Christmas Elves

I've heard people say that when you have children, you have more elaborate holidays. Apparently those people have children who are somewhat older than ours! This year, we didn't send any Christmas cards (sorry, y'all), didn't get the outside lights up here in Florida, only got the tree decorated thanks to Auntie Erin, and didn't even walk around to see the neighborhood luminaries! Nonetheless, it was a wonderful Christmas. We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner with family friends, and enjoyed having the family together for Christmas morning and the boys' first Christmas. (We are so happy and grateful for the gift of these babies -- we wouldn't have needed anything else!)

What else have we been up to this holiday? Well, the babies managed to catch their first cold -- perhaps inevitable with their toddler cousin walking around with a runny nose and cough. (Toddlers are not known for their excellent hand-washing skills, nor for covering their mouths when they cough.) Matthew had a fever one night (only 99.9 on the ear thermometer, but we're not sure if we believed it) and wasn't sleeping well, which led to a call to the after-hours nurse and a 3 AM run to the pharmacy for children's Tylenol. And the next night James had a runny nose and was very congested, so Mike did a 5 AM run to the pharmacy for a nose syringe. We were kicking ourselves because we have both of those at home, and we're already traveling with a Tupperware container full of medical supplies and a bag of prescription drugs, so it would have been so easy to throw those in (and the diaper cream, too)! Next time we'll know. :) James still has some congestion, but Mattie isn't really showing any symptoms beyond the occasional sniffle. I am so relieved we didn't have to go to the ER for Christmas!

On the more fun side, my parents made an appointment for Mike and I to go get massages while we were here -- ahhh, so wonderful! We also took advantage of the time away to do a bit of Christmas shopping. :)

The Wii has been fun for the whole family, except for the dogs. Unfamiliar as they are with virtual bowling, they are not used to people suddenly lunging forward and swinging their arms down for no apparent reason. At least two of the pups were accidentally bonked on the head in the midst of gameplay!

Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas.

[Top picture is James, bottom is Matthew.]