Rubber Boots and Christmas Eve

Rubber Boot Update:

About a week ago I told you all about the walmart.com mix-up and Quinn's leopard print rubber boots. After searching for a phone number on walmart.com, trying to get connected to an actual person and waiting on hold for 30 minutes (Really! 30 minutes!), I spoke to a very friendly and helpful representative who explained how to go about shipping the rubber boots back. She also arranged to have the correct item sent with one day shipping. This was on Monday. It still had not arrived by Friday, so I guess one-day shipping really means one week. Oh well. Quinn didn't notice. He was happy enough with the candy canes. He'll be excited all over again when it finally arrives.

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Twas the Night Before Christmas...

We went to see the Chronicles of Narnia movie on Christmas Eve afternoon. We all really enjoyed it. I didn't so much enjoy the 3D pricing. There is no such thing as a matinee price when it comes to 3D movies; It was $11 bucks each. Have I mentioned that there are seven people in our family? That is one VERY expensive movie! We just got a subscription to internet Netflix, and Zack was quick to point out that the cost of that movie is almost equivalent to a full year of our Netflix subscription.

We got home in time to put the finishing touches on Christmas Eve dinner, but a wrench got thrown in the plan (as so often happens around here). Shayna said she was feeling 'weird' and was jumbling up her words. She also complained that her right arm was asleep and and tingly. At first I thought she was messing with us, and made it very clear to her that I did not enjoy 'health scare' humor. She wasn't messing with us though, and when she sounded slightly intoxicated when she tried to recite the pledge of allegiance, I decided that I should call the doctor.

I was put through to a 24 hour RN call line, and after listening to her symptoms, the on-call nurse told me to hang up the phone and call 911. Now our town is small, and we live less than 5 minutes from the hospital. It's really faster to drive yourself than to wait for an ambulance, not to mention a LOT less dramatic. So, off we went. To the Emergency Room. On Christmas Eve. By the time we got there, the tingling in her arm had started to wear off, and she said she was feeling nauseous and her head was starting to hurt. The nurse took us back right away, and started by testing her blood sugar. It was normal. The doctor came in within a few minutes, and after his exam, proclaimed that she was likely suffering from her first migraine. We were gone for less than an hour, and when we got home she took some medicine and rested in a dark room until it wore off.

So we ate dinner, watched Miracle on 34th Street and sent the younger kids off to bed. Zack & I shut ourselves in our room to finish the wrapping. I know. Nothing like the last minute. In our defense, the only place to hide gifts is in the garage, and if we brought them all in to wrap them, we would have to take them all back out again. And bring them all back in again. It seemed to make more sense to carry them in once.

Things were moving along nicely... cutting, taping, tagging. Then we opened the box that Owen's guitar was shipped in and saw this:

The lesson here: Always open the box and check the condition of the items BEFORE Christmas Eve. It came while the kids were home and I put it in the garage right away, and then I got busy with our rodent visitors and I just never got to it. Major Christmas bummer for Owen. We put it under the tree anyway with a note about how it got broken on the sleigh ride.

Finally, Zack and I settled our brains for a NOT so long winter's nap. It was shorter even than I expected because at about 2:45 I heard voices in the living room and hurried in to find Evan about to dump out his stocking. Owen had been up for about 20 minutes checking things out, and decided he needed some company. He woke Evan up and they were both making a little Christmas mischief. After a little scolding, I sent them back to bed until DAYLIGHT!!!

But... it's hard to stay grouchy for too long when you see these faces...

Merry Christmas Everyone!