That's All She Wrote

Well I am happy to officially declare that Project Simplify Christmas was a raging success. Even with two sicks kids. Yep, both the girls are sick. I'm not exactly sure what ails them. A headcold, I'm thinking. I was feeling a touch under the weather on Saturday, so bad that I slept until 11 in the morning. Around noon on Christmas Day I noticed Abby had quite a substantial fever. Of course all of the fever reducers in the house were grape flavoured and Abby feels about artificial grape flavouring the same way Joan Crawford feels about wire hangers. Thank goodness for Granny and the Shopper's Drug Mart between her place and ours that was actually open on Christmas Day.



Now even though Abby had specifically requested berry flavoured medicine, she of course, refused to ingest any of it once it was presented to her. I had let her sleep most of the afternoon until she woke up herself around dinner time. Not wanting to get into a huge power struggle/scream fest while our turkey lay drying out on the table I temporarily gave up the fight. Thank goodness for an experienced mother (Granny) being in the house. She suggested I dump a dose of the medicine into Abby's apple juice. Guess what? She was none the wiser. For the first time in recent memory I was able to get medicine into her without her vomiting or spitting it all over me. It was a Christmas miracle. Since then she's taken every dose mixed in juice and never complained. So with regular doses of fever reducer Abby's been okay. She's a tad bit whiny, but nothing crazy.

Now Maya started about midnight Christmas night. Mike was up with her from 12 til 2. Then I got up until 4 am. Yeah, fun times. All day she's been grabbing small snatches of sleep here and there. By and large she'd just like to be held by somebody me. It's anyone's guess how long she'll sleep tonight.

As for gifts well the kids did alright. Okay they were down right spoiled. Abby received lots of board games all of which we have played multiple times. FYI - Buckaroo scares Abby when it "Buckaroos". Also because we apparently enjoy giving our kids gifts that trigger nightmares, Maya's not exactly fond of her Tickle Me Elmo. I, however, think it's hilarious.



The V-Smile was a big hit, although Abby prefers to direct someone else on how to play rather than play herself. Maya was happy with the wrapping paper because it's so yummy. I was thrilled to get a shoe rack from Grandma Linda and Papa. If any of you have seen the state of my closet than you'd fully appreciate my joy. This year was the year of the kitchen. Collectively Mike and I scored a toaster oven, a panini press/contact grill, a set of pasta bowls and a Tassimo machine. Poor Michael was denied at every turn. Every single gift he purchased for me I received from someone else this Christmas.

So what about homemade Christmas? Remember, I had been instructed to make my brother's present this year and he was to make mine. Although he make me a gift he also broke the rules and paid to have my flickr account upgraded to pro. Not that I'm complaining because I really wanted to go pro, but couldn't justify spending the cash.

So here's what I made him.



It's a blessing jar. A place where he can write down his blessings and keep them. Then if he needs a spiritual pick me up he can refer to his blessing jar. I decoupaged some inspirational words on the outside of the jar.

And because he's way more talented than I, this is what he made me:



It's a mixed media piece of Abby and Maya from a picture I took. He also did one of my Grandpa for my Mom. You can check it out on flickr.

Also scoring big points this Christmas was this:



Yep, Abby got her own wheels. We won't talk about the aggravation and bloodshed that Daddy and Papa Mark went through to build it. The battery needs to charge for 18 hours so Abby and Maya had to be content with being pushed around the kitchen in very small circles. By the time Mike gets home from work tomorrow it should be good to go.

Photographic evidence of Christmas located here.