Christmas 2009

5:00am. After a night of coughs and crying at 30-minute intervals, the baby flipped in his sleep to nurse just as Gavin's feet sneaked into the hallway. I listened from the bed as the family whispered in the livingroom and the light of the tree illuminated the doorway, and Gavin came tiptoeing in to hop eagerly at the edge of the bed and run out again. When the baby was asleep again I popped him off and rolled off the smushy new mattress topper with barely a creak. The family quietly cheered for me. We watched the boy rip into Santa's gifts, opening up the treats tucked into our stockings. When Leif made an angry noise from the bed, I picked him up and waved him at his pile of goodies until he was confused into silence.

The next few hours were the same as millions of Christmas mornings over the miles and through the years, and we were laughing over our coffee cups as we picked through the wrappings to sit at the table with steak and eggs and mimosas.

We shredded potatoes with the new attachments for the kitchenaid I found under the bathroom sink (sent on a hunt by a clue and a piece of the machine in a small jewelry box), my mom stomped around in her new Harley Davidson motorcycle boots, Gavin set up a motion detector to startle the cats, and Leif cooked with his new plastic mixer and microwave. In the afternoon, we ran outside to push Gavin around on his new bike, my mom took off on the motorcycle for a joyride, and Leif ran up and down the driveway until his knees were scratched off.

In the evening we threw together a meat pie and sat around the living room to watch Rudolph while the cats rolled drunkenly in catnip. The baby was grouchy and snorgling on snot as he fell asleep on my chest, so I committed a parental sin and laid him on a pillow to keep his head tilted. And then a Christmas Miracle: Leif slept through the night without waking once. For 12 hours. I'm still happy about it.

And now the year rolls past us again, and the days will grow longer. Time to pack up the lights and put away the music and get back to life. Well, it's alright. Every day is just one day.