The Cram

These are the actual words I said to Dave before I left for work this morning: "Luke's snack is done. Zach's lunch is done except for the water bottle. His nap bag is downstairs in the front hall. I put three gifts in Luke's backpack for the EDP teachers; they each have labels with their names on it. Here is the platter with turkey club sandwiches for our class tonight; please stop by the house and pick them up before you drop Luke off at the class. I put 25 holiday cards on top of your wallet for you to drop off when you go to the mailbox. You don't have to do anything with the hummus appetizer plate because I'll be putting that together tonight after class and before I leave for the party."

Did you get all that?

The last few days have been a crazy whirlwind of gift-giving, extraordinary Christmas displays (up and down the Naples canals), cookie-making, and present-wrapping, all topped off with a massive fireworks show at the pier. We are cramming in as much as humanly possible (not necessarily by choice) before we leave for our holiday sojourn on Thursday. Everyone's got a holiday show, or presents to be wrapped, or cards to be written, and it is getting difficult to keep track of it all. Yesterday when Luke invited two friends over to our house, and simultaneously accepted an invitation to go over to another friend's house, my head nearly exploded.

Here's the final clincher: Zach's ears have been so goopy that when I took him to the ear nose and throat doctor yesterday, the doctor finally admitted that Zach's case was a little "extreme." He prescribed Zach some new eardrops that will supposedly dry him out, but if his ears are not dry by New Year's Day, the doctor is going to send us back to the hospital/operating room so that Zach can get a hospital-grade ear-vacuuming. Mmmm. Ear vacuum. One of my new favorite phrases.

Anyway, I have a few spare pictures on my cell phone sitting around, and a few spare seconds, so what the heck? In no particular order: Still photo from Zach's holiday show, Luke's delight when opening a magic kit from Suzi and Bill, the boys with the pizzas they made at the local pizza parlor's kids' open house, Zach feeding the fish yesterday at the wilderness park (note the short sleeves). We are headed to much colder climes - let's hope they are quieter too.