It's Christmas Time!


It’s Christmas Time
By Allan Olson
Okay, like it or not, we are stuck with a virtually brown Christmas. There is barely a glimmer of snow showers in the forecast.
What little snow we did have was taken care of by Sunday’s heat wave. With temperatures inching into the mid-40s above the donut, my daughters proved exactly how warm it was.
Upon request, Abigail agreed to empty our food scrap bucket for the birds and whatever other animals we have in our backyard at night, and Alivia quickly volunteered to tag along.
“You don’t have a shirt on, and you’re wearing shorts,” I said. “You’re going to get cold.” Apparently that didn’t matter to her. She grabbed her jacket, slipped on a pair of shoes, and was ready to go.
“You’re wearing my shoes,” her mom said. Now Alivia, just like the rest of the kids, is growing fast – but not that fast. She just grinned back at mom, and Abigail, dressed in her winter jacket and boots, said, “Let’s go” (in a kind of ‘let’s go before they stop you’ whisper), and out the door they went.
Down the stairs and off to the backyard they ventured. Along the way to the designated dumping spot they held hands, linked arms and just had a grand old time doing nothing but being silly little girls.
Instead of trying to stop Alivia before going out, we just let her be, figuring if she got cold she would come back. I grabbed the camera, figuring it could be a long time before I catch this moment again.
She took the opportunity to pose, kicking her feet up in the air, showing off the shoes that were several sizes too big for her little feet, and getting a large kick out of being outside not dressed at all for the weather.
The girls managed to get the garbage emptied, but in the process also managed to leave my bucket behind. I’m sure come spring I will have a few of those to pick up; I know they aren’t the first ones to leave the bucket behind.
Alivia returned to the house, seeming not any colder than when she left. She walked through the door barefoot, carrying mom’s shoes. Apparently it was easier to walk down the steps with those shoes on than to walk up, but at least she didn’t leave the shoes outside, too.
On Friday, we finally got our oven back. The third part was finally the correct part, which means I have two spare oven parts for the next time. That meant it was time for some baking. By the time I got home Friday night I had chocolate chip cookies made by Nikolai and pumpkin bread made by Marcus. After all, they had to make sure the oven worked correctly.
Over the weekend, the girls made sugar cookies, all decorated in holiday festive.
Sunday evening, I ventured across something new. I decided to play a game with all four kids by myself. Of course, it had to be something I could control. I decided on “War,” on old favorite classic. I cobbled together several old decks of cards, dealt them all in five even piles, and called each child up individually to pick their own pile in chronological order.
The game began, and I only changed one rule – I eliminated the jokers. I did this primarily because Marcus was the only one yet to win a round, and if I made that decision, then he would get one. Of course, that was before I realized that I had at least two jokers in my own stack, and before I realized he would eventually go on to win by two cards.
He was also the champion of Wars, winning five of seven, four against his older brother. Nikolai was the only one to lose all his cards prior to the end of the game. He was out for one full hand before he found some cards on the floor (probably Abigail’s) and joined back in.
We played for 45 minutes (which I had set as a limit) and then, as I was counting out the pairs, we got a phone call about having some Christmas carolers. “Come on over!” I said. The kids anxiously awaited their arrival, and after a few songs were performed, they handed out fresh-baked goodies to the singers.
As for the game, I’m secretly looking forward to our next match. We were loud, noisy and silly all at the same time. It was a blast.
I hope everyone has an awesome and safe Christmas, enjoying their time with family, friends and great food.
Thanks for reading, and remember to watch out for those school buses. As always, feel free to drop us a line and/or a photo, and have a great week. For more of my columns visit http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com


Thanks for reading, and remember to watch out for those school buses. As always, feel free to drop us a line and/or a photo, and have a great week. For more of my columns visit http://allan-crazykids.blogspot.com


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