Merry Christmas, From the Family

Look how pretty my parents' house looks!  Christmas Eve is the night my parents always have their Christmas party with both the families.

Mason, the kids and I get there early, along with Aunt Z, so Mama can put us to work if she needs to.

"Who's dog is this?" Mama asks.
"It's mine, Grams!" Naomi says, "Her name is Blondie!"
"Blondie?" Mama looks at me.
Mason and I both just shrug.
"Well, honey," Mama starts, "can we just make sure Blondie stays out of the food?  And maybe off of the furniture?"
"She's pretty well-behaved," I tell her.
I tried to get out of bringing the dog, but Naomi started with the puppy dog eyes again...ugh!  They're my weakness!

Aunt Ka-Ka does show up!
"Hey bitches!" She greets everyone, "the party can start, the alcohol has arrived!"

Aunt Becca shows up too!

I am so excited to see everyone!

When Becca arrives, she, Kelsey, Zoey, and Mama all head to the kitchen.
Oh crap, the quadrumvirate has reconvened...most likely at the mercy of a common goal...involving vodka shots, smart eggnog, funny brownies, and beer.

Once the Christmas spirits start making their way around, people start in on their usual crazy...Mom and Keaton start arguing about the condition of his hoodie...

"Blondie!  Down!" I say when I see our dog on the couch...
"It's ok hon, let her chill there," mom says.
"Mom...you just said..." I am always confused by her.
"I know what I said...I changed my mind." Mom replies.

Blondie looks at me like, "Haha!"  Damn dog!

My brother has his annual "Hey y'all, watch this!" moment...

"Keaton, you dumbass!  I hope you set your hoodie on fire!" Mama yells across the room.

I am always amazed that our actions on Christmas Eve don't either send someone to the ER, result in a call from the police, or a call from child protective services.
Aunt Ka-Ka says it's just because they haven't found our house yet...hmmm....probably true.

Oh well, we may not be right in the head, but we're a lot of fun!  LOL

We head home and thus starts the "It's time to go to bed" fight...thank goodness I only have one child I have to play that game with this year!



Also, when we get home, Lucas has a visitor!  Heaven has come to visit before she and her mother head home.



Lucas gets up the courage to tell her how much he likes her...



I think the feelings are mutual...



And I think he definitely gets what he wants for Christmas!



"Daddy?" Naomi pulls out her sweet little girl voice...oh no, my husband is toast...he can never really resist it.
"Yes punkin'?" He asks her.
"Do I have to go to bed?" She looks up at him sweetly.
"Honey, if you don't go to bed, Santa can't come," he tells her.
"I thought Santa came as long as you were good," she argues.  Lord mercy.
"Nope, he has to make sure everyone is in bed first," Mason says.
"Why?" This is Naomi's favorite word.
"Santa has to be safe...if he showed up while everyone was awake, sneaking into people's houses, he'd probably get shot."
This seems to pacify her, amazingly.
"Ok, upstairs, get your jams on," I tell her.



All of a sudden though, I hear,
"What's that smell?" come from Heaven.
"I don't know...oh no!  The tree is on fire!" Lucas yells.



Even with the kids freaking out, Mason and I manage to get the extinguishers out and put out the fire...before it gets really bad.
Thankfully no one was hurt and nothing was too badly damaged.
Mason vows to fireproof the fireplace first chance he gets.



I head upstairs to get the smell of smoke off of me, when I find Naomi in our bed.
"I thought you were supposed to be in bed," I tell her.
"I can't sleep Mama...can I have a story?" she asks.
"Ok, one story, then off to bed," I tell her.
"Can I sleep in here tonight?"
"No baby, you go sleep in your own bed," I tell her.
"But what if I'm scared of monsters?" she asks.
I give her a look.  Of all my children, Naomi is the one least afraid of anything.
"I know good and well you aren't afraid of any monsters," I say.
She looks at me a little guilty, like she's been found out.
"Ok, but can we read in here?" she asks.
"What is it with you and our bed?" I ask her.



"It's so cozy in here, Mama." she tells me.
I sigh.  I can't argue with her there.
"Okay, what book do you want to read?  Frosty?  Rudolph?  Twas' the Night Before Christmas?"
"Hmmm...definitely 'Twas the Night Before Christmas!"



So we settle in and read that one...and then she talks me into reading "The First Christmas"...a gift from my mother.
"Oh, Mama, did Grams bake the cake for baby Jesus?" Naomi really looks worried.
My mother has a tradition where she bakes a birthday cake for baby Jesus and we all sing Happy Birthday.
"Yes, we're going to sing Happy Birthday tomorrow, sweetie."

Mason gets out of the shower with his Christmas pajamas on, walks over to us, kisses Naomi on the forehead and me on the lips.
"Christmas kisses for both my girls,"
I smile and Naomi giggles.

