Mommy was a little nervous about sleeping through her alarm and not getting up in time to prepare the turkey and get into the city for the expected 9 am—-fears and images of hungry family members waiting until 9 pm for their turkey dinner scared Mommy enough not to go to bed. Mommy did manage to grab an hour’s nap on the living room couch with the lights on in the middle of the night, but it wasn’t a restful nap. Mommy will have to work on adrenaline and coffee today—-all very reminiscent of days in the past, working on publishing deadlines. The joy on Charlotte’s face and the excitement and boundless energy of young children at Christmas will be enough to get Mommy through the day.
Mommy woke Daddy a little before 5 am to help with the turkey. Ooh ooh! The turkey was still frozen. While Daddy tried to run hot water through the turkey, Mommy and Daddy pulled to try and open the cavities to get the neck and giblets out before stuffing it. Mommy’s mind quickly jumped into high gear to figure out what Plan B would be if we had to abandon the turkey to continue defrosting. Inventory of meat in the freezer quickly went through Mommy’s mind. Not to be defeated, Mommy and Daddy continued working feverishly, conscience of the fact that every delayed minute meant that dinner was going to be that much later. Finally, the ice melted at the one end and we were able to free the neck. After quite a time, the ice at the other end finally melted and we were able to pry open the cavity to release the bag of giblets. The rest of the turkey was thawed. Whew! Now to make the stuffing—-it was a battle against the clock. At 6:24 am, the stuffed turkey was put into the oven, with just a little bit of clearance between the top of the turkey and the top cooking element in the oven; if the turkey had been any larger, I’m sure it wouldn’t have fit in the oven.
Mommy, dressed in her pyjamas, and Daddy, dressed in shorts and shirt, both with no socks on, loaded the van with all the presents to take into Nana’s so as to be ready for when Charlotte woke up, not to waste any time.
Charlotte went to bed later than usual last night, so we weren’t sure what time her body would naturally want to wake up. To encourage an earlier rising, Mommy opened Charlotte’s door a little and left the hall light on while Mommy got herself ready. Before Mommy jumped into the shower, she tried to stand at the foot of Charlotte’s crib to watch her sleep, but Charlotte stirred unexpectedly, so she tiptoed out of her room so as not to startle Charlotte. Charlotte did start to stir, but she sounded upset, likely because of the light shining into her room. Mommy just had enough time to shower and dress before Charlotte was calling to get up. Mommy and Daddy both went into Charlotte to wish her a Merry Christmas, likely her first as Mommy doubts that anything was done for the little ones in the orphanage. Mommy said a silent prayer for Charlotte’s tummy mommy for all the joy that Charlotte brings to Mommy’s life each and every day. No other gift can compare to the love of a child. Everyone in Mommy’s family is so excited to share the joy and love of Christmas with Charlotte this year.
Merry First Christmas, Charlotte! While our little angel slept, Santa visited Nana’s house, filling Charlotte’s and the family’s stockings and leaving lots of wonderful gifts for all the children and children at heart.
Charlotte dressed in her Santa outfit, ready to go to Nana'sA little ahead of schedule, we called Nana’s to let them know that we were on our way a little earlier than expected to find that no one was up yet—-I suspect that it was a mad flurry once Nana hung up the phone. While Mommy was getting ready, she noticed that the turkey had started to smoke a little earlier than usual. This turkey is so big that it overhangs the rack so the drippings were likely landing on the cookie pan below and burning. Mommy wondered a few times if she should ask the neighbor to check the turkey periodically so as not to come home to a house full of smoke or worse, in flames. It is little consolation that our alarm company would call my cell phone should the smoke alarm go off—-at that point it would be too late. Mommy checked the turkey one last time and checked that she had her cell phone before leaving the house.
We were on the road before 8 am, arriving at Nana’s before 8:30 am. Kaitlyn, Gregory, and Kristen were anxiously awaiting Charlotte’s arrival at the door so that the opening of gifts could begin. Everyone was anxious to see Charlotte’s reaction to the room filled with gifts. Charlotte was so excited to be with her cousins and immediately wanted to play that I don’t think she really noticed all the presents and the filled stockings. Her cousins quickly fixed that by walking Charlotte to her stocking and showing her all the gifts that Santa had left for her. Charlotte began to run around the room, visiting everyone’s stockings, picking up and looking at different packages. Auntie Dale gave each of the children and women a Santa hat that lights up. Charlotte and Mommy sported theirs most of the day.
Kristen and Gregory, unable to control their excitement any longer, began opening their stockings and gifts from Santa.
This encouraged everyone else to get settled into place beside their respective stockings. As a child, I could never understand why the adults didn’t open their gifts as quickly and as feverishly as we did at the same time—-they were content to sit and watch the children. As an adult, now with a child, I had just as much fun watching the children open their gifts as they did opening them. It is so wonderful to listen to children squeal with delight upon upwrapping something that they really wanted. As usual, the children hate to wait for the adults to finish opening their stockings to then distribute the family gifts.
