Christmas Eve

The child slept beautifully, we got to sleep in and catch up a little on sleep, oh wait no, that’s not what happened at all.

Did you know it’s harder for a tired child to sleep than a well rested one? It’s something I have learned well over the last year. The Goblin Child was so tired and in a new environment that she could hardly sleep at all. We gave up on the crib altogether. I do not like sleeping with the child in our bed but it was proving to be the only option. That way when she woke up every hour screaming at least she had been asleep for a little bit in between.

She woke up bright and early the next morning and I got up with her so at least one of us could get a little rest. It was so nice to just hang out and visit with my family. Mom had to work but dad was there and my brother and his family came over. After that we went over and finally saw my brothers new house.

It was so exciting they bought it over a year ago and I hadn’t seen it yet except in pictures. It is an old, old Victorian built in eighteen eighty six, it was in very bad shape. It had been repossessed and fairly trashed before they got it, but it was quite affordable with some beautiful points. He has been slaving over it ever since. He and my dad worked hard to refinish the hard wood floors, tear down ceilings, put up dry wall and fix plumbing. The beautiful old house is really starting to shine again.

Mom called while we were admiring and ordered us to stop by Tractor Supply and check out the boots they had on sale. My brother found a pair, we found my husbands preferred style for quite cheap and while looking for a pair in my size the sales lady discovered that the boots my sister-in-law and I were looking at were on sale for four dollars and twelve dollars respectively. My opinion of them went from so so to love, instantly, and we all got new boots for Christmas.

That night we got to attend the Christmas program at the church school where my brother works. If Willow Creek was Trans Siberian then Willow Creek North Shore was The Piano Guys. They opened with, or at least the first one we saw having arrived a little late was,  Carol of the Bells. The band was scaled back considerably form Willow Creek, it only added to the performance. There was a man on the drums, a guy rocking the keyboard and a woman who stole the show on the cello. Of course I could be prejudiced since it is one of my favorite instruments.  The night before we had a grand view from high up on the balcony, that night we sat in the second row.

After the great show we retrieved The Goblin Child from Promise Land only to find that she had found her first love. She had fallen asleep in a chair with a darling boy, a little old for her, maybe six. He sat still the whole night patiently letting her sleep. We took her and Sabbath to the cafeteria to decorate cookies and they found each other again. She was fascinated by him and he was happy to play with her. They and some other children ran laps, in a very well behaved manner of course. She really wanted him to pick her up, he wasn’t really all that much bigger than her. The time finally came when we had to pry them apart. He was very sad to hear that we were only visiting and she wouldn’t be there to play again.

The celebration wasn’t over yet, we went home and let the kids open one present each. The kids included my brother and sister-in-law. My husband and I abstained, we were able to contain our enthusiasm for one more night.

That night we got the best Christmas present of all, the child slept.