Five days of Christmas: Day Five

Yay, Santa came! He didn't bring a lot this year, but I'm sure he knew how much she already has and how much she would get this year. The black sleeper says "Itty Bitty Boilermaker". From Mommy, she got the first book for her Christmas book collection, The Night Before Christmas. That's something my Mom did with me, and I'm keeping the tradition with her. Her favorite so far has been the Glo Worm. She stares at the face in awe. It plays lullabies, too, and she loves music. She fell asleep last night in her bed staring at it.

After we quickly showed her the Santa gifts, we rushed off to my parents house for our traditional Christmas breakfast. This year we ate first and then let John open his gifts because he had to get off to work. He works 12 hour shifts normally, but he worked 16 on Christmas Eve so the guy relieving him didn't have to come in until 10 and then he worked until 10 Christmas morning so John could have some time with us before going in. I'm glad his buddy agreed to do that for him. Here's John sniffing his present to guess what it is. He's the best guesser I've ever seen. He can't touch his presents until he's ready to open them because he'll guess right every time. This one was a candle and he got the scent exactly right.

Even though John didn't get me my "Red Rider" this year (that's the gift you want most of all), I can't complain because I got the best gift ever, my baby girl.

After John left for work, we finished opening all the gifts and then I got everything all packed up. Jules and I headed over John's Aunt Lurlene's house to be with his extended family. One of John's cousins had a baby less than a month after I had Julia, so it was fun to see them together. We visited for a few hours and then went home to see Daddy when he got off.

Whew! We made it to and through Christmas Day! John caught bits and pieces of some of it, but I did most of the running on my own the last five days. It's especially hard because I have to keep myself from complaining because I know he would rather be with us, too. Working Christmas is not something he does by choice. I guess that's why it makes me crazy when people say, "Oh, John couldn't be here, that's too bad. The money must be nice though." Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for his job and the money, but that's not why he misses Christmas. If it were up to him, he'd be with us. At least this year she is too young to notice. When she's older, it will be hard to explain why Daddy isn't there. Kids don't understand that. But by then I will have prayed that much longer for his job schedule to change. No worries. This Christmas, however, I pulled my hair out. (At least I would have if it wasn't already falling out, but that's another topic altogether. The things they don't tell you about having a baby!) I will admit that I nearly lost my mind. We visited five different houses and tons of people, all of which would have been heartbroken if we hadn't made it to theirs. And it's not that I don't love everyone, too, but somethins gotta give. I could even tell that it was affecting Jules. Way too much fussing over her by day five. Poor thing. She's the kind of baby that likes to just lay on the floor and play, or sit in her swing. She got fed up with being passed around and having her picture taken. (I'm at fault there, too.) We're both glad to be in our home sweet home. Not to be rude to all our hosts and hostesses out there, but there's no place like home. You understand.