"Ok, sweet pea, off to bed with you," I tell Naomi.
Amazingly, she heads to bed without an argument.



Since all the kids are in bed, I take a long, soothing bubble bath...
Whew, this is the best thing about tonight!  Haha!

With the boys and Naomi all in bed, Mason and I have a little private Christmas, if you catch my drift.  ;)



Blondie is asleep on the couch as well...



Since we're all asleep, and (according to my husband), isn't in danger of getting shot, Santa Claus comes!



...and he leaves an insane amount of stuff for the kids...



Which makes him laugh his signature, "Ho, ho, ho!"



Blondie is the first to wake up on Christmas morning, and she goes to Naomi first.
Naomi in turn realizes it is officially morning, and runs through the house like the town cryer yelling,
"Get Up!  Get up!  It's Christmas!  Get up!"

So we all get up and run down stairs...



Naomi is of course, first in line...



I hear a squeal before I see...
"Mama!  Daddy!  Come look!"
Santa left Naomi a doll house that looks like our house, a Christmas teddy bear, a costume chest, and a toy oven.
Also, Lucky got a new guitar and Lucas got a new drum set...yeah, thanks Santa!



After we open gifts, I make Christmas Crepes for breakfast.



Then the kids run outside where Mason put up a brand new swing set for Naomi and got both the boys scooters...on top of all the stuff he got for them in the house...
"I thought we were doing a two gift per kid rule this Christmas," I say with a smile, knowing among the many qualities his mother passed down to him, a talent for getting around gift restrictions is one of them.
"Yeah, they only have two gifts...one for inside, and one for outside." he says innocently.
"Uh-huh." is all I can say.

Before we head over to our parents houses, I get a surprise visitor...



It's Bonnie!  My Baby #9!



"What brings you here?" I ask her.
"Well," she starts, "I actually have something to tell you."

TO BE CONTINUED....?


*****  *****  *****  *****

NO MATTER WHAT YOU CELEBRATE, I HOPE YOU HAVE A JOYOUS HOLIDAY SEASON THIS YEAR!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Merry Christmas Eve, Darling

Well, all my pouting certainly paid off...this is our house!  Isn't it pretty?

Here's a side view...and Mason didn't break his back, for those worried.  ;)

The morning after Lila's party, I start showing, so I am definitely pregnant!  It's actually perfect, considering they're having a Christmas party tonight.

I have way too much to do though...the kids have their school Christmas concert tonight *I have to get some earplugs for the little tone-deaf kids*, I have Evie's party, and I just got a call from a couple more challenge moms to meet them for lunch.  I suggest Whistle's...a little sports bar that's been around forever.

The first challenge mother I meet there is none other than Amber Lights!  (Read her challenge from the beginning here) I was reading about her challenge way before I ever started my own, so I am honored that she made it here for a visit, especially since she just moved, she has an upcoming wedding, and started a new blog documenting it all.  Is it any wonder when I greet her I say, "If it isn't the hardest working challenge mom herself!"

"Hmm, you're one to talk," she replies, noticing my stomach, "Couldn't get enough of the morning sickness, huh?  Or are you going for 200?"

"Har har har.  This one is more of a favor, actually, I'm thinking of holding steady at 100." I reply, laughing.

"So who all is meeting us?" I ask, "I swear, I still haven't seen close to everyone."
"Well, I asked Calista and Paisley, but they are busy, so there's just one more joining us," she tells me.

I am confused.  "What the hell are they busy doing here?"
"I didn't take them to raise, Hadley, I don't know.  Probably sight seeing," she says as we go inside.

I raise an eyebrow, "Oooh, great sight seeing...'Look!  It's a field!'  'Look!  There's another field...there might be a cow in that one!'"

Amber laughs.  I know she can relate, given she's just moved to Appaloosa Plains, another farm community.

As I sit down at the bar, I hear a voice.
"Someone get that pregnant lady away from the bar!"

I turn around to see Skye Everard.  We met in Bridgeport forever ago and I've visited her numerous times, so we're old friends.  She's still working on her challenge.

"Oh come on, at least let me take in the smells!" I joke before I get up and greet her.

"Hmm, Hadley, do we need to go over the meaning of 'finished' with you?  As in, you're 'finished' with the challenge, thus not pregnant anymore?"  She jokes with me, "or have you and Mason not figured out what causes it yet?  I can understand your confusion, given you used the sperm donor method for so long..."

"Ha ha ha...you're so funny Skye," I reply, laughing, "how about just shutting up and getting a drink?"

"Well, I have some gossip actually," she entices me.

"What's that?" I ask.  Damn her!  She knows I can never resist some juicy gossip!

"I just left the bed and breakfast we're staying at and I saw your son, Lucas, hanging out there..." she says.

"Oh crap, he's not bothering you all, is he?" I ask, even though Lucas isn't near as bad as Lucky.

