Merry and Happy (and Tired)

Well it's technically Christmas Eve (Happy Birthday Dad!) and I'm about to go fall into bed. Before I do, I will try to remember to charge the battery for our video camera because tomorrow I'm going to have a serious conversation with Harper about the red-suited jolly fat man. Her take on Santa is pretty hilarious these days.

We have lots of Christmas books which we've been reading nearly every day. Combine that with a healthy dose of holiday music, decorations, and not one, but two, holiday DVDs starring Elmo and we've done a pretty good job of hyping the child up for the 25th. She fully expects that tomorrow night, once it gets "gark" (dark) Santa and his team will be landing on our roof, Santa will come down the chimney, boots first, and leave presents by our Christmas tree. She also expects that Santa will eat some cookies, which she has instructed me, more than once, to leave on the table. We must also leave him something to "grink." Cookies make you thirsty, you know? Oh, did you know Santa will be bringing a bag of presents to our house and that bag will also have a reindeer in it? That little nugget is courtesy of Elmo Saves Christmas. I keep trying to explain that, usually, the reindeer just wait on the roof. Harper disagrees. Then I remember that she is two and will figure it all out in her own time -- extended discussions about reindeer are probably unnecessary. I'm pretty excited to see if Harper is thrilled on Christmas morning, when she sees the gifts, or if she'll just treat it like it's matter-of-fact. I'd put my money on excited, since she still "wow!"s 90% of the time when I flip the Christmas tree lights on.

We've been so busy getting everything ready for the holidays that I haven't taken a new photo of Harper in nearly two weeks. Don't worry, I can assure you there will be a giant photo onslaught in the next few days.

Tomorrow night it's Christmas Eve Mass, then dinner with Nana, Dziatku, Aunt Meaghan, and Auntie M. Potato soup at our house, followed by riotous games once Harper is asleep. Monday we'll open Santa gifts, then head to Nana and Dziatku's to open more gifts, then take a nap break, then head to Cincinnati for dinner and a gift exchange at Aunt Patty's. On Wednesday we'll head up to Wisconsin and continue the festivities from there. By the time we finish, we'll have celebrated Christmas about five times. We'll all be exhausted.

Since I don't have a photo of Harper, here's a picture of some of the loot that's been wrapped at our house. None of Harper's gifts are included in these piles. If you are one of the lucky ones to be exchanging gifts with us in the next few days, can you guess which one(s) is yours?


I'm really looking forward to a Christmas morning in our own home, now that Harper is old enough to appreciate Santa a little. Two years ago we were here, but she was merely weeks old. Last year we celebrated in Wisconsin over the actual Christmas holiday.

December 2004

December 2005

Oh, I forgot to mention, in the midst of all this craziness, there will also be football! Family, friends, good food, presents, game playing, and football all crammed on to one fabulous week. I will go to sleep tonight hoping for a new year miracle win for the Packers over the Bears and grabbing that last wild card spot in the playoffs. What could be better?

Merry and happy to you and yours!