Day 1217. Last night I went to bed later than I have been in a long time. It was 3:30, but of course some kid needed something, and so it was really 4 am in the end. You can imagine how tired I was this morning. Emmy came to me, as usual, and then they wanted to watch Kasperl, even though it was already about 9 am. I only had the energy to grab my phone and put it on there. They took it and walked away, setting it in their usual spot to watch. I was thankful, when Randy was able to do breakfast with them without requiring my presence. After breakfast they were already impatiently asking to open their presents. They had opened two thirds last night and had a third to go this morning. That way we honor both the Austrian and the American way of doing Christmas.
I dressed them, then we finally went downstairs. It was about 10 am. They wanted to have their stockings first of all. Each stocking had two little gifts inside, as well as different nuts and chocolate. They each got a bell for their scooters, and Randy put Sammy's on his car. After the stockings, they continued with the packages under the tree and opened them all. Then then they all started playing with them. Once noon was approaching, I left them to warm up yesterday's leftovers for lunch.
At noon we sat down to eat, first turkey with rice and stuffing and sweet potato casserole, then cake. Then they wanted to watch videos, and Randy put on a Veggie Tale Christmas episode. It was 1:30 before it was over, and they lay down for their nap. I sat down by them to encourage them to sleep. It took a while, but then the boys fell asleep first. Tammy was still awake, when I walked away. It took until 2:15 before I finally closed my eyes to sleep a little. When Emmy woke up, he joined me and lay down next to me, but he didn't stay for long. Then the others woke up too and also joined me briefly. I needed to get up to make their dinner-to-go boxes, and so I forced myself out of bed. It was already after 3 pm. I went to the kitchen, then picked out their clothes and dressed them. Tammy was wearing the new dress Grandma had given her.
We left the house on time just after 4 pm and walked to the train station, where we took the 4:20 train. After we got off, we got some chestnuts, then we took the tram. I had Sammy, but Tammy and Emmy also wanted to be with me and sat in my lap. After we got off, we walked up the hill to church, where we arrived a few minutes before the service was to start.
It being the 25th, there were only few people at church. We walked to our usual spot, but today there were no flags or streamers. There was also no kids' program, so the kids had to stay in the sanctuary. We started with worship, which was wonderful. I had Sammy who kept me busy all the time. It's a full-time job to keep him happy. His siblings were running around a lot, including with another, older girl who was playing with them. After worship, they announced that the kids could come to the front and draw, and so we went to the other side of the sanctuary for that. All three started drawing. I sat by Sammy to make sure he wasn't falling over, and he did a really good job drawing on the paper. He let me know which color he wanted, and I took the cap off for him. After we were all done, he put all the crayons back into the case, then took them out again, and then back in. He often does things like that in physiotherapy. In any case he was doing a great job, and he also held up his drawing so I could take a picture.
Tammy and Emmy didn't draw the whole time. They again played with that same girl a little bit, and someone had made a few transparent balloons that they were playing with. They started getting a little loud, and we decided it was time to go home. We went into the lobby to put their coats back on. While we were doing so, the pastor came out to us, put his hands on us and spoke a short prayer over us. That was really sweet, and his words touched me. Then we finished getting dressed and left.
We walked to the tram stop with them holding their boxes and eating. Sammy was really hungry, and his bread was soon all gone. Of course they wanted to watch Paw Patrol again, and they did so on the way home with Randy's phone. I had Sammy, and I also called a friend I had not talked to in a long time with whom the conversation always lasts longer. I don't have time for that at home, but it was the perfect time during the ride home. And so we changed from the tram to the train all with me being on the phone. I only hung up at 7:15, when we got home.
As it was still an hour earlier than usual, they went into the bathtub, then we got them ready for bed. We went through our usual routine - without the advent calendars of the last 3+ weeks - and by 8 they were all in bed. I sat down by them and stayed for a while. Then Randy took my place, and I went to the kitchen to make myself something to eat. Tammy had been talking for a long time but finally fell asleep. For some reason Sammy was wide awake and mischievous. Once the other two were asleep, I told Randy to leave, as Sammy falls asleep, when he has no more audience, and that is what happened.
After I was done eating, I started working on today's pictures. Now it's 12:30 am, so I got done earlier than I have been, but I still have to clean up the kitchen before I can go to bed.
A little anectode from our comedian Emmy: I went into the bathroom with him to brush his teeth, when he said to me with a serious face and voice, "I'm a little complicated." It was so hilarious that I burst out laughing and laughed for some time. Tammy came to see what was going on but didn't know why Mommy was laughing so hard.
