Christmas 2023 (with three!)

Christmas with three is right. There are so many of them.

I mean, okay, in day to day life, three kids is a lot. Overwhelming. But Christmas? Okay, I’ll give it to them. Whoever them is. Christmas with three kids is fun. And Austin is at a great age where he can actually kind of take part in the present opening. Kind of. His sisters were more than happy to help him open his presents.

It’s been a weird Christmas weather-wise in that there’s no snow.

I found some great toys at the consignment sale this year. I found a big scooter for Olivia (she’s vastly outgrown the current one she’s had since she was like, 3) and a smaller scooter for Emelia for $10 each. I found them snow tubes and even a Pokemon training backpack that Olivia wanted with a pack of little Pokemon. Most of Austin’s toys were secondhand, but I also gave the girls more clothes this year as well.

Chris and I got each other a few things, including some books, an electric kettle, and gift cards.

When we were getting close to being done opening presents, Emelia crashed with a fever and tiredness and complaints that her ear was hurting. She had been congested yesterday, but just completely crashed today. Chris brought her to Minute Clinic, hoping he could get her in as a walk-in, but the practitioner refused to see her despite not having any other patients in the waiting room and proceeded to go back to the exam room alone and shut the door.

We tried urgent care at a clinic, where they were saying a 25-minute wait, while the other urgent cares around here were saying 3+ hours. Chris arrived at the clinic after checking in online, only to find the doors locked and the lights off. The clinic failed to turn off on their website the ability to schedule ahead for urgent care, so who knew how many people were showing up all Christmas Eve to a locked building.

When I say I hate our U.S. healthcare system…I really hate this system. I spent the rest of the day in a state of high anxiety, keeping her dosed with Tylenol and ibuprofen around the clock, hoping she wouldn’t get worse. It was awful.

The kids set out cookies and a note to Santa. It said, “Dear Santa, I love Santa. Do you like trees? Check one of the boxes. Bye, love Olivia, Emelia, Brother.” (“Because I couldn’t remember how to spell Austin, Mama.”)

Emelia was doing okay Christmas morning, properly doped on pain medicine. She loved her dress-up shoes and accessories (and Minnie pillow) and Olivia requested “Harry Potter Legos” from Santa. Austin got a push walker and baby snacks.

Emelia seemed to be okay enough to go to my sisters to celebrate Christmas on my side. They got a ton of gifts (dear god where am I going to put all these gifts?) but were both exhausted afterward from the chaos.

Chris had taken Austin upstairs during all the present opening, so he got a nap in and could last the rest of the day.

But oy. We were able to get Emelia in the next day to a Minute Clinic and found out she had a double ear infection, and now I suspect she has pink eye. Luckily, I had eye drops handy and we started her on them right away. That, with the antibiotics, helped her feel better, but she had still spiked a fever that night. She stayed home from school the next day, but then was ready to go back on the 28th. Good. Lord.

For New Year’s, we did a little celebration for the kids before putting them to bed early, and then Chris and I broke out the Nintendo and played against each other for a bit. I had chips and dip and relaxed and that’s how we brought in 2024.