We have officially survived

Much can be said of what a trial Christmas can be between the shopping and the wrapping and the parties and the obligations and the travel and the headaches. Sure, it's a great holiday, but it's also a hell of a lot of work. This year it happened to be a hell of a lot of fun with a wild child very into the spirit of it all, which is why I've been MIA for a few weeks. I'm now sitting in my living room enjoying the first bit of peace I've had since the 12th of December, and I'm trying as hard as I can to ignore the stacks of presents I have to find a home for, the scraps of wrapping paper my very lonely cat left as reminders of being left behind and the bunch of bills I can't even being to think about how to cover.

I've only managed to deal with pictures from Christmas Eve, since we hit the road after Christmas day for an epic journey across several states, into at least a half dozen houses and with a baby that was alternately the sweetest, most lovable little creature and a small demon sent to terrorize my mortal soul. I think we can say for now that Clementine does not travel well, or at least she doesn't like to sleep in strange beds night after night after spending days with people she doesn't know and not being allowed to stick to any sort of sleep schedule. But those tales will come later. For today, pictures of Chirstmas Eve, when I convinced Nate we should *gasp* try to go to church so Clementine could hear some Christmas carols and maybe even see the nativity play (OK, and maybe I wanted her to be seen in the cutest dress ever). She certainly let us know what she thought of all that by squirming, fussing and crying for the first five minutes of the service so that I spent the remainder of it in the bowels of a very stately church chasing my little devil around. I think it's safe to say that will be our last attempt for a while. We went immediately out for Chinese, where she revived, gorged herself and passed around tons of good cheer:



When we got home, I decided I could wait no longer to open the 7-foot tall box that my mother-in-law had sent. I was nervous it would be some god-awful thing that was important for her to buy, despite our tastes or desires, but we were all very pleasantly surprised to see that she had made the most amazing tee pee, which Clementine fell in love with immediately and now must play in at all times. And, yes, Floyd likes it too...maybe a little too much.



Nate and I killed a bottle of wine while playing Santa. It was more fun than I had imagined to set up the kitchen set we bought her and to arrange presents under the tree, stuff the stocking, etc. Clementine appreciated every effort, and it took us until almost 2 p.m. the next day to open all the carefully wrapped presents. That isn't a sign of wretched excess, just the first hints at what I suppose will be her ultimate rebellion: tidiness. She picked the wrapping paper off a piece at a time and ran back and forth to the garbage can with all the scraps. One present took about 5 minutes, and then of course we had to take it out to play with it.

The excitement I got to see on her face that day was repeated last night when we finally returned home--it was like Christmas all over again as she was reunited with her toys, her tree, her cat, her high chair. She screamed with delight as she ran around and touched everything in the house. And then she was wide awake until after midnight because her schedule is officially fucked, out the window, done. I say it every year and this one is no exception: next year we are totally staying home.