Christmas Day in the (very early) Morning

"A froggie! It's what I always wanted!!!"*

And with that, Christmas Day officially began.

The day unofficially began when Cameron arrived at our bedside sometime before solar dawn. He was told to take himself back to bed in no uncertain terms. The next kid to appear was Claire, dragging her Purple Blanket, who climbed in next to her dad and promptly went back to sleep. Next was Aeron, who wanted to know if it was now Christmas Day. When I told her yes, she squealed with joy, climbed into the bed and started to shake me, saying, "Mama! Come on! Time to open presents!!! Come on!!"

I managed to stall for a few more minutes by asking Aeron to go tell her sister Kayla it was finally Christmas Day. The little girl scampered off and Miles, Claire and I got a few more minutes of horizontal. But Aeron came back rather quickly, saying Kayla told her it was too early and to go away. Then Cameron was back, and as it was (barely) daylight, we surrendered to the inevitable. Cameron was instructed to go turn on the coffee maker and we sent Aeron back to roust Kayla.

We had a lovely time opening gifts, with lots of squeals and shouts from the younger 3. Gifts of clothing and books and a few toys and gadgets were opened and exclaimed over. A few photos were taken.

Pam was supposed to roust Terry and Trevor and come to our house to have brunch and open more gifts. As of 9:30am, someone who shall remain nameless still wasn't out of bed. So, we decided to pack up our show and take it down to SLO. We got out the door in record time and descended on the San Luis Clarks.

Santa bags were opened and more oohs and ahhs were heard. Then I took a break to get the cinnamon rolls in the oven, along with my veggie strata. Once the cooking chores were done, we moved on to the living room, to open more gifts. Everyone was very pleased with the wonderful presents. Then, weary from opening Christmas gifts, we repaired to the dining room to stuff ourselves silly with brunch. So silly in fact, no one wanted dinner that evening.

The older two went off to their mom's house and they rest of us had some downtime. I had a nap, since I hadn't gotten to sleep until sometime after 2am that morning. When Miles returned from delivering Kayla and Cam to Atascadero, we plunked the little girls in front of the video babysitter. And opened still yet more gifts (I'm so glad we cut back this year....)

When the Templeton Clarks finally crawled home, we were all tired and mellow after a happy day.

* Claire found a frog bath sponge in her stocking. Aeron got a duckie.

The run up to Christmas

Ah, the holiday season! The cookie-baking, decorating the tree, the shopping.... Followed by the sweeping the flour off the floor, sweeping up the shattered glass ornaments, the scrabble to find receipts....

Every year, Miles and I wonder how we can possibly recapture the magic of the Christmases of our youth. When is it going to "feel like Christmas"? I have come to the conclusion that it simply ain't gonna happen.

See, now, we're the grownups. It's our job to do the work so our kids can enjoy the season.

This year Claire & Aeron are really aware and enjoying the whole Christmas shtick. They were thrilled to get our tree, sobbed when told we had to wait for Daddy to set up the tree in the living room, gleefully pulled lights and ornaments out of boxes, and stuffed Santa hats on their heads. They have decorated gingerbread cookies with globs of frosting and sprinkles and been found hiding in the kitchen, eating those cookies when they weren't supposed to. (how long before they figure out it's the frosting on their faces that gives 'em away?) I've decided I can't possibly put any gifts under the tree yet; their little heads will explode with excitement, then they would tear them open.

Kayla seems pretty indifferent to the whole thing. She's got other stuff to worry about; her social life, the Mock Trial team, buckets of homework, climate change. Cameron is still got the little kid attitude. He's having a great time with the Advent Calendar Chris & Caitlin sent, he fusses when our kitten pulls ornaments off the tree, he goes to school wearing his Santa hat.

Another reason not to put gifts under the tree; Mitzi. She is having the time of her young kitten life pouncing on just about everything. Most mornings there are a half-dozen ornaments on the floor. Any scrap of paper or ribbon is a cat toy. The tree is also very pounce-worthy; I have asked Miles to secure the tree to the wall just in case Mitzi tries to climb it.

It's also a sad time of year for the Kurths and related clans. We've lost quite a few family members in the last years, all between Thanksgiving and Christmas. My grandmother, my uncle and my mom. The year my mother died, we lost two in one week; Mom and Great-Uncle Hazen. So, for me, the holidays are rather bittersweet. I'm never going have a Thanksgiving or Christmas like I had when I was a kid. I need to make new family memories. But now, I'm the adult. It's quite an adjustment.

That said, we have a nice holiday planned. Trevor arrives tomorrow and will be in San Luis for two weeks. Christmas Eve we will have the traditional Clark Enchilda feed, followed by the family church service at Atascadero UMC. I'm singing again this year; it'll be interesting to see if my girls can hold it together during the service. Then Christmas morning, Pam, Terry and Trevor will come to our house to open gifts and have brunch. The cherry on top will be a visit from the Dodges for New Year's Eve.

It's not like it was. But that's ok.

Stalling tactics

Aeron and Claire have reached the phase where they will do just about anything they can think of to stall at bedtime. This past Thanksgiving weekend, we had house guests, a couple of folks my girls are very fond of. Bedtime, thus, became a real challenge.

