Christmas has always been different in our household, for many reasons and this year especially. We didn't even decorate a tree this year. My fondest memory of Conlan and Christmas was a couple years ago. The night before, Santa set everything out and went to bed just after midnight. Conlan, as has always been the case, woke up early in the morning with nowhere near the recommended amount of sleep for a child. I think it was about 4:30. He woke us up holding the set of puzzles we got him. You know those wood puzzles with animals or numbers or cars. He wanted us to open them immediately and wouldn't leave us alone until we did. He spent the whole day playing with his puzzles. I think that was the year we got him a little Thomas tunnel/fort thingy. He would sit in the fort with his puzzles.
Christmas this year was spent at Hilary's parents. It was a very stressful time for all of us, but we were grateful to be with family. We left Friday evening and drove through the night while the kids slept. Not far from home, the snow started flurrying. Then it turned into a blizzard. (Note to self: take the other route during the winter that is about 80 miles longer). It probably took only a half hour longer than the longer, less mountainous route would have taken. We arrived at about 7 AM and were exhausted but excited to be there. Being at her parents, I have always felt at home and will forever miss being there. Hilary had been able to get a short nap during the long haul, so I laid down and fell promptly asleep. It didn't last more than 10 minutes before something woke me up. No longer able to sleep, I helped as best I could with the kids and getting stuff out of the van. Then I think I went to the farm and helped collect eggs.
Saturday night, his cousins had a birthday party at a Pump-it-Up type place. Conlan's favorite! Right before leaving, the kids were outside running around. I went to check on them and saw Conlan jumping on the pool cover. It felt exactly like the time I found our dog in the pool, floating but limp, the last time we spent Christmas at their place five years ago. The images and memories came flooding vividly back of that accident, not at first but within the hour. I am so grateful they finally got a pool cover after that and hold some resentment they didn't have it before. The pool was all fenced in and locked, but Conlan still found a way in. He probably thought it was a big trampoline, evidenced by his jumping up and down on it. If I had found him a few minutes later, I'm afraid the tarp-like cover would have given in. He just doesn't understand danger no matter how much we warn him and explain to him.
Since Hilary and I were both tired, we rode with her parents in their van. When we arrived at Pump-it-Up, Gavin was sleeping, and I was still in shock from the pool incident. So I stayed in the van while Gavin got some much-needed sleep, and so I could gather myself. He started stirring a short while later, so we went in and found the party. Conlan was having a blast, going on the same bouncy house slide over and over again. They had the regular lighting off and black lights on making for a surreal experience. If I had known, I would have worn something cooler for the cosmic lighting. Hilary's outfit looked real good in the uv light.
Christmas this year was much like last year. Gavin had a blast opening presents, sometimes Conlan's presents as well. Conlan just wasn't very interested in opening presents. I tried using hand-over-hand to get him to unwrap a present, but he just had other things to do, other things on his mind. Those "other" things included stripping naked because it was so hot in the house, putting his hand in other people's drinks, finding mountain dew or any can of soda to drink, sitting on dad's shoulders for seemingly indefinite periods of time, eating whatever frosting and candy he could find, or just wandering around on the periphery of the congregation of people. He is so very similar to me - crowds of people and lots of noise bother me. So I like to stay on the outskirts of the action and watch from afar.
The main present we got him was roller skates with protective gear. A couple months ago, I was outside playing with him. Some kids from the neighborhood were playing and had roller blades on. Seeing them, Conlan went berserk. He had so much fun watching and chasing them around. He hasn't shown much interest in skating on his own. When we put the skates on him and "walk" him around he has fun, but nowhere near as much fun as he had that day back in October chasing the neighborhood kids. He would rather watch and chase than participate directly.
