Unlike most of the world, we spent Christmas in a very unusual way. I had been offered 12 hour shifts on Christmas and Christmas Eve, (ugh day shift), and it is holiday pay. We had planned to go back home to Minnesota for Christmas. We thought about it and decided that working those two full days would pretty much pay for the trip back. We decided to wait and go back to see our family in January.
Nothing is ever normal with us. Difficulties present - the baby still has to eat those two days, meaning that Kevin will have to stay in town. Then another difficulty - what to do with the rest of the kids (it's too long to leave them alone). Then another difficulty - how to keep the house warm. Here's how it ended up (i guarantee no other family spent Christmas quite like this)..........
On Christmas Eve morning i swept into the hospital 5 Min's late. I wore a green with red scrub attire including ornament earrings. I brought home made whole grain (hope for the best) huckleberry muffins and mini loaves to share. Also in my arms were some hand made wreaths. Instantly i became ER nurse and Hospital Supervisor. I joked with the staff, and drank ground bean coffee.
Meanwhile, Kevin began a boring 48 hours with our youngest 4 kids and our Suburban. He began the trip with a Wal mart run.
As we chit chatted, I mentioned that my family would be staying in a motel in town. A co-worker mentioned she had a free coupon for a nice motel with a swimming pool expiring at the end of the month she wasn't planning to use. Another nurse insisted i should cancel my cheap motel and get them that one.
The report table began to fill with plates of cookies and my diet went out the window. Then i got busy with patients. Over the course of the day, it was worked out for us to switch motels. Kevin checked in, but they made the original owner of the coupon present them self. The co-workers boyfriend came to the motel to straighten it out. He was told by his girlfriend to "look for a short bald guy". We all found a lot of humor in that. Moonbeam nursed early in the day in between patients.
I stayed fairly busy all day and eventually exhausted went to the motel with Kevin, the kids and a pizza. Kevin III remained at home keeping the fire going, doing some odd chores, and working on his pre-college course on the computer.
That night i took the kids to an over crowded pool. We watched "Leave it to Beaver". I wore a path up and down the motel room walking a fussy baby into the night.
The next day the first 6 hours of my shift was pretty uneventful. I wore red with green scrubs, the report table overflowed with cookies and treats, we chit chatted around whole ground bean coffee. Kevin took the boys swimming and took a nap. The last 6 hours was very busy. I thought I would explode because I was too busy to nurse the baby. Moonbeam consumed her 2nd jar of baby food (waahhhh!). Kevin had to check out and the youngest 4 kids spent the majority of Christmas Day waiting in our Suburban. I was also thoroughly insulted by a patients family member because he told me "you've got grey in your hair, you look like you must be pushing 40". Kevin found quite a bit of humor in that and has continued to harass me about that statement!!!
Here is our family Christmas Survey :
A. "What was your favorite thing about Christmas this year?"
B. "What was your least favorite thing about Christmas this year?"
Kiana : A. "That its Christmas"
B. "That we spent Christmas in town."
Kaleb A. "I got to throw icicles from the motel balcony. I read a really funny "Captain Underpants" Book. I watched a funny episode of "Leave it to Beaver.""
B. "I had to stay in a Motel"
Karsten: A. "Get stuff free, off around Christmas there's all this free stuff" (Karsten liberally helped himself to the nurses cookie plates each time he visited). "I got a BB GUN" (no he did not shoot his eye out, and it wasn't a "Red Ryder".
B. "I got in trouble a lot"
Dad : A. My wife made holiday pay
B. "Having to spend Christmas in town sitting in a Suburban waiting."
Me : A. "I got to pray with somebody and encourage some others. I had fun working and keeping busy. I got some successful challenging IV starts.
B. "We weren't all together. Parts of my anatomy threatened to explode. I felt guilty about everyone sitting in the car waiting for me on Christmas!"
Kevin : A. "I got to do some target practice"
B."I had to do my school work"
The kids will have a nice holiday break starting shortly. I will have to work out quite a bit to burn off all that holiday food!!!!
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1 comment:
My favorite thing: how relaxed Christmas was. (Don't hit me for that comment, please!) Jacob cooked all the food. All I had to do was show up (and make sure the house and kids were ready).
Least favorite thing: that I could only drink 1 small glass of my bro-in-law's crabapple wine. I wanted to be responsible. And I didn't want to be super-tired. But it is really good.
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