Now That the Fun is Over

Well, the holiday season is over. I'm not sure what that means exactly, at least with regards to my life. Fewer parties, I presume. Less eating. Well, at least less frequent eating. I can say that this was one of the most satisfying holiday season, though. We can thank Haley for that. First of all, there is nothing better than a little kid who is really starting to "get it" when it comes to Christmas. If Haley's life was like the Truman Show, we'd have handfuls of great soundbites as she built up to Christmas. She played the season exactly the way a kids should, complete with a never ending list of toy requests, questions about whether Santa was real, excitement at buying a gift for Mama (and the subsequent "secret" of keeping it from her), singing at the top of her lungs when we went caroling. A couple of stories... - As I think I mentioned in an earlier post, she carried her American Girl catalog around for days. Of course, Santa ended up bringing one, and that was her favorite gift, supplanting the Talking-And-Singing-Gabriella-from-High-School-Musical Doll. At least until that was supplanted by the Groovy Girl doll and accessories she opened a few minutes later. A few minutes later she opened a nightgown that her Grandma Kappes and Mama made for her AG doll that matched her own nightgown she'd received the night before, and the AG doll re-assumed the top spot. That changed again later that night when she received a trio of slumber party barbie dolls. But wait! That's not all! Then came the Karoake machine from Grandma Dee. Haley can't read, so the Karoake part isn't all that great. It's the fact she can play her own CDs and sing in the working microphone. Aren't we lucky? Now her favorite gift is whichever one she happens to be playing with. What a diplomatic child. - Haley is apparently an anxious child. So we'd been talking a lot about how Santa works. That he comes to our house on Christmas Eve while we are asleep and brings presents blah blah blah. Anyway, after we opened and put on our new pajamas at Kelsee's parents house (about 30 minutes from our house) we were all sitting around and talking preparing soon to head home. Haley and all the other cousins went back with their Grandma to look on the web on one of those track Santa websites and see how close Santa was to our state. At that time, he happened to be in Florida. Haley emerged from the other room with an anxious look on her face and came up to me. Suddenly she burst into tears. "Daddy I'm scared. We need to go home now. Right now. We're going to miss Santa and he won't stop at our house unless I'm asleep." Broke my heart! I consoled her and told her he was much farther away from our house than we were. Still we couldn't get out of there fast enough for her. - I sang a song in church during the Christmas program. Since this was only my third or fourth solo, I practiced it. A lot. I'd sing it in the shower. I'd sing it emptying the dishwasher. I'd sing it driving to the store. I'd sing it playing games. It got to the point that whenever I'd start to practice it, Haley would let out a groan, followed by: "Not again, Daddy!!!" - We had a ward Christmas party, ward caroling, primary caroling, a trip to Southern Lights with my family, a Kappes family party (Kelsee's dad's siblings and their brood), a birthday party for Kelsee's dad, Christmas Eve caroling, Christmas morning present-opening, Christmas afternoon present-opening (with Kelsee's family), and a day after Christmas present-opening (with my family). Sometime toward the end of all this, Haley sighed and said "I'm all Christmased out." And that was before the New Year's Eve party and spending half of New Year's Day with Sammi and Hannah. I know what you mean, Haley. I know what you mean.