The girls were down, and the grownups were sitting downstairs, enjoying a well-deserved glass of wine. Rare, stimulating conversation having nothing to do with child-rearing was being had by the fire, when Claire calls out from her room. Due to architecture, it's quite easy to hold a conversation between the girls' room and the living room.

"Mom! I have to tell you something"

"What, Clairezie?"

"Mom! I'm looking at this book, and these bugs are really cool! I wanna show you!"

"Show me in the morning, Clairezie."

There is a pause as she considers this. "Okay. Nite Mom!"

Our guests grin at the exchange, then we again start talking about grown-up things. (I used more polysyllabic words this past weekend than I have in years...)

20 minutes later, I see movement out of the corner of my eye, near the stairs. I'm pretty sure I know who's lurking.

"What are you doing, little girl?" Claire shuffles over to the sofa, insect book in hand, trying to look worried, yet, a little smirk keeps appearing on her face. Like she's out-smarted Mama.

"Mom. This book... look, see this bug?" pointing to the picture of a potato bug, eyes wide.

"Yeah."

"It's freaking me out!"

a famous question

Back in the day when I had cable, I was a huge fan of "Inside the Actor's Studio". Not because I ascribe to "the Method" (quite the opposite, actually) but because I loved to watch James Lipton interview some of the very best in the business. Lipton is known for doing two weeks of research on each guest, and also, famously asks a series of questions that he lifted from Bernard Pivot, who pinched it from Proust.

1. What is your favorite word?
2. What is your least favorite word?
3. What turns you on?
4. What turns you off?
5. What sound or noise do you love?
6. What sound or noise do you hate?
7. What is your favorite curse word?
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
9. What profession would you not like to do?
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

It was my favorite part of the program. (Question 7 always prompts the guest to ask "can I say it on cable?" When Lipton reassures his guest that it's cool to cuss, they invariably let fly with relish!) But it's the last question that interests me the most. I've given this a lot of thought and here's what I've come up with:

"Hey there, Jen! Glad to see ya! The Library of All Knowledge is right through there; there's fresh Peet's coffee and California wine available at all times. Choir practice is at 7pm on the biggest cloud. Welcome home."

So, how would you answer?

Clueless

Here's the scene: Sunday morning, about 7am. The morning light coming softly through the window, birds chirping gently, warm, snoozing husband in the bed next to me. All is right with the world....then, the kitten pounces on my face.

I thrash up from under the covers, pushing the spaz kitten off of me and notice Aeron standing next to the bed.

"Good morning, Mama!" she chirps.

"Aeron, honey." I flop back down into the pillows. "Mama is still sleeping. Please go read a book or something in the other room."

"I want you, Mama!" she insists.

"Aeron. I'm still sleeping, go into the other room. "

"But, Mama.....", loudly. Miles isn't making a sound, the faker.

"Aeron, you're disturbing me. Go into the other room."

"I won't disturb you!" at high volume.

"You're disturbing me now."

"I'm not gonna disturb you!!" at even higher volume.

Finally, I sit up in bed, give her "the look" and point towards the door. Aeron runs out of the room and begins to cry and wail for Daddy.

"Boy. She just doesn't get a clue, does she?" remarks the lump on the other side of the bed. Then the kitten pounces on my face again.

Select photos of the Uber-Cuties.

At the butterfly exhibit at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum.

With Uncle Chris.

With Lucie-Bug Dodge.

On the way to school.

Super Gra-Maw

For those who read my blog or are my friend on Facebook, you will no doubt be aware of how much grief the little girls have been giving me lately. They are willful, and argumentative, they dawdle slower than a iceberg, they ask incessant questions. And at the risk of repeating myself, there are two of 'em!

It just seems to get harder and harder. 3 was much worse than 2, and 4 is worse than 3!

So, this was the state of affairs at the Clark homestead by Sunday afternoon: the weekend had been brutal. The girls had been eating amazing amounts of sugar all weekend (Halloween, you know) and they were constantly pleading for more. Claire refused to nap, and so was fractious and sobbing at the drop of a hat. I was trying to get dinner prepped, our new kitten Mitzi was very ill with a nasty upper respiratory infection and the girls wouldn't leave her alone. I was about ready to go bang my head on the wall when......

Super Gra-Maw arrived!

My father-in-law had left town, so Pam was having dinner and spending the night. She walked in and was immediately tackled by Claire and Aeron. When the girls would fuss, for instance, where who was gonna sit where at the dining table, Pam would step in and calmly resolve the problem.

We had a nice Sunday dinner. Afterwards, Pam started in on the dishes and shooed Miles and I out the door to take a walk. We had a nice walk in the moonlight and by the time we got back, she had the girls in the tub and all the dishes washed. More evidence of her super-powers: the twins were fussing about having a bath, so Gra-Maw asked if they wanted to have a "pool party". With bubbles! The girls practically dove into the tub.

After the party, Gra-Maw shoveled the girls into clean jammies, and read a whole bunch of books. After we tucked 'em in, there was some fussing, but Super Gra-Maw nipped it in the bud.

The next morning, the girls were fed, dressed and out the door in record time. Super Gra-Maw not only helped with the morning routine, she also had the girls make their beds! I even was able to eat some breakfast before taking the girls to school; that never happens.

If only I could get her to move in......