Well, Christmas came. It was a rocky road right up to the bitter end, but it did eventually come. I thought once Tala's funeral was over we would be able to focus on Christmas, but what is the saying about when men make plans, God laughs?
On Tuesday, I was at the store for the third time that day when I ran into Emily. She told me that she had been talking to my mom and that my dad hadn't been feeling well. I talked to my mom shortly thereafter, and by they time we hung up, I had convinced her to take my dad to urgent care. Unfortunately, that didn't go as planned, after two separate falls and being turned away from urgent care, we ended up calling 911 to help get my dad off the floor and my mom and I spent the next 10 hours (all night long) in the ER on a stool and a folding chair following a diagnosis of a UTI. After a VERY long night, my dad ended up being admitted to the hospital, where he would spend the next 2.5 days including Christmas. He was eventually transferred to a skilled nursing facility, where he is now, to rehab.
It was with that backdrop that Christmas finally arrived. The festivities began on Christmas Eve. We gathered with the Lundberg family despite missing Nana and Papa, despite the stress and exhaustion. We had pizza and Chinese, played games, and exchanged gifts. I had planned a game of Family Feud and to me that was the highlight of the night.
Then it was Christmas. Despite the incredibly un-Christmasy lead up, we locked in pretty well for Christmas morning. We had gifts for everyone, obviously, but the big surprise was that we have booked a Mexican Riviera cruise for Spring break. We had planned to tell them by hiding rubber ducks around the house, one of which said "We are going on a cruise to Mexico". First, I wrapped a duck for each of the kids under the tree. I planned to tell them that I had heard getting a duck for Christmas was good luck, a lucky duck, and then once all the presents had been opened, tell them that maybe the ducks meant something else and they should go look for more around the house. Unfortunately, with all that was going on, I accident labeled two ducks as being for CC and none for Elsie. With that, it turned out that the first two presents CC opened were both ducks. I think she though she was being punked.
Later in the day we went to the hospital to visit papa and then to the airport to pick up Grandpa, Lollie, and Jensen. We are mid Grandpa, Lollie, and Jensen visit. The highlight of the visit so far was our visit to a highland cow farm. It was CC's dream come true.
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