This Christmas vacation has been an exercise in family bonding and a test to the depth of my sanity. The girls got an early start on the vacation because what was supposed to be the last day of school before vacation turned out to be canceled because of the weather. The girls now are so confused what day it is and wake up every day asking if it is Saturday.
We hosted my whole family for Christmas at our house. Turns out that is a great way to heat your house - 39 people in a room. The house looked like a certified disaster area afterwards but it was worth it. The nieces and nephews had a hayday dressing up. Mary's daughter Rachel crammed herself into the pink Power Ranger suit (and kept her clothes on underneath so it was a really tight fit) all day while Susan's daughter Lena pranced around in a blue princess dress. The only mishap we had was when K got into S's "High School Musical" perfume and sprayed herself in the eyes. She came to me squinting and crying...it was time the perfume found a hiding place anyway. S was putting more on every five minutes until I thought I was going to have to pass out gas masks or fumigate the house.
The girls were also a little out of sorts because the sleeping arrangements were different. Add to that some bad storms which, combined with the holiday chaos, made K wake up at 2:30 AM and would not go back to sleep. I stumbled out to look at Weather Channel Desktop and mumbled to Darren that there was a tornado watch. K must have overheard me because when I asked her the next morning if the storms had scared her, she said, "Yes, there was a TOMATO coming. We need to lock the doors so the POTATO doesn't get in." Yes, fruits and starches can be nasty intruders.
We capped off the time with my family by staying in a local hotel so the kids could swim. This was a first or near first time experience for S and K. They have never had swimming lessons but have been "practicing" in the bathtub. When they first came, they were deathly afraid of water on their face or in their ears or in their eyes. You can imagine the shrieks at shampoo time. But they actually caught on very quicky. Jeff's wife Bethany used to swim for a local college and she spent some time with them at the hotel. They got blue swim caps, goggles and suits for Christmas so they looked quite hilarious...the swim caps pushed their eyes down and the goggles pushed their eyes up so they looked Asian.
Later on, S was gloating at how good she had become at swimming and proudly proclaimed at the dinner table that she could "swim like a bar maid". I'm going to assume she meant a "mermaid" but if not, hope she can swim over here and bring me a chilled glass of Moscato D'Asti...for my stomach's infirmities, of course. Or maybe just to cope with the remaining days of Christmas chaos...I mean, vacation.
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