Ouch!

Yesterday, an unhappy event occured. Baby B got an injury that required the application of his very first Band-aid. Okay, I'll admit, it wasn't his very first, but it was the first one for an injury and not a medical procedure. He has had bandages to stop the flow of blood from blood withdrawals (poor thing had to have his bilirubin levels checked multiple times during his first few days), immunizations, and the PKU. He's not a fan of the plastic strips either! Now, let me get to the story behind this momentous yet sad event.... P Man was playing on the floor in his room with his new Thomas the Tank Engine train set. Baby B sauntered in and began tearing up the tracks his older brother just laid down. Normally, P Man is patient with his baby brother. He will come straight to us if Baby B is bothering him, get a different toy in hopes Baby B will trade him, or simply lets the toy snatching slide. I don't know why all the usual reactions were disregarded during this particular act of toy thievery, but P Man lashed out. P Man lashed out bad! He picked up a piece of the train track and smacked his baby brother on the forehead with it. Baby B's blood curdling screams were heard throughout the apartment. At first, Patrick and I just looked at each other, and at the same time, inquired (with dread in our voices) about what P Man had done now.... Seconds later, Miss B comes racing into the room begging us to come in quick because everything was getting red! I thought she had said "wet," and jumped up thinking there was some sort of spill. Patrick beat me into the bedroom, and soon asked for my assistance. He brought a bloodied Baby B to me and begged me to clean up (whenever I am around, blood clean up duty is mine). I scooped up our screaming son and placed him gently on the kitchen counter next to the sink. I grabbed a paper towel, held it under warm running water, and began gently wiping the blood that had run down Baby B's left eye, cheek, and chin. I then delicately dabbed at the gash in his forehead. His sobs were calming as I scooped him up again and placed him down next to the stove so I could get a Band-aid out of the cupboard. Despite my husband's confusion, I asked for the camera and snapped some pictures of my youngest child's first big "boo-boo."

The Reason for the Season

Now that I have covered the commercial aspect of the holiday, I would like to express how grateful I am for the true reason for the season, how grateful my husband is, and the pride we both feel knowing our sweet, innocent little ones talk about our dear Lord and Savior like He is their best friend. As a child, I grew up in a home with conflicting religious views (my mother is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, my father is agnostic). My siblings and I looked forward to Christmas every year. All the presents, Santa Claus, and family gatherings. We also knew why Christmas was such an important holiday. We knew it was to celebrate the birth of Christ. We also knew just how important His birth was for us as well as for all of mankind. I truly believe both aspects of Christmas can exist together as long as the true meaning is emphasized as much as possible. Fast forward to now: I wanted my children to be excited for Christmas. I wanted them to feel the magic of the holiday season and to be happy about their presents. I also wanted them to remember Christ and to feel thankful to our Heavenly Father for sending us His Son. What greater love is there? Miss B's knowledge of the reason for the season is remarkable. She can tell the story of the first Christmas in detail (well, as detailed as one can expect from a 5 year old). This is her rendition: Mary has an angel come see her. The angel tells her she's going to have a baby. The Father of the baby is God. The angel visits Joseph too, and tells him his girlfriend is pregnant with Jesus. Joseph and Mary go to Bethlehem, but nobody can let them in to their houses or hotels, so they stay in a stable. Jesus is born, and Mary puts him in a manger. A big star in the sky tells everyone the Savior has been born, and people travel to see Jesus. Pretty good, huh? P Man, who is nearly 3, will excitedly exclaim to anyone who asks that "Chismas is Jesus' birfday!" Baby B was probably the sweetest of all. The innocence and genuine delight displayed by children his age can melt even the hardest of hearts. Throughout the month, he would often take the children's story off of our nativity scene table in the living room and ask one of us to read it to him. It was a short story depicting the birth of Christ. He would get so excited and his adorably sweet blue eyes would light up whenever we came to the part where the baby Jesus was laying in the manger. He would point to Him and say: "Mama! Babee Eee-Sus!" Now, if that isn't one of the sweetest things in the world, I don't know what is! Nothing makes my husband and I happier than knowing we are raising our children to love
Jesus the way we do and to try to follow in His footsteps! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Christmas Day

