A True Ballou Christmas!

Well, I hope your holiday was as good as ours. Though I’m not sure that’d be possible since ours was AWESOME. 

We spend almost 2 full weeks in New Mexico with the kids, dogs, and my family. Needless to say, the time off was wonderful. There was lots of stuff to do (c’mon we had 2 kids, 3 dogs, & 4 adults…just getting everyone fed at breakfast was a event), though very few major planned events. So we spent much of the time just hanging out and enjoying the company. 

Even with few “major” events, there were major things. The first of which, of course, occurred the day after we arrived. Seeing all the snow, neither the kids, dogs, nor I could wait to go sledding. We headed to a nearby national park picnic area and found some nice gentle hills to slide upon. It was great until I smashed my finger on a boulder hidden just under the snow. Looking at the blood coming from under the nail, “It’s not broken,” I said. After it throbbed all night, turned a pleasant mix of purple/green/brown, and swelled to a complete knuckle lock down, I took myself into Urgent Care (ok, after some coaxing from my wife and mother). “Yep, the tip is floating,” diagnosed Dr. Rudolph. “And there’s nothing we can do.” It was uncomfortable for a few days, but seriously, Dr. Rudolph was my doc…at XMAS…worth the broken bone, huh?

Around 10pm the very next night, Shaun, David, and their doggies, Loki and new addition Rhea, arrived just after the kids went to sleep. In the chaos of adding another two adults and canines, we told the story of my broken finger. “Wouldn’t be a Ballou holiday without a trip to the ER,” someone joked — “Urgent Care,” I thought to myself as a growling and a piercing yelp erupted around Shaun’s feet. Rhea had the entire side of Cody’s ear in her jaw. Everyone yelled for Rhea to get off and Cody screamed (there’s no other word for it, high and piercing). Rhea stayed clamped on. Shaun reached into her mouth and pried her from Cody. 

Lisa and I whisked our dog to the side and examined him, totally unsure of what we’d find. My hand fluttered over the area and came back wet…but only with dog spit. No blood. My heart untwisted and I sat back. “He’s ok.” I shouted to Shaun, who was, for some reason, at the kitchen sink with the water blasting. “Thank God, I’m so so sorry,” he said, continuing to hover by the blaring faucet. As I petted our shook up dog, the others checked on Shaun. In his heroics, one of Rhea’s teeth serrated the thin skin between Shaun’s thumb and pointer. Though not overly bloody, it was very deep — basically, the webbing torn in two. At 11pm, my dad took the guys to the ER. Three stitches later, they returned home at 3am. A Ballou trip to the ER, the holidays could officially begin. 

Obviously, we were worried about having Rhea around the kids or Cody again, but with some effort on Shaun, David, and Papa’s part — which included a bungee corded loft door — they devised a system to have everyone warm and inside without being threatened. And their visit, which was much shorter than ours, proceeded without another visit to a medical facility. 

One fun thing we did before Christmas was attend the Albuquerque tradition called The River of Lights at the Aquarium / Botanical Gardens. After eating dinner at the Aquarium restaurant…side question: why doesn’t every eating establishment have a 285,000 gallon tank full of sea turtles, sharks, and grouper? Talk about entertainment for kiddos. Anyhow, we bundled up and then walked the gardens to awe at the millions and millions of Christmas lights. 

I remember when Christmas Eve was the longest day of the year — this year, I’m pretty sure someone stole about 4 hours from it. Though we still managed to get everything wrapped, cookies out, and get to bed before Santa showed. 

Christmas itself was flat-out wonderful. Some of us *cough, Santa, cough* may have gone a bit overboard on presents. But hey, can’t blame the big, red guy…tis the season. After opening the gifts, we ventured down to GG’s house for a brunch extravaganza complete with ham, homemade coffee cake, and the dish I look forward to ALL year: my aunt’s tamale frittata. The rest of the day was a whirlwind of playing with toys (and us following and picking up those toys). 

The rest of the trip was defined by a huge blizzard that barreled through the state the next day. We’d gone into town for lunch at GG’s and to say bye to Shaun, David, and their puppy crew and by the time we rolled back into the mountains…well, let’s just say ‘slid’ is a better term than ‘rolled’ back into the mountains. Their car didn’t make it up the big hill on the first or second try. And I was pretty much reserved to the fact that we were going to be hauling kids and stuff the last half mile through the storm, when we got word that the plow was on it’s way! Ten minutes later, we were cozy in the house, sitting by the cedar-smelling fire. 

