There have been some debates as of late in the Edwards house regarding dates. The first one erupted last week. Bernie took the week after Christmas off to stay with Jack and Vivian while Kellee is closed for her annual holiday break. When I said "the week after Christmas" I meant December 26 - January 1st. Bernie believed "the week after Christmas" to mean December 31st to January 4th. As a result, we realized late last week that we essentially had no one to watch the kids December 26th - 28th. We are set now, but it is a good thing we figure out the miscommunication when we did.
The second debate is about the meaning of "the month of Bernie." When I wrote that I would blog about Bernie every night while Lewis was around, I essentially meant through advent, or through 12/24. Bernie took that to mean through 12/31. Blogging as often as I have been has made getting a lot of other things done, almost impossible. There just isn't much to say on a daily basis that is all that interesting. I don't know how to resolve this conflict except maybe to try and blog every other day until the end of the year. I am not making any promises, we'll see what happens.
The one thing we both agree on is that tomorrow is Christmas Eve and is Lewis' last day with us until we begin preparations for Christmas next year. As a result, Lewis has pulled his last prank of the season - drawing on our faces in our latest family portrait. He also wrote Jack a nice note about how much he will miss him.
I took Jack out today for awhile, just him and I. We hadn't had a chance for him to get his 2012 ornament and I wanted him to do some Christmas shopping for his siblings. He picked out perfect gifts for Nick and Vivian. He even held up to the pressure from Nick when Nick wanted to know what he bought. We'll see if he makes it until Christmas. The ornament Jack picked out could not be further from Vivian's Precious Moments ornament. It is a Peanuts ornament with lights and sound and actually requires AAA batteries. I took some (not so very good) video of it.
I am not all that excited about putting commercial ornaments on my Christmas tree but we can save that topic for a blog of another day. We stopped at McDonalds' for an ice cream shopping break. I took a few cute pictures of Jack, and then he insisted on taking funny face pictures. He took the one of me.
This was the first time I've been out in public with Jack alone since the Newtown tragedy. I definitely kept him closer than I would have a few weeks ago. I tried to just focus on him and all of his four-year old silliness. He is very excited about Christmas. His enthusiasm is infectious.
I am starting to stress about hosting Christmas. We still have wrapping, cooking, baking and cleaning to do. I have a couple of things I want to pick up at the bakery. Plus we need to go to church. Bernie is good at getting me to have a glass of wine and take a deep breath. He is good at reminding me that Christmas is about the kids. We'll get the important tasks checked off the to-do list. Everything else is icing on the cake. Really all that matters is that we get to spend the day together and with some of our extended family. Jack is excited about seeing his cousins and has already scoped out some new hiding places for an anticipated game of "hide and seek."
As the "month of Bernie" does or does not come to a close, I think one of the things I most appreciate about my husband and best friend is that he is my calm within the storm regardless of severity or duration. When asked about how he got through 9/11, Guilaini indicated that he followed some advice someone else had given him. That advice was, the crazier and more intense things get, the calmer you should try to be. This made a lot of sense to Bernie and he does a good job of embodying this philosophy when it really matters. He is able to get me to cut out the noise, focus on the task at hand, and generally, just keep moving forward.
We need the hope and light of season this year more than we have in recent history. If I don't get a chance to blog tomorrow, enjoy your friends and family. Have a peaceful and merry Christmas!
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