The Blog of Kwan

Paola & Kobe's Birthday Party

Reflections on December/Christmas at home

It has been awhile since we have posted, though Marcus has tried to keep up with the pictures in the December album.  So here is my "short" update of why we have been out of touch.

This year for the first time in 4 years, we planned on staying at home for Christmas - no traveling, no sending gifts ahead and then back home but also no big family celebration and no free babysitters - Christmas with the grandparents is one of the few times Marcus and I get to go to a movie theater since the they love to watch the kids.  Still, we were looking forward to a restful school break and an opportunity to start some new traditions.

I guess the "restful" part was a little wishful thinking since for the week before Christmas we had a number of activities planned: a wonderful visit from Bobo and Baya for an early Christmas celebration, two office parties, two birthday parties, hosting a cookie decorating party,  Marcus' birthday celebration, and a number of doctor appointments. At least most of the Christmas shopping was done, but Christmas cards were still on the agenda.

While there was the highlight of a fun visit with my parents, other than that things went south quickly.  Our home computer died meaning I lost all my addresses so Christmas cards wouldn't be going out, and to make it worse I had to try to sneak time on Marcus and the kids computer to even check email.

Then the blizzard hit!  On the first day it started snowing, when there was still only about 7 inches of snow, Marcus got his car stuck in our alley and spent about 2 hours with neighbors trying to clear a path to our garage.  Needless to say since we ended up with two feet of snow by the end, we didn't leave the house for another 3 days.  Even now, they just plowed the neighborhood streets, and only one lane at that.  So all our plans for the cookie decorating party, and Marcus' birthday dinners, cake, etc. fell through. 

Now it would have been a nice consolation if the snow-in meant a restful time at home to sit by the fire and watch movies and play games... but with the blizzard began what seemed like non-stop illnesses.  Each day we stayed in, a different kid threw up, I got pink eye in both eyes, and Marcus felt queasy the whole time.  It got bad enough that Marcus had to trudge out in the snow and walk to the nearest grocery to stock up on prescription medicine and Pedialyte. By Christmas Eve morning, everyone was miserable, and all my plans for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day dinner seemed up in the air.

But then by the grace of God, things began to lighten up.  After spending all morning in bed weak from not eating the last two days, the kids got up with renewed energy and began playing.  They must have felt the excitement of Christmas eve as they made pictures for Santa and wore their Santa hats around.  I had started to feel better, and we decided we would go ahead with our plans for special dinners.  Marcus even made it out to the mall to get some new pans as a gift from my dad.  We had a nice, peaceful chili dinner that hit the spot.  We missed Mass because the kids were still under the weather, but we were able to spend good family time doing activities around our nativity and talking about the true Christmas story and what it meant to our lives.  Then we sang Christmas carols before the older kids got the treat of watching the latest movie of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. As I prepped for Christmas dinner, I enjoyed watching their excitement at seeing the story we read come to life.  Paola had a running insightful commentary, and Kobe was completely caught up in the drama.  Before going to bed, they made even more notes and pictures for  Santa as well as a goodie plate. Marcus and I stayed up late wrapping gifts and building a toy train table from MaMa and YaYa.  But we took time out at midnight to light candles and pray by our nativity scene in honor of the great gift of Jesus birth (as is the tradition in Guatemala).

This morning we woke the kids and brought them down to open gifts- a process they thoroughly enjoyed.  Kobe chose to play with his new Star Wars transformers, and Paola decorated her new backpack and spent the day playing Barbies. They both have already decided which new games they want to try out tomorrow.  Alessi was not interested in either of the toys we gave her and preferred to take her siblings' gifts or munch on M & Ms all day.  We enjoyed an afternoon visit from the Opferman family which made us feel less isolated during the holiday.  And then it was fun to set out the fancy china and table linens for a Christmas dinner we shared with Thom Hartle from Marcus' work who missed his flight to be with family in Seattle due to the blizzard.

Through the last two days what felt amazing was that nothing felt rushed or hectic despite there being a lot to do and handle.  We truly had time to enjoy each other and the blessing of being together, having a home, and being remind of a God who so loved us He sent His son.  Detail may not have gone exactly as planned this last week, but the result was wonderful.  I am sure we will pack our bags and gifts  to travel again some time for the holidays and enjoy the "hectic-ness" of large family gatherings, but we are thankful for the gift of staying at home together with our little bit of peace that God granted us this year.

Merry Christmas to all of you!