Capturing the Days: Twas the Weekend Before Christmas

Last week I posted on Facebook that the kids were starting to ask if they could open just one present, "Pleeeease, just one present Mommy!" I think we were all in luck because we headed to Ocean City to celebrate Christmas with Pat's family and we all got to open some presents.

We had a great weekend in Ocean City with Pat's parents and brothers/sisters-in-law and the quickly expanding brood of grandchildren - 5 kids and Jack is the oldest. Naptimes and any semblance of a good diet quickly went out the window.

On Friday evening, the oldest kids got to open their presents from Pop Pop. Jack got the latest and greatest Hess truck and claimed, "It's just what I wanted because it's a truck aircraft carrier!" It was a Hess tractor trailer truck with a jet that could fly off the back. He also melted some hearts when he said, "My Pop Pop is the best Pop Pop!"

The kids got to go swimming on Saturday morning and then there were a few impatient moments before it was time to open some presents. I think all the kids loved their new presents and were happily playing with them most of the afternoon. We then headed out for a tour of lights at a local park. We got to ride along in a tram car and see all the lights. Casey was especially excited when she saw some pink Christmas lights - "It's my favorite color!!!" She really said it so that it required 3 exclamation points. She was also excited to see lights in Jack's favorite color.

We also went to see Santa. Jack had been talking about going to see Santa and sitting on his lap since Thanksgiving. This was the year he was going to tell Santa what he wanted and not be afraid to sit on his lap. We were going to get a great picture of all the grandkids on Santa's lap. Casey looked like she was amazed by him as we moved forward in line. She just stared at him like she couldn't wait for her turn.

All talk. No action. Jack backed out at the last minute and I think that made Casey back out. So there is a lovely picture of the 3 youngest grandkids, but no Jack and Casey. In the end, Casey ran up and told him that she wanted a baby dolly but no sitting on the lap and no picture. It's a good thing Bob the Elf is here to let Santa know what Jack and Casey want for Christmas. Maybe next year Santa.

On Sunday I hosted brunch and then the guys watched the Eagles game. Pat's Mom and I loaded the kids into the car and headed up to Philly before game was over but we apparently missed some ridiculously joyous reactions when the Eagles won at the last second. We were happy because our guys were happy. And I'd like to leave it like that...a happy ending to a great weekend. But in the minivan, things were about to get ugly. Jack got sick - all over himself and his carseat. And he continued to get sick all the way to Philly. We had no buckets handy, but Pat's mom was resourceful and we had some blankets.

Jack is a trooper though. Between "getting the yuckies out" into a blanket, he chatted with us like there was nothing wrong. He also said, "Casey likes to put her head in this blanket" right after he threw up into her blanket. We assured him (and her) that the washing machine would work its wonders before anyone else touched that blanket. He was also very interested in a car fire that held us in traffic for a bit. After we finally got to Philly, he went straight into the house and sat on the couch. When we asked what he was doing, he said he was waiting for the news to come on so he could find out what happened to that car.

Jack was fine after that car trip, but then Casey was sick the next day. She seemed to have recovered and then got sick in her carseat on the way back to Virginia. The silver lining is that they both have clean carseats now. And I'm still amazed at how they were both such good kids for being sick the way they were. A yucky ending to our great weekend, but it doesn't diminish any of the great memories we made at our Ocean City Christmas.