Life: Idiotropic

11 years ago I made our first stockings. Last year the little girls and I sewed new stockings on Christmas Eve and it was so fun that it sort of started a tradition. So today was Christmas Eve. A day to soak up the ambiance of decorations and lights, listen to Christmas carols, and just spend time together. Kirk rediscovered his love of painting on canvas and the girls and I spent most of the day picking out our fabrics, cutting the pattern, and sewing their 4 new stockings. Tiara and Arianna even sewed on their own buttons.

Many trips up and down the basement stairs. On one Logan fell and hurt her foot.

It's evening. We'd had a nice dinner. The girls were cuddled up and jammied watching Christmas movies on the couch. Logan was curled up with Elise and I was sitting nearby sewing the last buttons on Luci's stocking.

Growl. Snap. Screaming cry.

Logan bit Elise. And there's blood and a big open flap of skin and I jump up and rush her to the bathroom to wash it and see it better. She's crying and I'm worried. This looks like it will need stitches. Tiara holds her hand under the water while I call a friend to see what emergency room will be open at night on Christmas Eve. 9 de Octobre - all the way into the city. And it will be crazy now.

Do I stay and patch it? Do I go to the emergency room on Christmas Eve? If I go, do we all go? Do I leave some at home? The dog is cowering in the laundry room. Elise had leaned hard on her hurt foot on accident and scared Logan. She's limping now quite a bit.

Brilliant thought. Sue's husband is a doctor. I call. He's leaving for work in 30 minutes. "I can be there in 5," I say. No coat. I hold Elise on my lap while we head to the other side of our neighborhood and set her on their kitchen table. He looks at it. He cleans it. He confirms what I'd thought. Could use stitches, but a butterfly may work at least for tonight. Hands are hard to stitch. Let's make this work. I run home and play nurse. The girls are once again settled. I finish the stockings and hang them. This evening has been stressful and traumatic. It's Christmas Eve. I want to return to that peaceful Christmas calm, so I light the candles on one of my German pyramids and head upstairs for a minute to relax.

30 seconds later I hear Tiara frantically screaming. "MOMMY!!!!!" I run downstairs to see Kirk putting out the flames. My pyramid is on fire, the top completely black.

That's it. I'm done.

Ok, let's open one present. That's the tradition. Kids to bed. No more candles. It's Santa duty and sleep for me. Hoping tomorrow is a different shade of normal.