The news in all of their typical understated fashion, labeled the storm, “snow goliath.” I’m not sure about that — there’s been more in the past — it was a good 12-16” in less than 24 hours which is a good amount for any place, especially a high-desert mountain. The next day we were literally snowed in and so we spent the day hanging out, hauling wood to keep the fires going, sledding and hiking/trudging through the stuff. I couldn’t have asked for a better boxing day present. 

One unforgettable event was taking Evan skiing for the first time. We’d gone to the ski area another day and he was fascinated by all the skiers — and the hot chocolate, surprise. So we decided to give it a shot. I borrowed my uncle’s gear and we rented him a set, which he practiced with on the carpet the whole night before. We didn’t buy lift tickets or anything, but had him practice on the areas just around the lift lines. 

New Years was reasonably relaxed as well. After visiting GG, we had a quick bite in the mountains, rang in the new year with the kids by streaming a Netflix My Little Pony (among others) countdown at 8PM. Nana and Papa hit the sack early. Lisa and I *barely* managed to stay awake to ring in 2016. Ahh. How times have changed. 

Writing all that down makes it sound like we weren’t just lounging around much, huh? We were so sad to see our two weeks come to an end…and in total denial that so many days had passed. Once again, I drove back with the dogs (17 hours road-time) and Lisa’n’kids flew (1.5 hours air-time) and we continue to debate who had the harder task. Besides that…we’re now back in the swing of things and the new year is just as packed as 2015 — in all the best ways. 

As a quick P.S. Here’s an update on the kiddos. 

J is so sweet — as long as you’re doing exactly what she wants. And she always has a strong sense of what she wants and any violation of that is apocalyptic. Case-in-point: When we were going to get pictures with Santa before our trip. She was completely fine standing a few feet away from Santa, watching E telling all about the train he wanted for xmas. She was fine yelling, “Anna doll,” to him with a gigantic grin when asked what she’d like. She was perfectly content sitting on my lap and me, in turn, sitting on Santa’s (No, we did not buy any of the pictures of the three of us stacked on Santa’s knee). All Hades descended when I, at Santa’s suggestion, sneakily took her off my lap and placed her on his. The trick worked for a tenth of a nanosecond. Arching her back, she threw herself from him backward. I was close enough to make sure there wasn’t a head collision, but she wound up on the floor, contorted — well it’s hard to describe, but I imagine Cirque du Soleil would’ve hired her on the spot. The moment I grabbed her, she switched to happy-toddler again, though I looked up to see Santa’s face as white as his beard, sputtering a slew of questions regarding whether he broke her. “She’s really flexible,”  I told him. He clutched his chest. “Santa almost had a heart attack. Santa has never seen a kid bend like that before.” I have two things to say to this, (1) I love the determination in this girl, (2) we somehow have to figure out how to direct it for the powers of good, and (3) I’m really glad she’s in gymnastics. 

She’s also becoming very independent. “Do you need help?” We’ll ask. “No, thank you. I can do it,” is her standard response. This independent streak has it’s benefits. Like she’s very close to being potty trained (at least for #2). Though the other day, she told us, “potty,” but refused to get on her seat until she’d transferred a small library of books from one bathroom to another. Somewhere on one of her many frantic runs through the house, she dirtied her diaper. Sigh. Again, we somehow have to harness this determination for the greater good. 

J gives the best hugs. Even E told her one time. At which I responded, “you do too.” His features scrunched, “I’m good at goodbye and hello hugs.”  I was laughing too hard to tell him that he was in fact, awesome at goodbye, hello, and all the hugs in-between…especially when it comes to each other. I know someday there’ll be fights and claims of hating each other. Today, though, their love for each other astounds and inspires me. 

Evan continues to be a hoot. Most days, he alternates between being some form of a Transformer or Gecko (“Geg-go,” in his words — which is a kid superhero on Disney Junior). Some of the toddler one-liners which I hope to remember forever: “Mommy, you’re taking too long. That’s why my voice is so whiny,” and, “We speak England. One of the girls in my class speaks China.” 

Ok. Ok. Ok. I know. I could spend all day reliving our amazing trip or recounting the hilarity of my kids…but you have places to go, Facebook feeds to meander, and other blogs to skim. So in closing: Happy 2016, friends, thanks for the listen.