Christmas airbags have deployed...

Go to your respective corners!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...it's over, Rocky! Christmas is over!

And so this is Christmas...

Well it’s Christmas and yet another year has gone by, this being possibly my laziest blogging year to date. I’ll spare you my usual we’ve been so busy lately and there’s just not enough time in the world’s, but truth of the matter is that a two-year old is just a tornado wrapped in a hurricane surrounded in a tsunami, and I totally underestimated the transition.

Anyway, the holidays have come and gone with little fanfare. Tenzin is still a tad too young to understand what’s going on, but manages to enjoy a good thrashing of paper; that seems to be universal at any age. He’d open and reopen the same gift over and over again if we would let him. In fact, some of his presents were merely toys that had been worn out months ago, given new life with a bow and some wrapping paper. We like to think of it as economic recycling.

We awoke his morning to cinnamon rolls, bacon and coffee. Rachel had roused herself out of bed at an ungodly hour, per her holiday spirit, while Tenzin and I slept in till all of 9:30. Tenzin was up all night playing with Henry at Gaga and Pa’s house and didn’t get to bed until about 11:00pm, so he was still a tad bit grumpy come morning. Additionally, the little guy has been feeling under the weather. What we first thought to be rotavirus is hopefully just a stomach bug, and it’s really taken a toll on his system. All he wants to do is help (with everything), and no matter how much we wash and scrub we still don’t want to risk the germs. So we usually have to pull him away, drippy nose and all, and he’s usually none too happy. Poor little guy.

Luckily, a hurt tummy is nothing a couple of presents can’t fix, so we opened up some gifts. Like most people, we’ve scaled back this Christmas. Rachel really enjoyed the beef tongue sandwich I made her, while I took comfort in the wool underwear she painstakingly knit. They’re itchy, but we guys are always looking for a reason to scratch down there, so I’m grateful I can now blame my sweaty tuckus.

Tenzin got some dried cow patties (Bear Grylls says they’re excellent fuel for holding a flame) and a box with the word life written inside (we originally gave him that gift two years ago but he hasn’t thanked us yet, so we repackaged). We also took his blanket away from him a couple of times, only to give it back after he begged. He didn’t like that until we told him that our benevolent generosity was also a gift. Then he understood.

But I think the best gift, by far, was Rachel’s giant bow (got the idea from a Lexus commercial). It looked awesome on our truck. Then again, when does a giant bow not make everything better (with the exception of the time when I used it getting out of the shower).

Soon we’ll be heading over to Gaga and Pa’s for Christmas with the grandparents/Rayo’s, then off to bed to get a jump on Rachel’s birthday tomorrow. No big plans for the latter of the two since I have to work most of the day, but I bet that it’s a safe bet that we’ll enjoy some good grub and a couple of drinks (might be able to reuse the giant bow).

We wish there was time (and money) to see some West Coast folk, but it’ll have to wait till March. Uncle Jared and Aunt Erin will be getting married in Phoenix and it looks like an Orange County constituency will be making the trip east. It’ll be great to see them since it’s been so long. Next Christmas, however, we hope to definitely have our feet planted firmly in the sand. It’s not easy rotating back and forth every year, so we might just need to set a date for Christmas in Caribbean. I think we can all agree that the sand and sun needs to be a constant, given the 3 degree morning on Monday and the 55 degree afternoon on Wednesday.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

All I want for Christmas is a minute to write a blog post.