Hi there.

I’m back…sorta.  But I’ll get to that in a minute.

So the holiday was quite good to the Shaws this year, thank you very much.

We did Christmas eve BBQ at Jen’s parents’ place, where Daphne opened her very first Xmas gifts.  (Technically the first one was Zoe the Zebra, pictures of whom are forthcoming.)

Although when I lifted Daphne out of her car seat to take her inside, I noticed she was rather warm.  And, as it turned out, she was indeed running a fever of about 101.  Which in turn prompted me to hop in the car and begin a quest for Infant Tylenol, at 9:30pm, on Christmas Eve.  (We’d somehow run out, and I was unaware.)

CVS to the rescue.

And yet, despite being ill, Daph persevered through the holidays like a trooper.  A mini-trooper.  One with an adorable little cough and a tiny raspy voice.  She smiled at everyone who talked to her, giggled when she was handed her new toys, and even figured out that she was supposed to pull on the wrapping paper.  I was extraordinarily proud of her.  (Moreso given that her father is a whining sissy when he gets sick.)

See?  You’d never know this little girl was feverish here…

The next day we lifted our little one out of her crib at around 7:30 and checked her temperature again.  99.6.   God bless you, Tylenol.  So we carried her downstairs to where her very first Christmas morning awaited.

And we were greeted by a fantastic spread from Santa, the presents nearly filling our whole den.  The most prominent of which was this, which I’m currently calling, “The REO Daphwagon.”

That’s the aforementioned Zoe the Zebra, copping a ride before Daphne had a chance to sign the paperwork Santa left.

It’s the deluxe model, complete with: dual cupholders; a giant aft knapsack, twin (adult) beverage holders at the bow, back rests, seat padding, removable nylon sunshade, custom nameplates, and even an mp3 player that bumped some Taylor Swift on its inaugural voyage.

“How did he get this thing down the chimney?”

Somebody’s happy her Bumbo fits perfectly in there.

After these gifts we headed over to my dad’s place for brunch and another round of gift opening.

I’ll have pictures of the rest of Daphne’s 2015 Xmas Haul, all of which has been unboxed, built, and batteried, but these will have to do for now.  Mostly because we’re not quite done yet.  We’ve one more Christmas to go at my mom’s place in Seguin, which we’ll do on New Year’s Eve.  Hopefully she’ll have gotten over her cold by then.

Which brings me to my last point.

Because the holidays are not quite finished for us yet, I’m still going to be a bit sporadic in the posty posty ’round here…at least until after we’re back in town from New Year’s.  I’ll post from my phone when I’m able, but my sleep/work/play schedule has to normalize before I can write with any semblance of regularity.

Sorry.

It’ll be over soon.  And then I’ll be back to my uploading nonsense on the daily.

Take care,

j.s.