Christmas Rundown, Sort Of

I'd like to do a proper Christmas rundown, I really would. But alas, I don't think it's going to happen. Finn had what I'd like to term a Grand Mal tantrum last night before bed, and decided to continue it at 5 am this morning (ugh). To make sleep matters worse, I was awakened from a sound sleep by the sound of... something loud. Which turned out to be a car careening through our neighborhood, ramming into three cars (not ours, thank goodness) so hard they were pushed up onto the sidewalk, taking off through the park, and finally stopping when it crashed into a tree in front of a house (again, not ours, thank goodness). Drunk driver, the entire neighborhood is presuming. Half of whom were outside at 12 am last night. Then there were the police cars, fire truck, tow trucks... Sleep was hard to come by. My eyelids are propped with toothpicks right now.

So instead of lovely coherent descriptions of family gatherings around the ol' Yule log and Christmas cheer, I'll just stick with some bullets of the highlights (and low lights) of our holidays. Pictures will have to come later because Mark and I received a new camera for Christmas (yay!) which takes lovely high resolution pictures, which we are sure will completely kill my ancient Powerbook. So the photos we took will have to stay on the camera until we can get a new computer. Speaking of which, feel free to let us know what laptop you have and if you like it in the comments...

Highlight: The day before we flew out to Wisconsin, Mark and I both had snow days due to the massive dumping of snow on Maryland on the 18th/19th of Dec. The kids did not. So, we stayed home, the kids did not. Win, win. While working from home did occur, there was extra time for errands and packing.

Lowlight: The day before we flew out to Wisconsin, we found out Lucy's Prevacid solutabs for her reflux are no longer covered by our insurance company. Medicine we desperately needed to refill before we left. I have a lot to say on this subject, but don't want to turn this post into a rant (thanks a LOT, CareFirst. And YES, that is sarcasm). So much running around between the pharmacy and doctor's office, as well as 45 minutes spent on hold with the insurance company, ensued. Eventually an alternative solution was provided (Prevacid capsules compounded), but it is NOT ideal in oh so many ways. Especially because Lucy refuses to take it. She actually spit it out of her mouth so hard this morning that it got in her eyes. So yes, that goes in the lowlight category.

Lowlight: The day before we flew out to Wisconsin, Lucy spiked a fever (and woke up about 15 bazillion times the night before). After ANOTHER trip to the doctor's office (and interrupting our kid-free snow day), it was determined that she had her very first ear infection. Less than 24 hours before we were to get on TWO airplanes (no, we did not have a direct flight, and yes, I will not let THAT happen again).

Highlight: Lucy's ear infection was discovered BEFORE we left town, and we were able to get her a prescription for antibiotics filled.

Lowlight: Lucy did her best to refuse anything in a syringe, which at this point included Prevacid once a day, antibiotics twice a day, and Motrin around the clock to reduce her fever and ear pain. Poor baby. She thinks M. and I are trying to poison her.

Highlight: Finn was wonderful during both travel days. He did great on the airplanes and in the airport. Also, aside from the very last flight we took to get home this past Saturday night, Lucy did pretty well, too. Not much sleeping on the plane, but until that last flight, not much crying either. LOTS of crying on that last one, but it was late so entirely expected. These were 14 hour travel days (14 HOURS!!) between driving and flights, so I think we all deserve medals. Or another vacation.

Highlight: Weather cooperated very well. Only light snowfall on travel days (typical for WI this time of year), but a good amount over the holiday. Much fun was had pulling Finn and his cousin Bo around on a sled in the snow. We even got Lucy out there, too. We have some nice pictures of that, hope to share them soon.

Highlight: Finn had a GREAT time playing with his two cousins, Bo (almost 5) and Ty (8). So much so that just last night he asked to go back to Wisconsin to play with them. Despite the age difference, they were great with him.

Lowlight: With the adults, Finn wasn't so great. He was pretty rude, in fact. And he did plenty of fit-throwing. M. and I were pretty embarrassed by him on many occasions. I know it's the age, and that he was showing off for new people, but it still sucked.

I think with a mish-mash of family traditions, Finn got a bit confused about when Christmas was and when Santa was coming. It was kind of an entire week of opening presents for him. He's had some trouble coming down from the "present high." I think next year we are seriously considering staying home and starting our own traditions, and maybe having a calmer holiday. It might be nice to visit our Wisconsin relatives at a warmer time of year (not sure I like being in a state where people talk about the "warm spell" when it's 20 degrees out).

Was Christmas "magical" this year? No, I wouldn't call it that. It was pretty hectic, in fact. But it was fun, and hopefully the fun parts are the parts we'll remember 10 years down the road.