Christmas Day
Thursday, December 25, 2009
Puck’s third Christmas…
As soon as OLeif walked into his room that morning, Puck’s eyes snapped open and he called out, “I want bacuum in my crib?!”
Then they led him into the living room to the little Christmas tree where his present was waiting: a bag of more rubber bouncy balls that glowed in the dark. His eyes lit up. And then Collette explained that they had bought a World Vision gift for him, that he would be helping out some children by gifting them a donkey.
“Yay! A donkey!” he said happily.
He then went back to his bouncy balls and found a little Earth ball in the mix.
“I holding a baby earth!” he exclaimed. “He’s in my hand! A ha ha ha ha ha [maniacal laughter].”
It was off, by 7:45, to the house for the first round of gifts. The wind was already up.
Everyone was lounging, albeit a little sleepily, in the living room with the tree and the candles lit. And the mound of presents was begun to be passed around to the gang of ten. Once again, the wealth was monumental.
For Puck: a Toy Story reading pillow, two Wishbone DVDs, Find the Stig book, Thomas the Tank Engine DVD, and a Doctor Who dalek bath robe.
Linnea: a silver ring, an elaborate gift certificate from Rose promising a visit for her and a friend to the movies plus a new eyelash curler, and various other things of which Collette had forgotten…
Francis: more air-softing pieces of various shapes and sizes…
Rose: biographies of James May from Top Gear and Peter Lorre, a laptop holder, an antiquated map of Belgium, and a book written for her by Collette.
Joe: French coffee press, the book: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a Norah Jones CD, and a small Moleskine.
Carrie-Bri: a book on some sort of tectonic plates and magnetics, etc., a tin of blueberry tea, a Peruvian poncho, and a Richard Hammond autobiography.
Collette: a Tardis cell phone charm which lit blue with incoming calls and three sets of Portuguese, French, and Italian flashcards.
OLeif: a new bento set and bluetooth handset for his cell phone. (Puck immediately picked this up and held it up to his ear, saying, “I gotta call someone, get a pizza for me!”)
Mom: Tales from Avonlea CD and Christmas plate and two sets of The Waltons.
Dad: sweatbands and new jogging clothes, a hand-crank flashlight, an Andrea Bocelli CD, and a book which Collette had written for him.
This was followed with broiled toast, scrambled eggs with cheese, seasoned bacon, and hot chocolate.
There were many thank yous and Merry Christmases.
Then into the swirling snow to the Silverspoon’s for the third Christmas of the day. After slipping through one intersection when the light was red and nearly hitting a car because the ice was so slippy, they managed to arrive in one piece.
Everyone was ready for the unwrapping of the gifts, with several still in their pajamas. The gift wrap pile in the center of the floor was beginning to tower. Puck received from Relevance and Kitts: a stack of Doctor Who and Cars books (one with sound effects), a Spanish-English word book (to share with Collette), a set of Cars cars, also from Kitts and Relevance, over which he squealed in delight, and a spiffy red tricycle upon which he immediately sat and peddled into the foyer and around the house.
For Theodore there was a power drill, which was sort of avocado green and Chinese, apparently.
Theodore had bought Gloria a set of PajamaGrams in white and pink with white polka-dots. She was also given a little deep-fryer and a funky head massager, which looked very much like a whisk, which made nearly everyone either giggle or squeal from the funny tickling sensation.
Relevance got a pair of slippers, a sort of mathematics/logic novel, and a new Moleskine.
OLeif had a thermos, a flashlight, red and white dish towels, and a promise of Skull Candy earbuds.
Collette had been given two small red Moleskines and a set of Sharpie pens, and there was a new black block-shaped leather ottoman that could store things inside it.
For Kitts there were laurel leaf headbands, a pair of striped pajamas, leather gloves, a thermos for her bike, and a tiny crockpot for dips.
Curly was given a pair of Skull Candy earbuds, a new wallet, a wristwatch, and a shoe polishing kit.
And Izzy had a variety of camera equipment pieces, a leather belt, and a new hat.
Then out came the stockings stuffed with nuts, chocolates, beef jerky, and other little things like funky socks and lip balm. And there was a set of flashing-light tooth brushes for Puck.
For lunch, there was seafood for everyone (including cod for Collette, who did not eat shrimp), and rolls, before everyone left for Sherlock Holmes at the movies. And Collette stayed behind with Puck, who was very very busy getting acquainted with the new additions to his family of cars and books and giving a lady bug a ride in his toy truck, after which he next dumped her into the box of oranges.
Following a few rounds of Boggle, some little powdered sugar-dusted key lime cookies and orange cookies, it was time to head back into the Christmas night. A third, fourth, and fifth relaxing Christmas, complete.