"No, but I think he was there hoping to get a glimpse of a certain teenage daughter of one of our fellow challenge moms..." she tells me.

I laugh, "Poor Heaven...at least she doesn't have both of them after her...yet."

***LUCAS'S POV***

I saw her yesterday at work...she was with her mom buying some groceries...her name is Heaven, and I understand why.  She is beautiful....I think I'm in love...so I decided to come to the Inn and talk to her, but I haven't seen her yet...

A couple of my mom's friends come over when they see me here...great...I know they're going to tell Mom!

It's Anastasia Winfield and Claire Buckner.  Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm toast.
"Hey little Reed," Anastasia says, "so, Claire and I have noticed you sitting there...looking all forlorn...what's bothering you?"
"Um...um...I'm...um...here..." I stammer.
"Well, we kind of got that much," Claire says, "but why are you just sitting down here?"
"Well...um...I was hoping to see...um *dry gulp* Heaven." I tell them.

Anastasia and Claire look at each other and for a second, I think they're going to laugh, but then.

"Okay, intervention time," Anastasia says, "you can't sit your little lovesick butt down here all day, just hoping she'll see you.  You have to actually make a move."

"Ana's right," Claire says, "take it from us...before we were mothers, we were women, just like Heaven...and no man has ever gotten anywhere with us by doing nothing."

I nod, they're actually being decently cool about this.  "Okay, I think I understand..."

"But meanwhile, sitting down here just looks creepy..." Claire continues.

"So off you go, Little Reed," Ana finishes.

Okay, okay...I have to go to work anyway.  It's pretty weird having all these friends of my mom's here...and they're all moms themselves...it's kind of like having a billion mothers...all in one town.

***HADLEY'S POV***

Oh how I love coming home when my husband greets me like this...unfortunately we can't continue inside because we have to go to the kid's concert and then to Evie's party.

I drive...which is why Mason looks a little scared...and we take Naomi with us...the boys are coming directly from work...they both work at the grocery store...and I'm in the Christmas spirit, so I told them they don't have to go to Evie's.  After the concert they can just go home.

My camera stopped working at the concert, so I don't have any video or pictures, but the kids were great.
Lucky played guitar, Lucas played the drums, and Naomi had a little solo in Silent Night.  They were adorable.

We head straight to Evie's afterward and she runs up to me and hugs me, starts talking a mile a minute and pulls me upstairs to look at the nursery for the baby.

This is it...it's beautiful, in Evie's elegant tastes, but I certainly hope the baby is a girl.  I keep my mouth shut about it though...to keep from sounding like one of those Know-It-All mothers I hate.

When I go back downstairs, I see my cousin Brody, my Aunt Becca's son, talking to Nikki...hmm, looks like she's got some flirting in mind!  Haha...maybe she's thinking about him as a potential father.

Naomi has cornered my dad.
"Pop, Lucky told me you know Santa?  Do you know Santa?  Does he have my list?  Can you call him and tell him I've been good this year?"
My poor daddy.

After looking at the nursery, I catch up with Tony & T-Bone.  Evie has been running everyone ragged getting baby stuff ready.

Tony tells me that it all feels surreal to him...like it's not really happening.
"Oh trust me, it's happening," I tell him, "I'm not smuggling a ham down here, ya know..."

Me: I actually have an idea...there's been some moving today, why don't you take a feel?
Tony: Is that against the rules?
Me: Hell no, pregnant woman bellies are public domain!  Everyone feels like they can touch them.

Tony warily feels my stomach, and just as his hand makes contact, a foot gives a swift kick.
Tony: Oh wow!
Me: I'm pretty sure that's a fetal high-five.

Before I realize it, he grabs me and hugs me...
"Thank you so much," he says.

After I talk to Tony, I go downstairs to talk to Brody.  He's the oldest kid in the family in my generation, and I don't get to see him near enough.  I remember all of us idolized him when we were little.  He's also absolutely hilarious to talk to.  Remember me telling you that my Aunt Kelsey was nicknamed Aunt Ka-Ka by my oldest cousin?  And we know what the word means in Spanish, but it still stuck...yeah...he made up the nickname...when he was like, a year old.
My mom said the first time she held him, he peed in her lap and he laughed.  That pretty much sums up Brody's personality.

He's in the music career like his mom, he produces her and a lot of other acts.

This is the outside of Evie's house...isn't it pretty?

We head home late, and I'm about to go to bed, when my water breaks.  Wow, it's a little early, but I guess it's time for this baby to be born.

Mason and I rush to the hospital with Evie and Tony in tow.  Even though I've had a lot of babies, Evie has never been there, so she was freaked out, then absolutely amazed.
By the morning, it was over.

Evie has a beautiful daughter named Leigha Hadley Cowan.

...and a son named Layton Reed Cowan.  

