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Dec. 24th, 2006 06:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mommydamaToday my beautiful Maria is six years old. I've already cried about it, so now I can just be happy for her. We don't do a party or gifts for her on this day because it gets lost in the madness that will begin as soon as everyone wakes up. I'll go into that schedule later. We do her big birthday bash in the summertime. But I did get her the A.A. Milne book of poems, Now We Are Six and I wrote a little note to her in it and I will give it to her as soon as she wakes up. We will have a birthday cookie cake and sing to her after Liturgy this morning.
Oh by the way, we made it to Kansas. Man, that is a long drive! The girls did really, really well and so did mom and dad, remarkably. However, I cannot seem to sleep. It took me forever to fall asleep last night and then I woke up really suddenly at 5am and I can't go back to sleep. It is 6:30 now and I've showered and dressed, but I have nothing else to do. No one else is up, the TV is in the basement where all the kids are sleeping, the gifts I still need to wrap are there too and it would make way too much noise to find them and...I'm bored!
I forgot to contact the church where we are planning to attend Liturgy this morning and make sure the priest knew to expect us. *sigh* I hope it is okay if we just show up. I tried to write him an e-mail from here, but it wouldn't go through for some reason. I might try calling the church about 8am...is that a bad or good thing to do?
Okay, so the schedule. Grueling, actually. In about an hour I will get the girlies up and dressed and simply breakfasted and then we will go to Liturgy at a local Orthodox Church. After Liturgy we will rush home to change, sing to Mari, say hi to my sister and her family who should have arrived by then, and grab all our gifts for Brad's extended family Christmas Eve extravaganza. His grandparents, an aunt, an uncle and his wife, his parents, and his brothers, one with a wife and small daughter, will all be there. It is a fun, but somewhat insane time. "Dinner" is supposed to be served at 3pm and then they all exchange gifts (except for Brad's parents and brothers, they save that for Christmas day). That should hopefully be over by 6pm when we will head back to my parents' house and go to the Christmas Eve service at my parent's church. After that, we will put the kids to bed. Am I dreaming on that one? Anyway, once everyone is in bed, Brad and I will break out the Santa gifts and stockings, stuff and put together, and I still have a few things to wrap for various relatives on my side. Then I will be praying that sleep will find me. I'm a little frightened by this day.
Tomorrow should be a bit slower. The local Orthodox church has their Christmas service on Christmas Eve night (ending around midnight I think), so we are not going to that. This morning's Liturgy will have to suffice. So we can wake up tomorrow morning and do the gift thing with my parents and my sister, her husband and her two kids. My family has their big Chrismas dinner on Christmas day for lunch. About 3pm we will again head over to Brad's parents house to exchange gifts with his parents and brothers.
I'm a little tired now, just thinking about the next few days. My other sister and her husband (the one who is an Orthodox priest) will be arriving sometime...I'm not sure when. I don't know if they were going to try to leave tomorrow after their Liturgy or what. But I know we will for sure see them the day after Christmas. I haven't seen that sister or her kids for a year and half. I'm so excited about that I could faint.
So..yeah. I think I hear water running somewhere. Maybe someone else is up and will talk to me. And if not, I will go work on reading A Short History of Byzantium, a "short" book that has so far taken me six months to read. I find it fascinating, but I have to pay attention and if there are any small children underfoot, I can't really concentrate. So I've taken it slow and interspersed it with lots of novels. Heh. Or, I could go pray. That sounds like a really good idea...
Oh by the way, we made it to Kansas. Man, that is a long drive! The girls did really, really well and so did mom and dad, remarkably. However, I cannot seem to sleep. It took me forever to fall asleep last night and then I woke up really suddenly at 5am and I can't go back to sleep. It is 6:30 now and I've showered and dressed, but I have nothing else to do. No one else is up, the TV is in the basement where all the kids are sleeping, the gifts I still need to wrap are there too and it would make way too much noise to find them and...I'm bored!
I forgot to contact the church where we are planning to attend Liturgy this morning and make sure the priest knew to expect us. *sigh* I hope it is okay if we just show up. I tried to write him an e-mail from here, but it wouldn't go through for some reason. I might try calling the church about 8am...is that a bad or good thing to do?
Okay, so the schedule. Grueling, actually. In about an hour I will get the girlies up and dressed and simply breakfasted and then we will go to Liturgy at a local Orthodox Church. After Liturgy we will rush home to change, sing to Mari, say hi to my sister and her family who should have arrived by then, and grab all our gifts for Brad's extended family Christmas Eve extravaganza. His grandparents, an aunt, an uncle and his wife, his parents, and his brothers, one with a wife and small daughter, will all be there. It is a fun, but somewhat insane time. "Dinner" is supposed to be served at 3pm and then they all exchange gifts (except for Brad's parents and brothers, they save that for Christmas day). That should hopefully be over by 6pm when we will head back to my parents' house and go to the Christmas Eve service at my parent's church. After that, we will put the kids to bed. Am I dreaming on that one? Anyway, once everyone is in bed, Brad and I will break out the Santa gifts and stockings, stuff and put together, and I still have a few things to wrap for various relatives on my side. Then I will be praying that sleep will find me. I'm a little frightened by this day.
Tomorrow should be a bit slower. The local Orthodox church has their Christmas service on Christmas Eve night (ending around midnight I think), so we are not going to that. This morning's Liturgy will have to suffice. So we can wake up tomorrow morning and do the gift thing with my parents and my sister, her husband and her two kids. My family has their big Chrismas dinner on Christmas day for lunch. About 3pm we will again head over to Brad's parents house to exchange gifts with his parents and brothers.
I'm a little tired now, just thinking about the next few days. My other sister and her husband (the one who is an Orthodox priest) will be arriving sometime...I'm not sure when. I don't know if they were going to try to leave tomorrow after their Liturgy or what. But I know we will for sure see them the day after Christmas. I haven't seen that sister or her kids for a year and half. I'm so excited about that I could faint.
So..yeah. I think I hear water running somewhere. Maybe someone else is up and will talk to me. And if not, I will go work on reading A Short History of Byzantium, a "short" book that has so far taken me six months to read. I find it fascinating, but I have to pay attention and if there are any small children underfoot, I can't really concentrate. So I've taken it slow and interspersed it with lots of novels. Heh. Or, I could go pray. That sounds like a really good idea...
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Date: 2006-12-24 01:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-24 02:10 pm (UTC)My birthday was the 22nd and I always had to have my birthday moved to another date simply because I was a "victim of circumstance," "people are just too busy this time of year," or they simply "forgot because it gets overshadowed by Christmas." I still struggle with that to this day because it still happens. I guess my parents just had wild, crazy, conceivable sex at the wrong time of the year.
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Date: 2006-12-27 05:21 am (UTC)But I can't help but feel that we'll travel for family and sleep late from tiredness and get hotels for convenience and space - we'll do ANYTHING we have to, to ensure that gifts are all bought and wrapped in time and baking is done - but going to worship is always the priority that falls by the wayside, easy to cast off :/
Totally off topic, but I got your card today :) It's beautiful, since it's your beautiful girls. Happy belated Birthday to Maria!