Christmas 2006

December 25, 2006
Christmas was a gift orgy for Josh & Audra’s kids, Raeleigh & Gabe. I really don’t know how healthy it is for a kid to get as many as 20 to 30 gifts to open on Christmas, not to mention the week leading up to Christmas.

Everything about two-year-old Gabe is utterly delightful. He is a happy child. He has a limited vocabulary of yes & no and a few other words, but understands exactly what you say. So we ask him, “Do you want more cereal? Do you want to get down?” and when you hit on the right question, his face lights up and he shouts out “YEAH!” It makes me laugh every time. He has gone on the bird walks and other long ordeals and is perfectly content.

Five-year-old Raeleigh is another story. She can be utterly sweet and charming and is way too smart for her age, but she is horribly self-absorbed and whines more than she’s happy. She thinks she is the center of the universe. Way too often she throws screaming tantrums over nothing, or rather when she doesn't get exactly what she wants. Jon & Cher (her grandparents) say they are working on a long-term plan of influence on her and she adores them, so maybe it will work. Let’s hope so. For me, when she cries over anything, I just look at her and feel not a stitch of sympathy, even if it’s a supposed injury. Raeleigh went out on the porch tonight and immediately started screaming/crying like she was hurt. Cher & someone else jumped up and went running to see what had happened. Audra (her mom) who was sitting closest to the door got up and strolled the opposite direction to the kitchen where I was. We just looked at each other I started laughing. She knows it’s just Raeleigh over-reacting and so doesn’t care. She gets fed up with Raeleigh quite often and just says “I’m finished” and Josh or someone else has to take over. Jon & Cher like to tell me that I was just like her. Please God, no.

We literally pigged out on.. PIG! (Ham, to be exact.) I ate two big slices and then felt ill. Too much, probably, after not eating pork in ages. Wine & pork…two things outlawed in Saudi which I’ve been indulging in here.

Josh & Audra had my name for Christmas and gave me a lovely green wool rug from Kenya. Jon & Cher gave me a cool Congo mask to add to my collection of African masks. It has a happy face on it rather than the more common scary ones.