The First Christmas

For Christmas Santa brought the poop fairy as Quentin woke up at about 5 am on Christmas morning (probably like most kids) except he had a major blow out during the night and was literally covered from head to toe so he got an early morning bath to get ready for Christmas. It was funny to see him so wide awake and ready to start the day so early. He was great on both Christmas and Christmas Eve. We went to church on Christmas Eve and came home to open some family gifts. Quentin got tons of badger gear and a Favre outfit so he was ready for the final games this season. He spit up all over his and my badger gear yesterday but we both felt that was acceptable since it was an accurate portrayal of how prepared the Badgers were when they took an embarrassing whooping at the hands of local Florida State yesterday in the Chump Bowl, oops I mean Champs Bowl. The game was over early in the third quarter but like a good fan we continued to torture ourselves until the final whistle. And yes, it got much, much worse as they game went on. My Iowa fan in-laws got to watch me shed tears for the better part of two hours as our team fell apart. Hopefully, Iowa will play better here in Tampa on January 1st. Quentin did get one Iowa outfit so he has been granted permission to wear that only within the state boundaries of Iowa. His new Uncle Brett was the culprit. We might not allow him to give gifts in the future. We did have to place him on probation for the gross infraction.

Lucky made out like a bandit on Christmas and we have great video of him opening his two gifts. He got a giant plush bone that we thought he would rip into pieces within minutes but I think it's too big for him to get a grip on it. It has a squeak in each of the corners. Normally his goal is to rip those out as soon as possible but after a couple of days we think we might have to live with that thing constantly squeaking for the long haul. He opened it up, picked it up and immediately started prancing around the house like a proud little Luckster tail wagging wildly. He did a few laps around the living room and then plopped down on Carrie's lap (he does weigh 90 pounds) tail still wagging while posing with his new bone. He also got a 2 1/2 foot rawhide bone, which he hasn't made much progress on either. The toys should keep him busy when we need a breather in the coming weeks.

It was great to spend our first Christmas in Florida with Carrie's family who came down for 5 days. We kept the tradition of having oyster stew and chili for those not brave enough for the stew on Christmas Eve. We traveled to Sarasota on Christmas day to spend it with Carrie's Aunt and Uncle and their three kids. All the kids played video games for most of the day, which they got for Christmas while the adults got to socialize a little and gain pounds grazing over the assortment of hors d'oeuvres. We had a great time and had to leave to make sure Lucky wasn't destroying anything in our absence.

I have a ton of great pictures as Quentin got to model several santa outfits, a badger outfit and a packer outfit. I'll get them out here as soon as I have a breather. I'm catching up on some sleep as I had a late night teaching the Reiter boys how to play poker - the hard way. They ended up a little lighter in the pocketbook but we had to stay up until 5 am to complete the game. Even Lucky couldn't make it that long. It was a fun night and I think Uncle Andrew may have a future on the World Poker tour. I have offered my services as manager - for a fee of course. He has a few years to work on his game since he turns 16 in a few weeks. I told him to practice with his brother who had to buy-in several times sweetening the pot and single handily making it worth staying up until dawn to win the cash. I see allowances changing hands in the near future.

While the boys were here Steve offered up their muscle for any "honey-do" projects. I thought that was very well put; almost Jimmy Buffettish so we took them up on their offer and installed attic stairs. It should have taken us about an hour or so but turned into a two-day affair. I think there were too many foremen and not enough workers. It started with a scouting trip to both Home Depot and Lowes where Home Depot had a significantly better price (that seems to be the case a lot these days. We are definitely turning into Home Depot fans over Lowes). We came back home and decided to get the lawn mower blade sharpened since we do have to mow in winter down here. Well we got to the hardware store and realized we took off the blade but didn't put it in the car so we had to drive home and start over. We also forgot some packages we were supposed to mail so we grabbed those as well and then detoured to the post office. It was closed - on a Friday. Apparently, with the recent economic woes even the government is working holiday hours. So we then dropped the blade off and finally made it to Home Depot where we bought the stairs and a box of screws to install it. We got the stairs into my curiously enough, very capable Accord. We did however, leave the screws in the cart. This kid is making me lose my sleep and my marbles so there was $6 spent on the charity of choice - Home Depot. We, of course, didn't realize this until after we got home. For those of you counting at home we are now up to 4 trips to Home Depot to make two purchases (the stairs and the screws).

We huddled up, had a pow-wow and men being men grunted a few times and decided to skip reading the directions. Seriously there is like 150 years of genius between us. Anyone care to make a wager on how that worked out? We put Andrew up into the attic and then pushed the stairs up there with him so he was enclosed. (Hmmm, direction number one states - do not put stairs into the attic until step 2 is completed). Ya, that would be the part we skipped. We get him hammering away to put the straps on and what do you know, he hammers them in on the wrong side (step 2). So after much discussion we decide to lower the stairs back down (step 1) and we now have to get the straps and nails (4) out of the wrong side because carpenter Andrew put them on backwards and we proceed to look at the directions (Epiphany!!) and pound them into the correct side (step 2). So after 3 hours we have now completed the first two steps. We are out of nails, so another trip to the hardware store to pick up a mitre box (went with the manually one, which is not as much fun or efficient as having a power one) and some nails, screws anything to hold this in. A quick check to make sure the purchased items actually made it into the car - mission accomplished and on our way home to hopefully complete step 3 (trip #5 to the hardware store). We then toss Andrew back into the attic, hand him the stairs and ask him to "tack" the stairs into position. The mission is completed but it is now dark out and we have to adjourn until the next day. I was told the whole process would take 15 minutes from someone, who shall remain nameless, but shenanigans on that! There is no chance even reading the directions would get this accomplished in 15 minutes. Long story short (too late!!) we got the stairs up and I believe they will hold weight at least up to 250 pounds, which the way this holiday season is going I might be pushing. Gym anyone? Has anyone seen the gym?

So a quick thanks to the boys for "helping." We turned a one hour job into a two day family event. There is nothing like quality family time - a lost art these days. I can't wait to have these debacles with Quentin. Through it all everyone stayed in a positive mood and the swear jar stayed empty. In fact the whole process was pretty comical. We screwed up so many times it was hard not to laugh our way through it. I used a tank of gas going to the hardware store so many times. I'll get some pictures up soon. I need to watch the Packer game and hopefully the football gods will not let us lose to the 0-15 winless Detroit Lions. Come on fellas win one for the Quenster! He is yet to witness a win from the Badgers or the Packers since he's been born.