11.29.2008

Holiday Shuffle

Because holidays aren't disorienting enough, we decided that since we were doing Thanksgiving dinner on Friday at my folks, we would put the tree up on Thursday.

With full concentration, Habtamu attaches ornaments to the tree.

This year, Santa's little helper has afropuffs!

So we get the tree out and the kids were like, "Yay, Christmas!" and we're like, "No, it's Thanksgiving." And they're like, "Yay! Turkey today!" and we're like, "No, turkey is tomorrow." And they're like, "Today, holiday, no?" and we're like, "Yes, today is a holiday." And they're like, "Yay! Christmas!"

Once we admitted defeat, they were ok with spending the afternoon digging through boxes of decorations and arranging the tree.


Yordi finds a Christmas stocking

H dives straight into the underbelly of the holiday season

Habtamu had been juiced up for days about the thought of trying turkey. As soon as we described it as "big chicken" there was no turning him off of it. When we got to Grandma's on Friday, he was the first out of the car and made a bee-line straight for the oven. He wanted to see this thing, and grandma did not disappoint. She bought a 17 pound turkey which easily qualified as the largest chicken he had ever seen.

Being one who has seen a lifetime of holiday smorgasbords and Methodist potlucks, I forgot to inform my son of the rules of gluttony. Case and point, after grace, Habtamu started by putting 3 full slice of turkey on his plate, then a large helping of corn, some fruit, and two pieces of bread. Generally, orphanage tactics are a solid strategy, except when the food is unlimited. I passed him the mashed potatoes and he was completely baffled about what to do next. "My Plate! Is Full!" he exclaimed. At this point only about 1/3 of the food had been passed, not including dessert. Sorry sport, daddy forgot to teach you how to pace yourself. At my suggestion, he put a slice of bread back.

Fear not dear readers, it was only a minor set back. H's stomach is slightly larger than Grandma's dining room table, including the leaves.

The day was good and the kids got to meet a new relative, Uncle Jim, who snored very amusingly after dinner. Apparently Thanksgiving is a weird enough holiday that it didn't trigger any Ethiopian flashbacks, so we were all able to just enjoy being together. We'll see about Christmas.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

So how long did it take H to unwrap all those lights?

Barley, Bean, and Boo said...

Chris, it's just so awesome seeing/hearing (reading about) you guys decorating for your first Christmas together. Yay God! Hope you're well momma.

Love always,
Barley :)

Erica said...

How precious are your children! This post is amazing and very encouraging to those of us who are still waiting for our children because their awe and wonder at even the simplest foods and decorations remind us that adoption is truly about the children and not our referral schedules or the increasing costs. Thank you for sharing.