Christmas 2009

We had an awesome, though hectic Christmas.  We are in the middle of a kitchen remodel.  We thought we would be getting wood floors on the 15th of December.  Because I didn't want to put decorations up and then have to move them, only to put them back again, I put off decorating.  As most people who have done any sort of remodeling know, what the plan is, and what actually happens are usually two different things.  When the floor arrived on the 15th, knowing that it needs to acclimate for about 2 weeks, and being the Einstein that I am, I realized that we wouldn't be getting our floors before Christmas.  At this point I realized, not without some major guilt tripping from my eldest and my father, that I had better put up a tree.  So I did.  Voila!  Christmas decorations done!  Meanwhile I was slowly moving everything out of the kitchen and the living room to prepare.

Now to add to the crazy, cuz that's how I roll y'all, and after deliberating on what the hell to get my kids for Christmas because they already own a ton of crap toys, and I'm totally bizarro mom because I don't allow much in the way of electronics, I suggested we take the kids on a Christmas trip to DISNEYLAND.  OK, OK, I will totally admit that I've been jonesin' to see the mouse but I figured the boys would be happy too.  To my utter and complete surprise R. said YES.  I later realized that it was because he had a 40th b-day trip planned to surf in  El Salvador for 10 DAYS and he was feeling like he better do some kissing up.  And to keep it really interesting we decided to keep it a surprise.  And to add even more madness we decided to leave ON CHRISTMAS DAY.  That way it would be immediate gratification like any other Christmas present, and the floor guys could do their dirty work while we were gone.  And so, that is what we did. 

So my kids had a week of school off before Christmas which had to be the most boringest week of their lives because I was working my arse off to have everything painted and moved before we left but of course I couldn't tell them that.  I just kept promising them that we would do some fun stuff after Christmas.  The day before we moved out all the appliances and everything but the couch and the Christmas tree.  Furniture piled up EVERYWHERE dude.  Total fire hazard.

Christmas morning M woke up at 4:30 AM.  OK I wish there was a way to emphasize the OMG factor of that in writing, so just imagine I yelled the 4:30 part emphatically to emphasize the ridiculousness of that.  When, being the ruiners of all goodness and fun that we are, we suggested (OK required) him to GO BACK TO BED!!!! he spent the next hour crying.  Sobbing really and bemoaning how difficult his life is and how he wished he could be more patient but just couldn't.  At 5:30 am Z woke up and told M to go back to sleep because he thought that it was still Christmas Eve and that if M didn't stop crying and go to sleep already then Santa would never come.  M informed him between sobs that he was trying for the love of Pete.  At 6:00 R and I relented and let them go get their stocking while we put on our robes and slippers and got a cup of life, I mean coffee.  And so our day began.

Now let me tell you that I was actually a little worried about how this Christmas was going to go over.  Not only were they notr getting much in the way of stuff from us, but Santa was unable to deliver the only thing Z wanted, a bigger tractor with a scoop or snow plow.  Now mind you, Santa was NOT lazy or uncaring.  Santa had searched the world over for a bigger tractor with a scoop and/or snow plow.  

Finding a tractor for a child over the age of 5 and 50 pounds proved to be a daunting task.  Apparently most children grow out of the construction phase.  But let me tell you people, there is an underserved segment of the population out there, kids over the age of 5 who have construction and farming in their blood.  These are the builder children, the ones who dismantle things and build new things with them even if these things are your new stuff and his building seems a little more like destroying.  These are the children that become contractors or architects or farmers.  These are outside kids, boys aching to become men.  The hands on kind of kid.  And I have one.  And I could not find this kid a tractor.  Sidenote:  when a family doesn't have TV their children don't see much in the way of advertising and so when they ask for something it is usually because they really really want that particular item.  Even more so when it is the ONLY thing on their list and they have written Santa about it more than once.  Ugh.


But guess what?  They do make them.  In Germany.  And they do sell them.  In Europe.  Does anyone in the U.S. have one?  Nope.  Ask me how much it costs to ship one here?  $400 is my answer.  WTF!!  Don't we have farm kids in the U.S. who want a tractor?  Why on earth can't you find one here?  I dunno.  But there is a happy ending to our story.  I found one on E-bay, right here on American soil.  So I bought it but it wouldn't be here before Christmas.  And to add some more to the crazy, both boys birthdays are in the beginning of January.  So I had his present in the bag.


So we get up and they see that Santa has brought them a new flat screen TV (not even sure why that happened yet because it is still in the box) and were excited.  Then they see that they have each received a new carry on suitcase.  Moderate enthusiasm.  Then they open their Santa gifts which include Lego sets and a tool box for Z and a fire starting flint for M (maybe I have a secret shadow side wish to have my children destroy my home, I don't know).  Then they open two Mickey Mouse greeting cards that inform them we are going to Disneyland.  And much to my relief and satisfaction they are STOKED.  M kept asking if it was a joke and Z kept yelling "Thank You".  And that we were leaving later that day was even more exciting.  But yes, Z did mention that he was sad he didn't get his new bigger tractor with a scoop and a snow plow.  I told him we would find one for his birthday, wink-wink.

So it went well.  R and I then spent the next few hours getting everything ready for the floor guys to come and getting everything packed for our adventure.  Then we headed off to Nana and Pops for breakfast and some gift opening with the extended family.  At 1 PM we said good-bye and headed off to the airport.  A quick 1 hour and 30 minutes later we touched down in Cali, found our shuttle, checked into the airport and settled in.  Then we had an extremely mediocre buffet at the hotel, who I will cut some slack because a) they are in the middle of a huge remodel, and b) we got a screamin' deal because of said remodel, and c) kids ate free so it wasn't too expensive.  And with that we went to bed so we could get ready for DISNEYLAND!!!

I'll save the Disneyland info for the next post.