"YEAH! And what do you think he brought you?"
"Uhmm... chocolate?"
After this exchange, the boys ran out and attacked the tree. We asked them to do us the favour of posing for the Before picture, which they did, though reluctantly. See, they'd already shaken the box of Jelly Bellies that Ellen had sent, and it didn't take more than that shake for them to guess its contents. See below, first series:
Unfortunately, we had to do the opening rather quickly, since we were all late in getting up, the house was still a mess from baking and the boys' antics of the previous day - and the rest of the B family was arriving "any moment, now." Fortunately, though, we ended up having a few minutes to revel in the lovely contents of all of that packaging before the second of the three parts of the day began unfolding.
Unfortunately (#2), when the rest of the extended B family arrived, it was sans Tanti Théma and Cousine Ariane, the latter of whom had come down with something that included fever and her first asthma attack* the night before. Poor wee one. Fortunately (#2) though, the fixins were fine, the wine flowed freely and the grey stayed outside while the festivities raged within. I wish I had pictures of said fixins to share, but I was too busy partaking to be taking. Still, I don't mind mentioning that Mémé Renée brought her heavenly homemade fois gras, which went wonderfully well with my homemade Pain de mie (a.k.a, Pullman Loaf).**
An aside: among other treasures, the boys got a doctor's kit. When they realised what it was, they cried out, "Jernite!"*** before busily going about playing doc. I was a bit mystified at first by their sticking the syringe in our mouths. And then it dawned on me: the play syringe looks more like their liquid aspirin ones than my insulin ones! I explained it to them, and they get it, but still sometimes prefer to "give us aspirin" with theirs. Here's Leo, on one of his first proper goings at it:
Oh, and get this: each of us got an apron for Xmas, from three different couples! Jean-Philippe got one from the Oveys, the boys got theirs from the Kotlers and I got mine from the Larsons - all totally different and absolutely fabulous! I hadn't got mine by the 25th, but you can see (me wearing) Jean-Philippe's in the above two pics. We just got the other three tonight, and they'll soon be making their way onto these pages. More on other wonderful gifts will also be coming, and soon...
The third third of Xmas Day began as the second third was reluctantly petering out. A few friends, on their ways to or from their family festivities, stopped by for a last bite or sip. It became an epic undertaking for two of them, though. Manu and Candice rang the doorbell and walked in the downstairs door around 6-ish, and the phone rang two minutes later: they were stuck between the first and second floors! Ever-so-luckily, Damien d'Otis (as he styled himself - Otis is the elevator company) was able to come by within a half an hour. And to thank him for this (as well as for once having saved a beloved frog of Tomi's from doom when he came for a routine elevator check-up), we asked him in for a round and some tall tale telling.
By the time I talked to the folks in Portland, I was half asleep - but awake enough to understand that Ellen and Donnie were sick in bed, the fourth and fifth victims of a bug that Barb, Anne and Evie had all succumbed to in previous succession. Crikey!
* Our boys had their first when-sick asthma when they were about the same age; seems it runs in all three families.
** I am fast becoming a yeast-bread-baking addict, ever since my debut last week...
*** Our friends, Assia and Mohammed Jernite, are also the boys' doctors. I used to make the difference between going to their house and going to their pediatrics office by referring to them as the Doctors Jernite when we were going to the latter, and by their first names when we were going to the former. It seems this usage is still stuck in the boys' minds, though we adults don't use it any longer.
