Change in Plans

We had a change in our plans for the weekend before Christmas. Instead of making our gingerbread house and baking goodies for Christmas Day, we ended up helping Daddy by driving him back and forth to work because he was too tired to drive (we live about 45 minutes from his work), in addition to other unplanned things we had to do. I woke the kids up at 5:00am Sunday morning so we could go get Daddy. We brought him home, and I tried to keep them quiet so he could get some sleep. That meant we watched movies or played quiet games all morning until he woke up at about 12:30. Then we all got cleaned up, went out to a late lunch, and then we all went back to his work for the rest of the evening. We left his office at 11:30 for our 45-minute drive home.


Because we knew we would be at Daddy's work for a long time, we let the kids each open one of their gifts. I picked out two that I thought would keep them busy for a while and also not need a lot of input from me since I was hoping to be helping Daddy. Abby opened a tub of safari animals, and she and Ryan both had fun playing with them on the conference room floor. I also brought a new Color Wonder pack for each child that I had been holding on to for just such an occasion. Lastly, Daddy had one of his employees hook up the projector, and the kids got to watch movies on a big screen! I popped some microwave popcorn, and they lay on the floor of the conference room enjoying the novelty. Even though there were new toys and movies, Abby was so exhausted and overstimulated that she had a hard time staying put and letting me help with data entry and other minor tasks. She ended up accompanying me while I went from computer to computer so I could keep an eye on her.


Thankfully, Daddy was able to stay home Christmas Eve and Day. We made a list of the things we needed to get done, divided the tasks up, and got to work. I did some laundry, made pies, and made frosting for the cookies the kids and I had made days earlier. Daddy wrapped presents that he hadn't been able to, put together a basketball hoop from Granpa and Grandma Garner, and helped clean the house. We then ran some errands together and eventually came home to relax a bit.


The kids and I had made cookies on Thursday that they were looking forward to decorating. So Monday evening we frosted them as a family! It was a fun evening, and even Daddy enjoyed it, I think.