Christmas Vacation Begins

Christmas break so far:

I left work at 1:45 yesterday and realized that it was my sixth Christmas at UNCW and the first time I was able to take leave and start vacation early (like just about everyone else. When I left, there were only 15 cars left in the parking lot. I counted.) The first year, we had been here less than a month, and I was actually working extra hours to make up for the "required vacation" days over the break. (Totally worth it, since we always get 10 - 11 days off.) The second year I had newborn twins. The third year I was still trying to catch up from taking maternity leave. By the fourth year, I was pregnant again and saving up leave since I was due in February. The fifth year I was trying to catch up from maternity leave again. But this year, I could actually leave!

On my way home, I stopped at Target. As I pulled in, the parking lot looked insane. Cars appeared to be parked as far back as they could go on every row. As I got closer, I realized there were plenty of spaces up near the building - people just weren't driving up and down the rows looking for parking spaces. Inside, the store was busy but people still seemed to be in good moods. I heard no babies crying or parents yelling at children. I even saw couples holding hands. As I was paying, the cashier moved quickly but was still friendly. AND I got carded. The cashier didn't seem surprised by my date of birth, so I think he was asking out of duty rather than suspecting my youth, but I don't care. I GOT CARDED.

When I got home, I realized I didn't feel like doing anything. And so I didn't. I was so lazy I didn't even venture out to turn on the Christmas lights because I didn't want to mess with rearranging things (we had strong winds on Thursday night, so I had moved around some of the Christmas decorations on the porch) and I really didn't want to deal with going back out later in the evening to turn them off. Instead of attempting to get stuff done, I spent the late afternoon reading a magazine. It was nice.

This morning it was actually time to get stuff done. I had hoped to get the house cleaned today, but of course that didn't happen. I did manage to do four loads of laundry, a little vacuuming, and clean both bathrooms, so it was actually still productive. Actually really, really productive, at least by our standards. The kids were INSANE, and I don't just mean they were wild. I think they've lost their minds. So in an awesome parenting move, I decided to reward bad behavior. At lunch time, Jeff and Ree headed out for a daddy-daughter date, and I took the other three to Chick-Fil-A.

As we were getting ready to go, I put on Michael's socks. As he put on his Crocs he proudly said, "If the shoe fits, wear it!" Can't say I've ever heard that expression used quite so literally. Good ol' Mikey. At lunch the kids inhaled their chicken nuggets and fruit and some of my fries. Then they headed to the indoor playland where Natalia decided she wanted to climb through the tunnels and go down the tube slide. Perhaps I am as currently challenged mentally as my children, because I let her climb on up with her brothers in charge. While it's probably safer than the climbing things at the park since it's all enclosed, it's also a bit unnerving since most of the time I couldn't see her. However, Leon and Michael did do a good job of staying with her, at least for the first three or so trips up. Michael paid more attention, but at one point I did hear Leon tell another child, "Watch out for my baby sister!" The first time Natalia came down the slide, she did so carefully, coming down feet first on her belly. By the end she was climbing through the entire structure pretty much by herself and coming down the slide like a big kid. Don't tell her she's not four-years-old. She wouldn't believe you.