Is anybody else surprised it's already December? I was talking to a friend yesterday and I realized that our weekends are chock full of Christmas celebrations until.... well New Year's. That's just visiting and get togethers, that doesn't include things like finishing up the shopping, wrapping, baking and tree decorating. It all seems pretty overwhelming when you look at the big picture. Looking at them all individually I'm looking forward to all of them.
Yesterday Abby went and did some Christmas shopping with Grandma Linda. According to Grandma it was actually an okay experience despite Abby's lack of a nap and the fact that Grandma wasn't going to buy her the big expensive toy she wanted. After work Dad helped Mike get our tree and then we tried to get Abby to head for home. Well these days, according to Abby, being anywhere is better than being at home. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that Daddy only has one good hand and Mommy instantly falls asleep whenever she happens to sit down. We don't make very interesting company these days. So as when we try and leave anywhere lately Abby throws herself into temper tantrum mode. Now missing her nap, having so much fun at Papa and Grandma's and just generally being over full with Christmas spirit it was turning into a tantrum of epic proportions. Usually I make her sit somewhere until she calms down, but the odds of that happening in the near future appeared to be slim. So I scooped her up under my arm and headed for the door. Dad attempted to get her into her coat, but I knew it was going to be an excersize in futility.
So out the door I went with Abby screaming to wake the dead, no boots on, no coat and under my arm like a sack of potatoes. She actually went into her seat easily enough. Usually when she's that pissed off she pretends to be a plank of wood, stiffening her body so there's no chance in hell your ever going to get her seat belt on. Mike tried to cheer her up a little bit by playing the theme to the Dukes of Hazzard, but that only made her scream more. Now doesn't that sound like an enjoyable ride? I mean listening to the Duke's theme is bad enough under normal circumstances. Good thing for us we're only 5 minutes from home.
When we arrived home Abby wasn't getting out of the van. So I managed to pry her out and under my arm she went again. She tends to kick when she gets that worked up and I wasn't too keen on taking a shot to the belly at this point in time. As soon as we were in the back door I set her down expecting her collapse in a heap on the floor. So was so worked up that she ran for the closet and grabbed Mike's work shoes and then heaved them both across the room. That little job taken care of she took off running through the house. Mike was curious to see how this "train wreck" was going to end. She ran all the way upstairs to her room and slammed the door. Wow, how advanced is she? Only 3 and a half and already acting like a teenager. The good news for us is once she's in her room she's stuck there. She has one of the child proof handles on her side of the door to keep her safe at night if she sleep walks.
By this point it seemed to me she needed a moment by herself, so we left her up there. After a moment or two I could hear, what I could only guess to be her books, being thrown with much force against her door. After a few minutes the throwing adn the screaming seemed to be winding down so I headed up to check on the little Princess. Some how I managed to push the door and the stack of books that was against it open only to find my daughter sitting on her bed with not a stitch of clothing on. Yep, she was that mad! So mad she had to get naked. She was worn out and very contrite by this point. We had a talk and she explained that she was tired and didn't want to come home from Grandma and Papa's house and that she was sorry. So after a little hug we went back downstairs and she apologized to Mike and then we called Grandma to say sorry to her as well. Then it was time for jammies and we got her to lay down on the couch.
By the time all the drama was finished it was 5:15 pm and I had a Christmas get together to be at by 6 pm. Good thing it was only next door so I was able to get in a shower and have a very short sit down before heading out. Abby was a little whiny when I left, but she didn't give Mike too much trouble. The get together last night was a neighbourhood girl's night. Big get togethers with people I don't really know isn't something I do very well. I'm better in a much smaller group. I'm rather on the shy side. I did have a nice time overall, the food was great and it was nice to be out doing something different. Karen had organized a secret Santa exchange and I came home with 3 large coffee mugs and some hot chocolate that I'm told is out of this world. Dave you'll be happy to hear it's even fair trade hot chocolate.
By the time I "waddled" home at 11:30 pm Mike had the tree in the stand and the lights were all in place. What a sweetheart! Abby and I spent today decorating it. Every year my Mom buys us all hallmark ornaments so our tree is a real reflection of our personalities. There's Tonka toys and Nascar stuff for Mike, Barbie dolls and Gone With the Wind for me and for Abby there's Dora and horses. Every box Abby opened was like a treasure to her. Oh Mommy look at this one, it's beautiful. Whenever she came across one of her ornaments, like her Dora, she started to scream and jump up and down like she was a contestant on the Price is Right. Mike's always said that ornaments are a useless present and I should tell my Mom to stop buying them for him, but who do you think was in the ornament box today digging through to find "his" ornaments to hang on the tree? So after watching him do that and Abby being so excited she could barley stand still I think he's partially right, the ornament on it's own is a pretty useless present, but it was the ornaments that helped us make a family memory today.
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