Charlotte with her cousins Kaitlyn, Gregory, and KristenTo follow tradition, Auntie Dale made some wonderful nibblies to enjoy while we opened gifts. Brunch would follow after all the gifts were opened.
The stockings finished, we moved onto distributing and opening the family gifts. There were many Kodac moments-—Kaitlyn broke into tears of joy and thanks when she received an iPod from her parents; Gregory attacked me with hugs and kisses when he received a telescope from us; Kristen excitedly reported to all a lot of her gifts, but especially her Easy Bake oven from Santa. At one point, I think Charlotte was a little overwhelmed with everything and needed a break—-no amount of coaxing could get her to continue opening her gifts. Kristen helped open some of Charlotte’s gifts while she watched; then, Kaitlyn sat on the floor with Charlotte in her lap and opened a few gifts. For the first time, Charlotte actually showed signs that she wanted to go for a nap. Charlotte drank a bottle while sitting on Daddy’s lap; we thought she might just drift off for a quick nap, but so as not to miss anything, she just watched as the opening of gifts continued. Mommy eventually finished opening Charlotte’s gifts. What a lucky girl—-she received so many lovely gifts. All the children played with Charlotte and her popping ball machine from Santa-—there were lots of squeals of joy and laughter when they played with this toy, chasing the popped balls all over the living room.
At one point, Simba (Mommy's cat that lives with Nana) came to visit and open his stocking on the couch beside Kristen. Charlotte said “kitty” many, many times. It has been a long-standing agreement with Daddy that Charlotte would get the pet (dog or cat) of her choice, whichever word she could say first. When Auntie Dale heard Charlotte say “kitty,” she quickly grabbed a gift bag, put Simba in it, and gave it to Daddy. Daddy was not impressed. This decision will be visited many more times, as Daddy keeps reminded us that the pediatrician said not to introduce a pet until Charlotte is 7 years old.
Once all the gifts were opened, and the living room looked like a bomb had hit it, Charlotte and Daddy were more than ready for a nap. This year we deviated from the traditional brunch of quiche because of Kaitlyn’s sensitivity to milk and milk products and decided to make pancakes and sausage; however, everyone was too tired and full from munching on the many treats throughout the morning that we decided not to.
Mommy and Daddy packed up some of their stuff and headed home to check on the turkey-—Nana and Auntie Dale offered to pack up the rest of our stuff and bring it out when they come for dinner so that we could get on our way. Charlotte fell asleep before we got to the 401 and Mommy wasn’t far behind, occasionally waking up to answer Daddy’s questions. Earlier in the day, Daddy had snuck up to Nana’s bed to catch 40 winks, so he was okay to drive home.
Charlotte woke very briefly while Mommy took off her coat to put her in her crib. Charlotte’s eyes were closed again before Mommy got to her door.
Mommy quickly went downstairs to clean up her wrapping mess in the dining room from the night before and check the turkey. Mommy left the preparation of veggies in Daddy’s capable hands while she went for a nap. Daddy woke Mommy at 5:30 pm—-Charlotte was still asleep, but Daddy had opened her door slightly so that our noise could gently wake her before everyone arrived for dinner. Apparently, Uncle Doug had arrived at 4 pm to find Daddy preparing veggies and everyone else sleeping. Daddy and Uncle Doug visited for a short while until Uncle Doug decided to go and come back at 5:45 when everyone else would be arriving.
Mommy, with a few hours’ nap, felt much better and quickly moved in high gear to get dinner prepared. We all gathered around the dining room table and sang grace—-Johnny Appleseed. Mommy then served sparkling pear juice and toasted Charlotte’s arrival into the family; Nana also added a toast of welcome to another grandchild. Mommy almost got through her toast without tearing up; Auntie Dale joined Mommy in the tears. Everyone then served themselves buffet-style in the kitchen--everything was wonderful. All the children ate very well—-they all love turkey, Charlotte included.
As usual, after dinner, the children and most of the men retired to more comfortable seats while the rest of us remained at the table to chat--the best part of family gatherings. Before Uncle Doug left, the children opened their gifts from him; everyone opened their cards from Nana; and Charlotte opened a few special gifts (delicate tree ornaments) from Nana and Auntie Dale.
Around 11 pm, the family left, exhausted from all the festivities; however, Charlotte was still running around—-she’s like the Energizer bunny. The food put away for another day, the lights out, the doors locked, and Charlotte in bed, Mommy and Daddy crashed for a well-deserved rest. Mommy hopes that Charlotte sleeps-in tomorrow—-she’s had a lot of late nights lately. Mommy has noticed that Charlotte’s sleeping patterns are changing a little. Charlotte used to sleep 12 hours straight, regardless of the time that she was put to bed. If she goes down at 8 pm, then she sleeps until about 8 am the next morning; however, if she goes down later, she still gets up at relatively the same time, sometimes maybe 9ish, but not much later.
Merry Christmas, my little angel!
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