christmas highlights

This Christmas was a blast for us since the little man was uber-excited about the prospect of presents. And apparently he must've been on the "nice" list because Santa was very good to him. So good to him that we may have to put an addition on the house.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Seeing all the cousins in one place -- and actually playing with them.

• Playing pool at Aunt Lisa's house and with Grandma and Grandpa Schulz at their house.

• Going sledding in Janesville with Mama and Papa, Aunt Kendra, Thurston and Grandma Johnson -- and the hot chocolate and Christmas cookies that followed. (Note: I was a little worried that he was not going to enjoy sledding. I went down first with him and was afraid to look at his face when we hit the bottom of the hill. Much to my relief, he was grinning ear to ear and immediately yelled, "Let's do it AGAIN! This time with PAPA!" and he continued to take turns going with Mama and Papa until our multitude of runs carved a slippery path of ice and two tiny moguls down the hill.)

• The toys. Oh, Lord, the toys. A little ball-loving-boy's dream come true. In no particular order: The practice putter with hole that shoots back the ball. (Note: Hole came out of box not working. Papa saved Christmas when he fixed it so it worked the next morning. Yay, Papa!) The game Ker-Plunk. Alligator slippers. Awesome books. Mini- Tonka trucks. A ball quilt. A tabletop pool table. A sled. A croquet set. Ball sheets. Are you noticing a theme here? More blocks. A bowling set. And the piece de resistance? A new marble run with motorized elevator!!! Praise Jebus (Mama and Papa also watched part of the Simpsons movie)! And possibly the biggest Christmas tragedy was this: The motorized elevator on the marble run did not work. Elian took it far better than I thought he would. He didn't miss a beat, pretending that the elevator was working and deciding that Santa must've dropped it. Papa had an unsuccessful trip to Home Depot in search of a triangular screw driver to match the one that Santa's Chinese elves used on the motorized elevator. Then Mama frantically searched the website where the marble run came from. Sold out. So she got on the horn to Santa's elves. The customer service lady was incredible, saying she'd ship out a replacement elevator right away. Would I have to pack up the old broken one? No. Then, get this, Ed saves Christmas again by fixing the broken elevator too. It's a Christmas MIRACLE, ladies and gentlemen! (Note to self: No more motorized toys for Christmas.)

In the past few days, the little man has been in a new-toy-playing frenzy. And right now, for some reason, this song is running through my brain: Yes we've got trouble, right here in River City, with a capital T, that rhymes with P and that stands for POOL...

Stay tuned for pictures.