Lump n Bump

It’s one of the things George says in his innocent little toddler voice that I will hold in my heart until it stops beating. It’s also the way he says “again!” And “oh my!” “What is that!?” Today we got a new one “magic!”

This Arctic blizzard began at 802am by my reckoning. Just fifteen minutes earlier Nick had suggested we get out before the weather turns bad for some diner breakfast. I pulled a face and said I’d prefer to not rush out at my 35 weeks largeness. We dawdled in the bathroom playing in the sink and thank goodness we did! A travel ban for our whole county was in effect by 930am.

We watched The Santa Clause and listened to Christmas albums and watched the wind blow. We washed dishes and cooked breakfast, ate snacks, danced and played. Often George would interrupt our activity exclaiming “what was that!?” He was always referencing the sound of the wind or rumbling of the HVAC. So we’d pause and look out the window and notice our neighbors house had gone missing again. “Where’d it go!?” he’d repeat until his words dissolved into “wtkah-wtkgah-tkah!” and our toddler would launch into a fresh round of zoomies.

Our family took a siesta for about the hours. George napped. I napped. I don’t think Nick napped, because when I woke he was exercising. His plank form was impeccable. I pulled myself out of bed so I could wrap gifts. I am very pleased to report that in one roll of paper everything was wrapped. No lose scraps either! Although, once I though I was done, and packing up, I found another stash of gifts to wrap. But I’ll tackle that on tomorrow’s nap.

We ate popcorn for snack and soup for dinner while we watched Disney’s Frozen in two halves. This is when George learned magic as a great new word. He’s mostly got it, but if you ever hear him say “mackage” (like he switched the g and the c sounds in magic) he really means “magic.” But saying mackage sounds similar to package, so the Disney magic eventually evolved into “mackages.” You won’t catch me correcting him, though. To me, this is the Christmas magic mackages I’ve always dreamed of.

We’ve overcome a lot this year and it’s a small miracle that we have anything under the tree to give George. Most of his presents are gifts from the village we’ve grown as we battled cancer. Nurses and staff that took care of me for half a year took care of my son’s Christmas gifts. I just don’t have words to say how fortunate it makes me feel. There are a few things that I wanted to make sure he had from his mom and dad. But this generosity gave Nick and I time and mental space to keep preparing for our baby girl as well as gift our family members and grocery shop and continue healing and work 9-5 and enjoy some Christmas spirit.

Amazingly, through it all, this man still likes me. The love is palpable, which is a much needed reassurance for my husband and I. Just 4 days ago we shed tears because we hardly saw our boy as a result of my third hospital stay and slow weekend recovery. We missed him while he was well cared for at grandparents’ houses. But today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that we are a family of three, at home, snowed in, healing, resting, celebrating some Christmas mackage. George chanted to us loudly with glee “mom and dad! Mom and dad!” And it’s the best validation my heart could hope for.