December 23rd, 2024
Kids crawling around on us… arguing, whining, laughing, fake-crying, asking questions, etc., etc., etc.
Oxbear gets up shortly later to make breakfast burritos for everyone, then snoozes off a headache on the couch
Wrestling back my own headache through the morning and afternoon while cleaning, folding laundry, helping Patience prepare a dance training regimen for February, clipping out more of the deadness in the bee garden…
Oxbear marinates chicken for the smoker then brings Yali with him to pick up packages from the Big House, including the Playmobil pirate ship for the Amma and Pop-Pop box
Yali and Patience take the circus-crazy outdoors where they can be seen attempting to give each other piggyback rides in the front yard, Yali wearing a Santa suit… running in and out and back in and then out again… sharing information with me about their respective “crushes”
Puck begs more ramen in the mid-afternoon, shows me TikTok shop orders he’s made, including a snappy leather bomber jacket
– distracted between work, researching party dips and “how to become a train dispatcher” while grabbing bits of Bollywood (“Jab We Met”) –
As Oxbear leaves for a coffee meeting with a friend, Patience inexplicably slams her right hand in the front door… fountains and fountains of tears and tears… Yali creates a cast for her and has everyone sign it with red Sharpie…
Patience laughing again shortly later, loudly singing bits of the Lutheran liturgy from the bathroom while Yali face paints a very fat butterfly on her face to cheer her up further… he then straps several “Our Tone” Band Aids on his own face and sketches some blood/bruises around the bandages… enjoying the make-believe in it
After Patience’s online speech therapy session, I take both young ones on a short neighborhood walk, Yali still dressed as Santa Claus… sans face paint
Smoked chicken for dinner as Patience begins watching “Emma” (2009) to end a day of largely obnoxious behavior… accentuated by Yali groove-dancing to the opening credits