we missed some of you, it usually happens that way. However, there’s always next time and always room for you to visit West Nebraska!

Blessings and enjoy the photos~