Friday, January 4, 2013

Goodbye 2012......

I'm always amazed when we reach January each year at the speed in which the year went by.  Moreover, how quickly our Christmas vacations back to the states pass by in a near blur.  So it is that time again that Deaner and I have made 239847 trips to the post office in attempts of sending enough Christmas swag back to Germany ahead of us so that we won't be nailed with excess baggage fees.  My guess is that despite our medallion status with Delta (which doesn't mean much these days except we spent a lot of money on our Amex) we still won't make it.  Sunday will bring a lot of anxiety (for me), a lot of suitcase shuffling and many many times of me standing on a scale alone and then again with my suitcases.  I guess that it what it takes to get us all home!

Christmas this year was awesome.  Evans still doesn't fully grasp Santa Claus but he knows new toys when he sees them and he is all for them.  He just isn't so sure about Santa.  Deaner and I took E to see Santa on Christmas Eve like we have the past few years.  This year I was prepared for the worst and was surprised when it was only this bad.
After this little episode I was a bit worried because I knew that we were having a special guest visit us personally on Christmas Eve but Evans did fine after this "practice run" with Santa.
Being connected, and all that jazz, Mr. Claus made a special pit stop at the Gleaton Household on Christmas Eve before returning to his chaotic Christmas Eve schedule of visiting all the little children of the world.  As you can see by Evans eyeballs, he was a bit skeptical at first.
But warmed up nicely when promised many many Choo Choos in return for a small smile.
Santa even lucked out with a high five (though Evans quickly retreated back to the security of Dada).
I was informed that on Santa's way out the door (which I missed) Evans went so far as to kiss him on the cheek.  Wish I had caught that on on camera but I clearly got pulled in some other direction.  Christmas Eve is always eventful at my parent's house.
Even if you are at the "kids" table.
This year the second biggest "hit" after the special visit from Santa was Buddy setting off a fire balloon.  It's a long story but Evans has asked for another one pretty much every night since then.  Thankfully Santa Claus made it back to our house after his initial visit and Evans made out like a bandit.  Next year I think I will remind Santa Claus about what our USPS bill was in 2012 after mailing all the loot back to Germany.
And this was just one of three Christmases.  I'd say that all in all, it was a good holiday for us.  I never post on Fridays because no one ever reads on Fridays but if I don't get this posted, I'm not sure I ever will.  The next time I post we will hopefully be settling back into Germany and hunkering down to wait out the rest of the wet winter.  I can't wait for Evans to get back into school and back onto a routine.  Something about having five grandparents, two parents, four uncles, three aunts and seven cousins around makes staying on a schedule a bit challenging.  I can't decide if we are going to be in blissful heaven or utter hellish boredom when we get back.  Either way, we have a 9 hour flight standing in-between us and that is all I should focus on for now.  Happy Weekend everyone!

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