Christmas with Ms. Daisy

Unbeknownst to her, my mom bought the ace Christmas gift for AC. Included in a cute little three piece outfit was a tan faux fur coat with animal print lining. AC immediately wanted to don said coat and continued to wear it all day. Literally. Dad took her outside (as we had such unseasonably good weather) and drove her up and down the sidewalk in her little pushcar. She would shoot him a haughty look over her faux fur clad shoulder and instruct him to "Go". And go he did, back and forth over and over.

Later that evening, she had her bath and put on her jammies only to go and get her coat again. I found her wandering around the living room in jammies and her coat, sucking on a sippy cup of juice hilariously akin to an old woman drinking gin in her nightgown and fur. All we were missing was the smeared orange-y pink lipstick and cheap perfume!

Christmas went without incident for the most part. My M.I.L., Michelle (a.k.a. Nana), was in the hospital after having surgery, so we had Christmas with the in-laws in the lobby of the 3rd floor of BSA Hospital. I got myself and AC dressed soon after eating breakfast on Christmas Day and we headed off to visit Nana.
Because of my lack of funds this Christmas as well as the stress of missing Clayton, I didn't do as much to keep our holiday traditions like I would have wanted to. Mom did a bit in bringing us all pajamas for Christmas Eve...a staple for family Christmases.
My family usually wakes up and is not allowed to go downstairs until Mom sits us on the steps in our matching Christmas jammies to take a picture. Joe, my youngest brother, will run around the house, much to our delight and my mother's chagrin, in his underwear with one sock on heralding the arrival of Christmas morning. After the giggles have receded and the picture taken, it's quiche, cinnamon rolls, coffee, and volcano pancakes for breakfast AFTER dumping out the stockings packed with small gifts and treats. My house (with it's lack of stairs), Joe being at BMT, and Ben and Nichole (my other brother and his wife) staying with her family, made it impossible to keep that morning picture tradition. We had bacon, pancakes, and hash browns as that is what was already in my pantry. No quiche or volcano pancakes this year. There was coffee, however, and cinnamon rolls, but the cinnamon rolls weren't in the shape of a Christmas tree like every other year. Because of my aforementioned lack of funds, there weren't stockings for everyone either.
With presents unopened until well into the afternoon and the warm weather, it just didn't feel like Christmas. Funny how all those little things we take for granted every year have such an effect... Maybe next year I can recapture that Christmas feeling. Then again, maybe it's something that fades as you, yourself, are responsible for keeping the traditions alive and is apparent only when experiencing the holidays through your children...

Until then,
AC's Mom