Christmas morning got off to a bit of a late start. Sleep the night before was interrupted by a sad 2 year old insisting on sleeping in his parent's bed and later by a 5 year old who had a nightmare. Patrick got up with the kids and fed them (and kept them away from the gifts) until I finally managed to convince myself to get out from under the covers and meander on out. I heard from my husband that our youngest was fully aware of what went on in our home the night before. As soon as he saw the presents under the tree, he started calling out for Santa. We passed out the children's stockings and let them rummage through for the candy and little presents before handing out the big stuff under the tree. Each child got to open their presents one at a time, and much to our surprise, were very courteous toward each other and patiently waited for their turn. Once all the gifts were unwrapped, opened, assembled, and the garbage tossed out, P Man looked troubled. I actually expected this reaction from his older sister.... Before I continue, I should include a back story so my son's sad reaction to all the Christmas presents will make sense... In October, we were looking at toys at the store, and the kids came across a display case at the end of one of the aisles. Inside was a purple robot-looking thing called a Fijit Friend. When the button on the display case was pushed, the toy's face lit up, it spoke in an anamatronic voice, and the body moved around. I thought the toy was annoying, and to be perfectly honest, a bit creepy. When I saw the price tag, I just shook my head. I couldn't fathom spending $40 on a toy that didn't come with any accessories or do anything. From then on, every time we went to that store (or any other store with toys), our two oldest children begged us to let them see the Fijits and push the button on the display cases. It soon became clear the Fijit Friends were going to be the hot toy for the upcoming holiday season because they were just flying off the shelves. After doing some research (and by research, I mean taking one of the boxes off the shelf at the store and reading it), we discovered the Fijit Friends were interactive toys that respond to key words and phrases. They dance (to built in music as well as external), can chat with their BFF (the child who owns them), and tell jokes. As you can imagine, Miss B decided she wanted one and was determined to ask Santa to bring her a Fijit. Soon after, P Man just had to have one too. At first, we were adamantly against it, especially for P Man. The box said the toy was for children 6 and up, and he's not even 3... Near the end of November, we broke down and purchased one for Miss B. We had to go to 5 different stores just to find one, and were lucky enough to snatch up the very last one at Toys R Us. When we got home that night, a card from my husband's grandparents was waiting for us in the mail box. Inside the envelop along with the card was a note explaining how they were sending us $50 for each one of our children to help out with their Christmas presents. His grandmother wrote about how special the holiday is for little ones, and we should tell them the gifts bought with the money are from Santa. We could have used the money for something else, but we decided to use it for what his grandparents intended. After discussing things, we went on a search for a second Fijit Friend. Now, back to Christmas Day.... P Man was troubled. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me he was sad because Santa didn't bring him a Fijit. He was happy about his other gifts, but was still let down because he didn't get the one thing he had been asking for and wanted most. Then, Daddy got a surprise call from Big Red (aka Mama's cell phone). Santa informed Patrick that he hid 2 very special presents for Miss B and P Man. Patrick retrieved the presents from our bedroom, and the looks on our two oldest children's faces just made our day. They were so excited and so happy to tear off the paper and find a Fijit Friend staring up at them. The remainder of the holiday was spent playing with toys and watching movies until we bundled up and headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Morgan's house for dinner.

Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve when I was a child was spent having dinner at my maternal grandparent's home followed by a smaller get together with my paternal grandparents at their home where we would open our presents. My paternal grandfather passed away in November of 2002, and that was the year everything changed. We decided to no longer attend the Christmas Eve dinner and opted to invite my widowed grandmother to our house instead. This new tradition became the norm for our family, but was disregarded this year due to a strange occurrence. Over the summer, Miss B developed a sudden and completely unexpected allergy. She spent the night at my parent's house, and she had a runny nose, watery/itchy eyes, and was sneezing like crazy. At first, my mother thought she was coming down with a cold. I was sure this was not the case because she had been right as rain when we dropped her off. The following day, we showed up with allergy medication, and within an hour, all her symptoms were gone. We concluded she must have been allergic to something in the house, and after a few more visits to Grandma's house, we knew it was a dog allergy. My parents have 4 dogs with a ton of hair, and our poor little girl is miserable within 15min of being in the house with them. Needless to say, Christmas Eve dinner had to be relocated so she wouldn't have to suffer through her allergies (or be drowsy from allergy medication) during such a special holiday. Christmas Eve dinner was held at our place this year, and I have to say, we actually preferred being home. Although all the mess from dinner and opening presents completely destroyed the once immaculate state of our home, we loved not having to deal with the hassle of packing everyone and everything into the van. In addition, I also enjoyed being able to spend the evening in my “comfy pants” and with bare feet. Dinner was delicious and the clean up was a breeze. Present opening went by quicker than expected, and the rest of the evening was spent putting together and playing with toys, decorating cookies for Santa, and modeling adorable new jammies. Once my family left, we turned on the television and were instantly reminded of the annual tradition of ABC showing the Sound of Music (one of my personal favorites). We (well, mostly just I) watched an hour of the movie before sending the kids off to bed. The boys fell asleep almost instantly, but it took nearly an hour and a half for our oldest's eyes to close. We set out the presents, arranged the cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer on a plate, and settled in to watch a movie.

Family Dinner

On the 16^th, we had my brother and his family over for dinner and gift exchange. The kids always have a blast with Kaydance and Jacob, and bless their hearts, those two are so patient with our little ones. The dinner went better than I expected. It was my first time cooking a full meal for more than just our family. The kiddos loved the toys and soft blankets they received from a very thoughtful auntie and uncle.

Tree Lot

Earlier this afternoon, we took the kids to a nearby Christmas tree lot. Baby boy is fascinated with pine trees, and his older siblings find them pretty awesome as well. The great thing about this particular lot are the special friends.... 3 live reindeer! They were nice enough to take the female out of the enclosed pen so the kids could get up close and pet her. Miss B and P Man were absolutely thrilled to be able to touch a "Santa Deer." Baby boy was so excited to be so close to an animal and to walk through the rows of fresh trees.

Halford Family Christmas Party

On the 10th, my mother's side of the family gathered in Tooele at my grandparent's home for our yearly Christmas party. When I was a child, we would all get together on Christmas Eve at the grandparent's house and again on Christmas Day at our house or my aunt's place. As the family grew and changed, new traditions were made. We now all come together before Christmas so we can all celebrate the season as a family. The kids just had a blast! Here are the pictures: