Tendonitis and Chitlins

As always, there's never a dull moment around our house. As I said in my last post, we had a big ice storm last Thursday and Friday. As beautiful as it made the scenery, it caused alot of problems in town with downed trees and power lines. We were lucky, except for downed tree limbs in our garage and parking area, one big one across the hood of Lafayette's truck. While trying to remove the limb, he slipped on the ice and twisted his knee! He tried to ice it (ironic, huh?) and stay off of it, but still couldn't bear weight on Saturday, so off we went to urgent care. I was fearing another knee surgery, but was relieved to hear it was only a strained ligament and they put him in a immobilizer for two weeks. Luckily, his job is on shut down for the holidays, so he should be good to go back to work on January 5th. Hallelujah!

The weather played a big role in our schedule for the rest of the week. The temps hovered around zero Sunday and Monday and we had another snow and ice storm on Tuesday. Olivia and I spent one day cleaning her room, parting with some old toys to make room for any new ones that Santa might bring. This was a little sad for me, because I can see her growing up through the changes in her room. We moved out her Princess makeup table and put in a student desk. We took down some Barbie posters, and up went High School Musical and Jonas Brothers posters. We sorted through the movies and I had to laugh when she held up a DVD of Zach and Cody episodes and said, "We can't give this away, it's a classic!" (This is what I have told her about some of the old Disney movies). We watched alot of our Christmas favorites, the Santa Claus movies, Elf, and Unaccompianied Minors. Olivia also recently got some "Webkinz", stuffed animals that have codes you can use to play games online, and has enjoyed playing in Webkinz World online.

We always go to Wyoming for Christmas Eve, but the weather wasn't really cooperating this year. Instead of spending the evening, we went earlier for lunch at Cristy's. I worry about Dad spending Christmas Day home alone, but he insists he doesn't mind, he watches all the ballgames. I wish he would come into Peoria on Christmas Day, but I can't make him. Growing up, we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas night with my Mom's sister and my cousins and their families. We told stories, played poker and had alot of fun. Things are more low key for our Christmases now, I wonder what Olivia will remember about the holidays when she's grown up and what traditions she'll make with her own family. One of our developing traditions is to watch "The Nativity Story" movie on Christmas Eve. It's wonderful to see how Olivia reacts to it each year, and it reminds us the reason for the season and what sacrifices were made to provide us a Saviour.

Yesterday, on Christmas, Santa really came throught, bringing all the things on Olivia's list (except the roses!) and we had alot of fun playing with all the toys, especially the Wii! We played the sports games, like tennis and bowling, and some of the other games we got, like Shrek and Happy Feet. We also got a game that has our favorite board games like Sorry and Yahtzee. We had such a good time that we didn't even get dressed until 5 in the afternoon (why bother, huh?) Olivia shared that she was starting to worry because some kids at school don't believe in Santa and think their parents buy the presents, but she knew Santa is real, because her Dad and I couldn't afford a Wii! :>) She added to her snowglobe collection, got a bunkbed for her AG dolls and a stocking full of DS games, movies and other toys. My favorite quote was "Santa went to the bookfair?!?!?" (There was a couple of items in her stocking that she remembered from her school bookfair). I got Burberry perfume, and Laf got some accessories for his Laptop, so it was a wonderful Christmas for all of us.

But I guess I should explain the title of this post. Playing the Wii proved a few challenges for me, as my left arm still isn't 100%, and as the day wore on, my right arm was getting sore! That's where the tendonitis comes in! "Chitlins" (correctly spelled Chitterlings) is a food my husband's Mom fixes every year at Christmas. It's the intestines of the pig, which is enough to tell me I don't want any. Normally, my mother in law cooks them, but this year she's in the process of moving, so Lafayette decided to make them (gasp!) at our house (imagine the look of horror on my face). I say this, because I think they stink horribly while cooking. To my husband, it's a smell that is familiar with his childhood. (Kind of like that Ben Gay smell I associate with my grandparent's house). Anyway, our childhood smells were merged as my house now smells like chitlins and the Ben Gay I used on my sore shoulder!

The weather looks good for the next week, so we're looking forward to getting out of the house and seeing some movies, as well as a trip to the American Girl store in Chicago on Monday. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoys a safe and happy New Year!!