One blessed year. Thinking back.

Last year.

Today.

Last year on Thanksgiving Eve (you know, the night before the big day) we all drove down to Tulsa for a big family dinner. We got a couple of hotel rooms that night, 'cause who really has room for 10 extra people, including one who comes with oxygen tanks, a sat monitor, and nebulizer?

That night was a long one, for me and daddy. Ralph's sats were really crummy that night and started to trend downward. He was snotty and wheezy and I had left home without the big green booger sucker that I love so much.

It was late and everything was closed. Daddy agreed to stay with Ralph at the hotel while I made a trip to a 24 hour big name drugstore for nose drops and a booger sucker. I was sure that I saw one down the street. Guess. Yep, it was closed. 

And so was the next one that I found. And the next. I must have driven 50 miles in a strange town before I hit the jackpot. It was around 3am when I got back to the hotel. Isn't that the way it goes? Never enough sleep, especially on an important day.

Thanksgiving day, Ralph was not himself. He was very lethargic and slept on the floor most of the day. We made the trip home that evening. As we drove through the city I remember thinking maybe we should just take Ralph to the hospital before going to the house. I figured I should put him to bed and monitor him for awhile before deciding.

I put him to bed and laid down myself. His crib was next to our bed. I had his sat monitor positioned under the crib so that I could see it without getting up or even lifting my head. (I'm certain that I had learned to check his numbers without even waking.) After progressively bumping up his oxygen to over a liter and not seeing any improvement in his sats we decided to take him in to the ER. Here is what I had to say about it last year.

Ralph spent his first Christmas in the hospital. His first birthday. Mother's day. Now Thanksgiving. It was getting to the point that a major holiday wasn't a major holiday if we weren't spending it in the "joint."

It was a short stay, thank goodness, less than a week. And he was discharged one year ago today. He has not had a hospital stay since then! Huge!

Thinking back on those scary, fragile days makes me feel so thankful. Ralph is such a big boy these days. Big and strong. And healthy. Wow, did I just say healthy? From my keyboard to God's ear.

Ralph was so sweet this morning that I just had to get it on video.

Isn't his hair getting long? Did you see him pointing to the music? I just love it!

He sings Christmas songs in church with his Sunday school class tomorrow. It's gonna be interesting and waaaay too cute. I warned the other kids to not let me leave the house without a camera.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving horror!

This totally made me laugh! Make sure your little kids are not looking over your shoulder, OK? I don't want to be responsible for scarring their psyche.

I'll never forget the Thanksgiving we spent at my mom's house when she lived in Kansas City. Thanksgiving with my family is always a big deal. The dinner is big. We use the china. We use a white table cloth. 

It was 1991, I think. Wesley was just a baby. Our little family of three had one bedroom. Family from Illinois stayed in another. Grandma and Grandpa were there, too. It was a busy, full house!

Then...the puking started. I can't remember if it started before or after the big Thanksgiving meal, or what. I DO remember the smell. 

This stomach crud swept through the whole family. The group from Illinois ended up fleeing to a motel room. James was so delirious that he fell down the stairs! Memorable. For all the wrong reasons!

Do you have any Thanksgiving horror stories to share?

I would have normally cropped this photo, but this really shows how tiny she is!

This little pumpkin is starting to crawl! Looking at her on hands and knees it is hard to believe that those scrawny little wrists will hold her up. She looks like a little lady bug.

Frozen pizza and tater tots?

Imagine watching a child open a Christmas present. Oooooh! Their eyes light up. It is something fantastic! Watching them inspect the precious new toy and try it out sends you to a happy place back in your own childhood.

Then someone snatches the new toy away and shoves another gift in their face. No time for playing! There are lots of gifts left to open.

Have you ever experienced this? I have seen it a few times. It always makes me sad. I think we are doing our kids a great disservice by overloading them with Christmas gifts. It takes away from the holiness of the day. It cheapens the gifts themselves.

I've been struggling with simplifying the Christmas season for several years. I've tried, without much success so far, to get grandparents to cut back to one gift per child. With difficult economic times settling in on our country, it seems that many are ready to hear the message of creating a more meaningful Christmas experience.

I encourage you to check out Advent Conspiracy. The concept behind it is to worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all. How can one spend less and give more at the same time? I think it is an example of the law of diminishing returns where the value of the additional stuff you give decreases as you buy and give more stuff.

I'm sure that we all have an example of an especially memorable Christmas or holiday where we did things differently. I remember Thanksgiving 1999 in particular. Thomas was born a few weeks before and I was NOT going to cook a big traditional dinner. We ended up eating frozen pizzas and tater tots. The kids loved it! I'll never forget that year.

Another year when money was extremely tight, I bought a 20lb bag of rice and and some fabric remnants to make rice bag bed warmers for all the kids. (You put these in the microwave oven for a few minutes and you have a nice source of moist heat for your aching back or just to thaw out your freezing toes.) They loved these and had a great time lining up at the microwave every evening before bedtime.

Sometimes when holiday preparations seem overwhelming I think, "we could just have pizza a tater tots again."

What are some ways that you keep your Christmas meaningful and manageable?

**Tomorrow, just for fun: share your Thanksgiving horror stories!**

What a great weekend!

We had a busy and fun weekend. Here are Jordan and Ruby waiting to leave for church. We were actually on time today! Woo-hoo!

Here is the start of the Turkey Trot 2 mile race. Ruby and I took Richard down to the park Saturday morning so that he could run. 

He didn't run quite as fast as he had planned. He is still battling some pesky injuries. Nothing a week of rest can't fix! 

Thomas had his birthday party Saturday night. I even let him invite some friends this year. It was pretty fun. We had cake and ice cream then watched the movie "Up." Of course there was stove-top popped popcorn to go with the movie. Am I the only one who pops corn like this anymore?

Oh yeah. Thomas is a serious, sober boy, but he CAN smile! We all had a great laugh about the flowery wrapping paper!!

Hope you had a great weekend, too.