The Reason for the Season

Our Christmas Eve was spent on sacred ground, a location where many insist miracles regularly occur. The massive cross marks the site where the first Mass was celebrated in the United States. As special as it was to honor the birth of our Savior on the historical grounds, it wasn't our original plan. However, as is usually the case, Plan B turned out to much better than attending Mass at our church that was exploding at the seams with people.After Mass, we returned home and for the second time in recent years engaged in a Christmas Eve blind wine tasting complimented by a mouth-watering buffet of savory and sweet treats. This is easily my new favorite family tradition!By 9pm, we had moved on to another activity for entertainment...the gift exchange! Jaxon was thrilled to receive some video games, his one and only request of Santa. Hopefully, Santa had something else in that bag of goodies that he could substitute.We received a variety of thoughtful and generous gifts from our loved ones, but if I was forced to choose one gift that stands out as the most "memorable," it would be the t-shirts that Aunt Kelly purchased. This episode is brought to you by letters V, S, J, and B!With all that we received, a visit from Santa seemed absolutely pointless, but he showed up anyway. Of course! Thankfully, I was still awake when he arrived and was able sneak a photo of the loot for the blog before I headed off to bed. I was certain the display would be ransacked quite early by two little boys that had anxiously awaited this day for months and months.However, Anh and I were actually awake long before our two little guys. Which is shocking on multiple levels! Eventually, Baylor was coaxed downstairs, but he refused to summon his brother for the big moment. I guess he knows that Jax is not a morning person, even on Christmas.Or maybe Baylor just wanted a few minutes alone with the new toys. That's probably closer to the truth.I must admit that Baylor showed remarkable restraint until Jaxon made his appearance. Then, all bets were off, and it was every man for himself.Both boys seemed thrilled with Santa's gifts of a Battleforce 5 racetrack and character cars, Iron Man toys, and an arsenal of weapons and targets to recreate Jaxon's favorite TV show, Top Shot. Watch out, Would-Be-Burglars! I will have two excellent marksmen to protect our household!

Good Intentions

The weather was beautiful today, and because the weather was so nice, we thought it would be a good idea to put my parents' 5 dogs (Yeah, FIVE) out on our balcony rather than locking them up in the bathroom when we went out to run errands. We were hanging out on the balcony yesterday, and they really seemed to enjoy the sun and cool breeze. Besides, who would ever enjoy being locked in a bathroom!

We set them up with food, water, and some blankets to nap on (Yes, they're quite spoiled.) and then we left for a few hours. We went drove up to the city, went out to lunch, and did a little shopping. After swinging by to pick up Jax from preschool, we headed home. As soon as we pulled in the driveway, Oscar (my parents' littlest dog, a 5-lb silky terrier) came running up to greet us. Grandfather and I, sitting up front, looked at each with expressions that clearly displayed everything running through our minds...shock, amusement, confusion, worry, fear, and the general thought of, "Oh crap! Grandma, in the backseat, is going to absolutely freak when she sees that he's now on the ground when we left him on the balcony, 20 feet up in the air!"

I jumped out of the car, ran over and picked him up. I had already made a mental note of the fact that he wasn't limping as he ran up to the car, wagging his tail with sheer joy over the fact that we were home. I started feeling all over his body to see if he would yelp in pain, but luckily, nothing. By this point, Grandma was aware that something was going on, but still couldn't quite see what I was holding. I held him up and uttered the words that all kids say when they think the sh*t is about to hit the fan, "Everything's okay!"

And, it was true. Everything was okay. Oscar wasn't injured in any way. I'm not even sure he was aware of the fact that if he was a cat, we would be discussing how many lives he had left. Since, we didn't have to worry about his well-being, the discussion quickly turned to what in the world could have happened. Basically, there's 3 scenarios. He either fell, jumped, or was pushed. Since he's not exactly known for manners or social skills, we've all come to the conclusion to that he was probably pushed. Maybe he'll think twice next time he decides not to share food and to hog Grandma's lap.