Thursday, December 25, 2008

Wake Up, Sleepyheads!

Why am I sitting alone by the Christmas tree?
I've moved the kids' bedtimes back since school break began, and let the kids sleep a little later each day. I didn't want the kids to wake up too early on Christmas morning and have half the gifts unwrapped by the time I came downstairs. I gave them a little lecture last night, "If you wake up before Mom and Dad, you can open your stocking gifts and nothing else!"
But it's 7:30 a.m. and the kids are still fast asleep, and I'm getting tired of waiting for them. Santa left you some stuff, guys, come and get it! Or maybe I'll just eat the chocolates and play with the little RC cars - not that I would know what's in their stockings....

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

We Are the Grizwolds - Our Own National Lampoon Thanksgiving Vacation

I almost cancelled our Thanksgiving vacation, because we were all sick. But I thought, "What if we wake up tomorrow and feel better, and we've disappointed my family for no good reason?"
Now I'm thinking I should have listened to my first instincts. The kids got over their colds, but both suffered from upset stomachs over the weekend, and our daughter threw up. Our dog peed and pooped in my mom's house several times (in one of the few carpeted rooms, of course) and my husband and I were sniffling, sneezing, sucking on cough drops, and trying not to touch anyone. Even though he was already sick, my husband's allergies were made worse by my parents' cats. Every night was a Nyquil night, and it was still hard to sleep.
And then, on our way home, I drove our van into a ditch, rolled it, and totalled it. Our big holiday purchase ended up being a new car, and I'm sure only a small part of that will be covered by insurance.
On the positive side, no one was hurt in the car crash. And because I crashed only 30 miles from my parents' house, they got to pick us up and spend an extra day with their grandchildren while we bought the car.
Which is good, because we may never visit them again. Ever. We have bad holiday karma, so for now on I'm staying home!