The Perfect Christmas

 What is the "perfect Christmas?"  This year I wanted just that.  I am not talking about all the fanfare leading up to Christmas that sometimes gets people all crazy, but my parents were coming to Utah for their first ever Utah Christmas and I wanted their stay to be perfect.  I wanted the kids to be healthy and happy.  I wanted to make Christmas goodies with my mom.  I wanted to watch my dad playing basketball out in the back with our new hoop.  But like most plans in life, this one was not to come to pass.  On December 10th sickness hit our home and still isn't completely gone.  Nathan had a sore throat and fever and kept telling us his head was dizzy.  After taking him to the doc and spending money I didn't need to, he missed 4 days of school and still has a lingering cough.  On the 15th Callie got sick and a 2 year old is really not happy when she hurts.  We rarely got to see her happy face.

 Luckily we didn't have throwing up or diarrhea.  I am REALLY thankful these 2 symptoms never came to our home.  Ryan and Annabelle never got like Nathan or Callie.  They both had days where they were tired or cranky and Annabelle's nose has been dripping for weeks, but no fever or body aches.  Having sick kids when my parents were flying in made me stressed and anxious.  My mom came into town with a cold so she wasn't feeling great.  We survived the first couple days barely and luckily by Christmas Eve everyone was a lot happier.  So, was Christmas perfect?  Definitely not by my first definition.  We didn't make any goodies, but we did make dinners (won ton was a big hit) and we had lots of chatting time.  Dad never got outside to play ball because it was FREEZING, but my parents had their first ever White Christmas and my mom can now proudly say she shoveled snow. 

 We made it through Greg's family party in Springville and then had 30+ cousins and family at my house the next day.  We did venture out to the movies and lunch one day.  We loved Rise of The Guardians and then were REALLY disappointed with Wingers (food took forever, they forgot Nathan's order and then the kids meals weren't as kid friendly).  We played A LOT of games, both board games and Wii games. 

 Greg and I even managed to go out on a date.  While things weren't perfect, they were just right.  We were all together.  We smiled and laughed and played together.  For us it was as perfect as our Christmas 2012 could be.