A Belated Merry Christmas and a TToT

I just spent too much of my life debating whether that should be "Merry Belated Christmas" or "A Belated Merry Christmas".   I'm going with the dictionary and declaring once and for all that Hallmark is wrong when it says "Happy Belated Birthday" on all of its tardy cards.

I'm really on my own this week.  While I was out of town, Lizzi, with some nudging, decided to do a TToT as a year-end roundup.  I already had this planned as a Christmas roundup TToT.  You may do either one or none, seeing as how we are on break and all.  The secret rules say you can be thankful for whatever the heck you want.  However, you do have to go the extra mile and make it twelve.  Thankfully, twelve starts with T just like ten, so we don't have to change the name from TToT.  (That's not even one of my 12!)

1.  I am thankful that Cuckoo is healing nicely.  We were in Kentucky with my family on Saturday, and Cuckoo took a nasty fall out of a toy wagon my niece was pulling.  He landed on the tile kitchen floor.  Both he and I were covered in blood from his split lip.  The next morning, his lip and nose were completely swollen, there was an ugly scab/loose skin on his upper lip, and the bridge of his nose was a horrible shade of black and blue.  Six days out, his lip is back to normal, and there is just a bit of green tinge on his nose.

2.  I am thankful for a manageable amount of water in our basement.  We were delayed in coming home on Saturday because of a major thunderstorm that went through Kentucky and Indiana.  (It actually caused a lot of damage at my brother's farm.)  When we finally got to our street a little after midnight, we found it to be completely under a rushing river of water. We had to back up and take a different route to our driveway.  Our biggest concern was our basement. If the water gets too high, it kills our furnace and water heater.  We found this when we finally got into our house:

A few inches to spare.  We flipped the switch to the sump pump, and all was well.  Still wet, but not dire.

3.  I am thankful that COW came home from work early on Monday and had time to help the kids clean up the basement while I packed.  The floor was covered in craft supplies and dress up clothes and toys.  Between the melting snow and the 5 inches of rain predicted to fall, we knew there was a good possibility of a flooded basement. This would have been a disaster of epic proportions if not for the cleaning.

4.  I am thankful for our kids' naivete.  Every single Christmas since Phoenix was born, Santa has come to our house before Christmas.  There isn't a chance in this world that we are going to drag all of their gifts to Ohio (where we have spent every Christmas) for Christmas morning.  Not once have the kids balked at the idea.  Probably because they get their gifts before all of their friends.  I'm going to deny the probability of them balking if we said Santa came to our house after Christmas.

5.  I am thankful for traditions.  When I was growing up, my dad took a photo of all of us kids on the steps before coming downstairs to open our gifts (or find our Easter baskets).  We have continued the tradition with our own kids.

Ignore the missing piece of wallpaper.   One of the little boys decided he didn't like it one day a couple of years ago.  We'll get to taking the rest down one of these days.  Can you tell Cuckoo looks a little different?  A bit fuller in the face?

6.  I am thankful for our kids' delight in opening the gifts they receive from each other.  Every single year, every single child chooses to open the gifts from their siblings before they open the ones from us.  We never told them to.  They never discussed it.  They know that their big gift is from us, yet they are excited to open the gifts their siblings purchased from the Dollar Store.

I should have made Cuckoo wear the gift he gave to Star.  Star was smiling right before and right after this was taken.  He is merely posing for the camera.

6.  I am thankful that all of the kids were thrilled with the gifts we got them.  I knew Giant would be, as he gave us a specific list.  (Spin toothbrush, gloves he can wear while playing soccer, and an alarm clock to which he can hook up his iPod.  (That's another thankful.  Simple gift requests.)  Mostly, they don't have lists and we have to go in blind.  They were all happy, which makes me happy.

Each kid gets three gifts, and one of the gifts is a book.

You can kinda see the swollen lip in this photo.  He really liked the looks of his gift.

7.  I am thankful my kids don't know the phrase "cock fight" and don't know how to bet on them.   That gift Cuckoo is so excited about is a "jump-o-lene".  It took us two days to blow it up, each of the big kids, COW, and I taking turns with the pump.  As soon as I gave him the green light, Cuckoo was in it trying to jump.  It wasn't all that much fun.  And then Turken got in there with him.  I said, "Well, it's a great place to safely wrestle."  Before the "tle" was out of my mouth, Cuckoo was taking Turken out.  Game on.  The big kids circled them, cheering and talking smack within seconds.  It went on and on and on.  Roosters don't fight each other this much.

8.  I am thankful for the Bejeweled machine COW gave me for Christmas.  OK, he gave me an iPad mini, but so far, it has been used almost exclusively to play Bejeweled.  It's ridiculous, really.  The entire time I've been typing this post, COW has been sitting next to me, making groaning sounds and complaining, "I didn't do anything wrong!  How can I not have any more moves?"  Don't think he's the only one, though.  I spent a good portion of the 6 hour drive to and from Ohio playing, and Giant managed to get the highest score so far.  Turken is actually really good at it.  The only reason Star isn't playing is because he got a Kindle Fire for Christmas and has been playing Candy Crush instead.  Man, these games are addictive!

8b.  I am thankful for a husband who is happy with any gift I get him.  I got an iPad from him.  He got a new Purdue sweatshirt from me.  And I lost the annual funny boxers he always gets in his stocking.  I still haven't found them.

9.  I am thankful for time spent with grandparents.  I always enjoy going home to see my grandma and play cards with her, even if she accuses me of lying when she starts losing too badly.  (That was for you, Dad.  Don't you dare tell her I wrote that!)  The five biggest kids spent lots of time playing cards with COW's mom and going tubing with her the day after Christmas.  (Tubing:  sitting on an inner tube while flying down a mountain of snow).  While they were all tubing, Cuckoo and I got to have a lovely afternoon with my dad.

10.  I am thankful for great museums which both adults and kids can enjoy.  Canton has so many things to do.  Besides being the home of the NFL Football Hall of Fame, it is the birthplace of President McKinley.  There is a huge park and monument where he is buried, as well as a history/science museum.  My dad, Cuckoo, and I spent several hours having a great time at the museum.

A shot of air is coming up through the hole to make the ball hover/dance in midair.  There were so many fun, hands-on activities!

In the history part of the museum, there is an area where they replicated a street in Canton from the early 1900s.  This is in the fire station.  Cuckoo was so pleased to be able to go down the pole all by himself.

11.  I am thankful to have grown up in a historical city with a policeman father who also grew up there and loves history.  After growing up in Canton, and being a policeman for 30 years, my dad knows just about every nook and cranny in the city.  And he has so, so many stories about it.  While going through the replicated city street, he told me things I didn't know.  For example, at the toy store, he told me my great-grandma made tops at that store before marrying my great-grandpa.  There was a handful of tops on display, and it's quite possible she made them.

12.  I am thankful for ice cream, as always, but especially ice cream at a shop from the early 1900s after a mini-tour of Canton with my dad.  Those old shops always have the best tasting ice cream, and lots of it!

This was the child's portion, which was smaller than my "small" dish.

There you have it.  Twelve things of Christmastime Thankful.  I would love to hear about the things for which you are thankful this week.  Tell me in the comments or link up your own post!

Have a lovely day!

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