Funny Christmas tids and a little announcement

Hey- Happy New Year!

There are a few funny things I always want to remember from this past Christmas. I need to write them down here because I keep forgetting to write it in my journal. Christmas was only a week ago so I don't feel too bad sharing these now that the season is officially over.

First thing- my whole family was home for Christmas. That in and of itself was pretty miraculous. It's been a looooooooooong time since we've all been home. It was very special to have everyone there. But *because* everyone was there, it got interesting when it came time to go to bed.

I gave my bed to my sister, Melanie. Kim also slept in my room on the little couch. Travis and JaNeil were in the play room, and their kids had the other two spare rooms (they won't go to sleep if you put them together so the two smallest kids got their own rooms) :-/

ANYWAY, my other sister Valeri and her kids were on air mattresses on the floor in the family room. My brother Randy lives close enough that they just went home and slept in their own beds. That was all the available space there was. Hmmm... where to put Bakeshow...? I thought, "Meh- it's just one night. I can sleep in a recliner. My sisters do it all the time."

I want you to have the picture in your mind: family room (dad's man cave) with two air mattresses on the floor mashed up together so there is no walking room and two recliners near the head of the beds. Are you with me? So I chose the chair nearest the bed the kids were sleeping in. I lifted the foot rest thingy and teased my niece about sleeping with my feet in her face- I was right above her head.

I laid there for a loooong time- hours- unable to sleep. Not because of excitement, but because I couldn't get comfy. Whenever I started to doze, I could feel my mouth hanging open and I got visions of things crawling in- so I thought I'd try to curl up in a ball and lay on my side a little. I was like that for about 7.5 seconds when the chair tipped backward. There I was. In the dark. Not asleep but not completely with it, upside down. I thought, "should I just try to sleep like this? Naaahhh... I can't do that." So I tried to straighten my legs to see if I could tip the chair back up and WHAM!!! the chair came apart- the seat (with the open foot rest) slamming back down to the floor. The niece woke up with a "WHAT THE HECK?!" I had narrowly missed mashing her head.

She was ok- so I just relocated to the other recliner- I'd deal with the broken chair in the morning. After about three minutes I thought "this just isn't going to work- I'm just going to go get in bed with one of the littles." When I got up to leave, Val told me that one of the littles had come crying for his mommy and she took him upstairs. I'd heard the crying- but I thought it was her kid (evidently so did she at first). So this WHOLE time there was an empty bed. So I finally got a few hours sleep. It was an adventurous night!

ps- The chair was not broken- it had just come off its slider tracks. We fixed it next day.

Next story:

It's not as epic as the first- just really cute.

My four year old nephew made the cutest freaking Christmas list. On it he said he wanted a castle with a prince and princess (he was a knight for Halloween and his cousin was a princess). So I got him a castle that came with a little wizard, a king and two knights. But he specifically wanted a princess so that the knight would have someone to rescue. Well- with that particular play set- there were no princesses available. I tried to get little Fisher Price ones- but you can't get just the princess. You have to buy a whole entourage of other stuff. So I just bought some little Disney princesses- about the size of a Polly Pocket. They were just about the right size for the little knights. Anyway- So I wrapped up the castle- and then wrapped the princesses separately. He opened the castle and liked it- then opened the princess. He didn't even get the wrapping paper off when he stopped, looked at it said, "A GIRL toy!?" he threw it on the floor and ran out of the room!

Now- I was afraid I'd really offended him- but his mom just assured me he was embarrassed- not sad- that he got a "girl toy". And that was evident later because both he and his nearly eight year old boy cousin were playing nights and princesses. One part was so funny. 4yo had the castle turned towards himself and 8yo couldn't play inside it too because they were on opposite sides of the table. 8yo said, "Well how is my knight supposed to find his princess?" 4yo replies, "Duh- you say, 'priiiiiiiiiiinceeeeeess, where aaaaaaaaaaare yooooooou?'" It was so cute to see them play with it- and every knight needs a princess to rescue.

And now for the announcement.

I got my apartment. I'm moving.