She is ecstatic...

Zoey and my mom went in and bought her these swings that just came out.  Man, I wish they had these when I was birthing kids!

*****CHRISTMAS EVE*****

The day of Christmas Eve, I still have a few challenge moms to see...First, I meet Paisley Parker for lunch!  She's a little over a quarter of the way done with her challenge.  I met her a long time ago in Bridgeport, but she has had a makeover since then...check this chick out...va-va-va-voom!  Hehe.

 

"I met your mom the other day...she came to the inn and left us some cookies...they were AWESOME!" she tells me, "I didn't even know that your mom knew us."
"Yeah, me either," I tell her, "I am pretty sure she has super human whitchy powers."
"Well, I absolutely LOVE cookies, so that's totally cool with me!" She says.

As if.  The girl can't convince me she eats cookies...she's way too thin!

 

Sure enough, when we get lunch, she gets a salad...uh-huh...make me look bad with my PB&J why don't ya!
"It's got fried chicken in it, Hadley," she says.
"Yeah, it's the south honey, if it ain't deep fried, we ain't eatin' it." I tell her.
"You know, I've noticed that," she replies.

 

Either way, we enjoy our lunch...until a crazed woman comes running up to me.
"HADLEY!!!!"

 

It's my Aunt Kelsey!
"Damn Aunt Ka-Ka!  You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

 

"I'm sorry, come here Mimi!"
She gives me a monster bear hug.  For as long as I can remember, she has given these hugs that literally feel like the wind is being knocked out of you and your rib cage is breaking.

"Hey, are you coming to Mama's for Christmas Eve tonight?" I ask her.

"One of your mom's parties?  Hell, yeah I'll be there.  I'm bringing the vodka," She says, "Bec's in town too."

Oh Lord...it's gonna be one of THOSE Christmas Eves...

After lunch with Paisley, I head over to the inn and run into Catherine.
"I hear my son has taken a liking to your daughter," I mention, "if he gets on your nerves, just let me know and I'll put the hose on him."

"Oh no, it's fine.  Heaven is enjoying having a friend while she's here." She tells me.
I really enjoy talking to Catherine because she has this effortless inner grace.  It makes it very easy to talk to her.

After I talk with Catherine, I run into Claire Bunker.
"Hey Hadley!" she greets.
"You're one of the ones I've been wanting to see!" I tell her.
"Me?  Oh, yeah, I'm sorry...I just love this little town...I've been having so much fun here." She tells me.

"Wow, really?" I reply, trying not to act too surprised.

"Yeah, everything is so quaint," she says.
That's the thing I have always liked about Claire, she seems so optimistic all the time...she's a little firecracker sometimes though.  She's just getting started on her challenge.

The next person I run into is Ms. Calista Smith herself.  She's another one that is recently off the market...and she's been at this baby challenge thing for awhile as well.  She is such a sweetie.

"Hadley!  It's so good to see you!" she says.
"You too!  It's been way too long!" I reply, "You're another one that has been super busy since she's been here..."
"Oh, you know me," she says, "I like traveling, taking everything in."
Hmm, that's true...I don't know how many blogs I've seen this girl in, she visits people all the time...I don't know how she's ever home!

The last thing I have to do before going to my mom's for Christmas Eve is meet my brother's new wife...Cindi?  Mindi?  Windi?  I can't remember...he ran off and got married without telling anyone...so I head over to his house.

When I get there, she answers the door and she's skinny as a freakin' stick, very blonde, and very put together.  Where the hell did my brother find her?  Although she does recognize me.
"Oh Hadley, pleasure to meet you.  I've heard all about you," she tells me.
"From Keaton?" I ask.
"No, not really, from the tabloids, do you know you're in them all the time?" she says.

"Uh...yeah..." I reply, a little uncomfortable.

"Can you believe they make such a fuss over you?" she says, "It always amazes me why anyone would be so obsessed over you."

Oh, so she's a bitch.

I have been warned by my mother to be nice...damn it.

She lets me into their house as I fume...I really don't like her.

As I leave, I call my mom.
"I hate her," I tell her.
"Hadley, don't hate anyone...and you have to be supportive of your brother," she tells me.
"Screw that...she's not coming to Christmas tonight, is she?" I ask.
"No, Keaton tells me she has some event she would rather go to," My mom sounds peeved about this, but I'm counting my blessings.
"Good, I hope it's jumping off a damn bridge and breaking her skinny little neck," I say.
"Hadley!"

Mom has to go so she can finish getting things ready for Christmas Eve, and I need to go get my husband and children ready.

*****THANK YOU AGAIN TO EVERYONE THAT ALLOWED ME TO USE THEIR CHARACTERS IN MY BLOG...IT WAS SO MUCH FUN HAVING THEM HERE!  I HOPE I DID EVERYONE JUSTICE!*****

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!