Erica’s Blog

[Poppa & Thing Two, yesterday]

Are you the object of my affection?

Nooooo.

No?  Well, then what ARE you?

A girl who farts a lot!

Merry Christmas, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noelle, Froeliche Weinachten (sp?), God Yul…

[Fiber fiends click on "Read More" for some treats...]  For the rest of our Christmas morning pics, see the Yahoo photo album.

We had kind of a weird performance at church today.  It was cute b/c anything with a a bunch of kids on stage is cute, but it was VERY last-minute, and none of the kids had even heard the song before, much less had to sing it, and the angels, etc. didn’t get much coaching.  Anyhow, a bunch of the 1st - 3rd grade kids (Thing One’s class) sang while some 4 - K kids (Thing Two’s class) and others were a sort of Nativity tableau.  Luckily, I’d worn the Pashmina Auntie gave me last year b/c Tyler ended up wearing it on his head to look more authentic (I don’t think Joseph was Filipino/white mix).  Video, such as Hubby was able to get, is here.  Thing Two is the shy angel, believe it or not.  Her friend Jackie is the total ham dancing all over the stage in boots.

MarkyMark, Bobcat & Andrei came over for our usual Christmas Eve dinner & gift exchange.   Just the right amount of food.  And, despite how it looks in the picture, we did NOT drink three bottles of wine!  We drank one and a little of another.   

The kids, of course, were all about the presents. 

MarkyMark & Bobcat liked the book, ornaments, picture frame, and dishcloths we gave them.  I felt bad later when I realized all our gifts were really more for me than Hubby (a printer cart that will be used to organize knitting stuff and a beautiful hand-painted top-whorl spindle!!), but I’m sure I can find a way to make it up to him.

They didn’t stay too late b/c they still had to do some preparations for Bobcat’s family to arrive in the morning for the first Christmas in their remodelled digs.  After the Things were in their jammies, they gave each other their gifts, something we’ve let them do for a few years.  Thing One gave Thing Two a blue light-up top (hard to get a still picture that looks like anything), and Thing Two gave Thing One a pink sweatband/wristband set.  She didn’t know what they were, but she bought them b/c she knew Thing One loved pink.  Funny, eh?

So, now the children are nestled all snug in their beds with no idea of what a sugar plum looks like.  Hubby’s in bed, reading blogs.  Me, I’m waiting till at least 10:00 to go to bed.  Santa certainly won’t come before then; he wouldn’t be able to know for certain that the Things were asleep.  Before then, I need to put the Things’ partial sweaters in bags for them to open tomorrow.  Even though they’re not done, they ARE Christmas presents, so they should be under the tree in some form, dontcha think?

More pictures tomorrow (including the wonderful Morehouse Farms kit that Knitting Magic Girl sent me and the spindle from Bobcat).  Until then, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

P.S.  Knitting Magic Girl, that kit looks like it could be great car knitting for our trip to the snow.   Woot!

We all have our different Christmas traditions, from how and when we decorate our trees (in our house not till around the 10th of December), when we exchange gifts (Hubby’s dad’s side:  Christmas Eve; my family:  Christmas morning), and what we eat for breakfast Christmas Day (waffles!  waffles!  waffles since the year we got married!) to what we do before opening gifts, if anything (family “Happy Birthday, Jesus” devotional).

Well, at this point, I might as well face it.  Our family has a tradition we’ve been loth to admit:  illness.  Yupp.  It doesn’t happen every year, but it seems more like Christmas when someone in our family is sick.  Last year, as you may remember, it was Thing Two’s turn to be sick. This year, well, it’s my turn.  Yupp.  Tuesday morning, I woke up with a hnkhnh in my throat.  By Wednesday afternoon, I was fighting a fever.  The fever never quite caught me, but I’m still feeling lousy.  At this very moment, Hubby & the Things are at Big Mike’s celebrating with their family, Rick/Adri and the boys.  Feh.  I managed to do some dishes & some laundry and a lot of vegging.  As soon as I get the sheets through the dryer, I’m taking some more Sudafed and going back to bed.  Feh.

As traditions go, I think I prefer the waffles…

Thing One had an unfair advantage:  her classmate’s dad is a manager for Red Ribbon Bakery (ya gotta say that with a Filipino accent), so he scored the Disney stuff.  I’d still say Thing Two’s is great for kindergarten, eh?

This is Baby Kelly.  Baby Kelly is doing a bit of cross-dressing today and modeling a hat made for Thomas, a little newborn guy currently living in the Intensive Care Nursery at UCSF, awaiting surgery next week to move his liver and intestines back into his abdomen where they belong and fix his hernia.

Show us the front view, please, Kelly.

Thank you, dear.  Now, let’s see the decrease pattern on top.

Nice.  Finally, let’s get a look at the seed stitch detail.

Thank you, Kelly.  We’re done for now.  You can go back to whatever it is you do in there when Thing One is at school.  Oh, and Kelly?  Put some clothes on, would you, honey?

Please say a prayer or two for little Thomas.  He needs this surgery to survive.  They’re just waiting to give his kidneys time to recover b/c having his liver & intestines back in his abdomen (they’re currently up in his chest cavity, pushing on one of his lungs, which hasn’t had a chance to develop to normal size b/c of this).  His parents (friends of a former co-worker of mine) are basically living in a room down the hall from the Intensive Care Nursery right now.  We, of all people, understand how scary this is for them.  The one reassurance is that they’re in the best possible hands being at UCSF.

And next is the sophisticated Thing Two, illustrating the progress to date on Girlfriend’s School Spirit Sweater (a.k.a. her “something to wear” Christmas present*).

* From an online article I read a few years ago about not over-buying at Christmas for your kids.  The writer suggested getting them something to read, something to play with, and something to wear.  As far as OUR gifts for them (as opposed to Santa’s), we’re pretty much sticking to that this year.  Our kids get gifts from SO many people (three sets of grandparents, multiple aunts and uncles, friends, unexpected places, etc.) that we really don’t need to give them much.  Oh, and at our house Santa doesn’t bring big stuff.  He tends to bring stuff like personalized Christmas ornaments and dollar-store type stuff and lets us get credit for the good stuff, like Barbies.

The handsome guy in that first picture is Suzanne’s pal who donated the other half of the chromosomes to create this adorable baby (Don’t get any ideas, ladies; he swings the other direction.).