Christmas in AZ – the bulletpoint version

It rained pretty hard through most of CA on our drive down.  We got our first glimpse of sunlight right before the AZ border, just in time for the sun to set.  The first two days in Phoenix were overcast and I was ready to cry about my sunny vacay getting rained out.  But it cleared up nicely and Christmas Day must have been near 80.  I luv AZ winters!

We put Kev in a diaper for the drive just in case he needed to potty in the middle of nowhere.  The boy stayed dry on both of the long hauls.  He’s even better than his sissy when it comes to using public bathrooms.

Related to that: at a Chevron somewhere in the middle of CA I used a Dyson hand dryer for the very first time.  Very sleek, very efficient.  Would have been much awesomer if there wasn’t toilet paper all over the floor and if there had been soap to wash my hands with.  Priorities, people.

The kids had just gotten over a cold so I thought we would have our first ever healthy AZ trip, but Kenzi came down with a nasty cough halfway in and had to be quarantined for most of Christmas Eve.

When Kenzi’s sick she starts talking a lot about heaven since we’ve told her there’s no sickness in heaven.  Usually she just asks us to pray for her sickness and talks about how it’s great that she won’t be sick in heaven.  But this time she started out with a lot of talk about death and questions about how old she’s going to be when she dies (along with “Does God want me to die?”), before transitioning into how Jesus is preparing a room for her in heaven and she hopes it will be a Toy Story room with pictures of Jessie on the wall and there should be two bunks beds in it so the four of us can have sleepovers all the time.

Tata took Kev to visit the local fire station.  After getting a tour and having a great time, the firefighter asked Keves if he’s going to be a firefighter when he grows up.  Never one to suck up, he replied, “No, when I grow up I’m going to drive a garbage truck.”  A little while later he told Tata that he’s a good tata, but wouldn’t admit to anyone else that he said that.

Team Lamb was also in town so Team Williams got some of the old crew together our first night in Tucson.  It was just like the old Crusade days (except with 10 kids 5 and under!).

I played Monopoly for the first (and second) time.  Beginner’s tip – never play against the uncle who works in the oil and gas industry.  You will be destroyed.

I spent something like 6 hours straight with my bff Ruth.  With NO KIDS.  It. Was. Awesome. Next time we may get the kids together too but this kidfree thing has to become at least a once-a-decade tradition.

Tia took the kids to the Tucson Childrens Museum, which sounds like the coolest kid place in the world.  When they got back, Kev told me that he’s going to marry his Tia.  And when we took a family picture a few days later he insisted on ditching me and sitting next to her.

Nana suggested that I make egg rolls on Christmas Day, which was something my mom always did.  It was fun to take on that tradition and to remember my mom while cooking her signature dish.

The kids had way too much fun getting spoiled by all the family members.  These last two days have been spent doing laundry, unpacking, and decluttering.  I asked the kids to consider which of their old toys and books they’d like to give away, in order to make room for the new ones and in order to help out kids who may not have gotten many toys for Christmas.  Kev got way too enthused at first and tried to give away two toys that he absolutely loves and that I know he would cry about when he actually realized what he was doing.  I convinced him to give away some of the things he’s actually forgotten that he even has and he was pretty good about it.

Kenzi was caught up in who exactly these kids are that don’t have enough toys, and why their families don’t have enough money, and why we can buy things for our kids but other parents can’t buy things for their kids.  Every answer led to another question, and poverty and orphans are just not things I can really explain to a five year old so I tried to just impress upon her that since we are fortunate enough to have more than we need, we have the privilege of giving to those who don’t.  After that, she did a great job of giving things away and I hope that compassionate decluttering is a value she takes on for herself, both for the sake of society and for my sanity.

Now Kevey has the devil cough (it’s a windy day and after a big gust he actually coughed so hard he vomited) and he’s quite the cranky pants so I’m going to release him from rest time and let him watch a movie so I can get back to unpacking.

Until next time…whenever that is…

December 29, 2010. Uncategorized.