We Survived Christmas 2009

As we gathered 'round the tree last night to thank God for sending his Son of Light,
we also thanked him for letting us survive Christmas 2009.
The day started out with a phone call.
Receiving that information I tried not to bawl.
It seems someone said they were me
as they used my debit card for purchases in Asia and Turkey.
That was on top of me nursing the burn on my arm.
The day before I was sewing and to my alarm,
when I turned 'round to reach the scissors,
the iron on my forearm made lots of sizzles.
After my kids opened their presents with glee,
we jumped in the car to go see our family.
We had pancakes at my dad's, then headed to my mom's.
That's when the bad luck really hit like a bomb.
While playing a board game, thinking it would make all at ease,
my son started gagging and choking and couldn't breath.
I was across the table, so I couldn't whack his back,
but all of a sudden a game piece popped out of his mouth
and landed in the box with a thwack.
The snow was still falling and there was ice on the ground.
Fourteen nieces and nephews were running around.
The ham was starting to cook up real nice
when we got a call from my aunt and uncle who could not travel to be with us because of the ice.
My sister and her family had planned on going home, but didn't leave;
through the blizzard they didn't want to roam.
So, some were snowed out and some were snowed in, and through all of this we kept up our chins.
During all this, my step-brother's family did not want to be missed.
They drove through the bad weather to get to us and what a sight,
along the highway they saw off to the right
a MoDot grater truck stuck for the duration of the night.
The aroma of ham was filling the air.
The timer on the oven beeped and mom took it out of there.
She proceeded to place the dish on the stove so it could cool.
Little did she know she was about to be a fool.
Instead of turning the heat on under the spuds,
she turned on the burner under the ham and it wasn't a dud.
The dish of Pyrex glass heated up fast.
The next disaster happened in a flash.
There was no warning, just a loud burst.
It's a miracle no one in the house got hurt.
You see, the dish exploded and sent glass shards flying.
My mom and my baby immediately started crying.
There was glass on the counter and glass on the floor.
Just when they thought they got it all cleaned up,
then they'd find more.
Then the next part really ruined the mood.
There were tiny glass shards in all of the food.
We rummaged through the fridge and the freezer
to see if we could scroung up enough to make a left over buffet pleaser.
But there were 24 mouths to feed and we didn't know if there was plenty.
So I made phone calls to Perkins, Golden Corral and Denny's.
Finally I got a hold of someone at LeMaire's,
and they said we were welcome to eat catfish there.
So we all bundled up and headed that way.
It was getting late and no one wanted to play.
We waited patiently and laughed about the day.
The food was cooked fresh and served to us piping hot.
But an enjoyable Christmas meal it was not.
My little nephew took one bite of fish and spit it out,
and then started flailing his hands about.
His lips started swelling and his face got hives.
We were all worried for his precious little life.
My hubby and step-sis rushed him to the ER.
He got the care he needed from the doctor.
When my hubby was driving the Surburban back to mom's,
he tried to stop at 16th and Ingram but something went wrong.
He slid on the ice, the truck wouldn't stop.
So he hit the car in front of him.
His bumper did pop.
The night wasn't over. That wasn't all.
My sister had an asthma flare up,
thank goodness for Albuterol.
To top off the night, my brother-in-law needed the Tums.
His ulcer flared up and he was really bummed.
At that point we decided to call it a day,
and head home and pray the bad luck stayed away.
My mom was laughing so that she wouldn't cry.
We hugged and kissed and said good bye.
We're going to make t-shirts, and my hubby is writing a song
to document all of the things that went wrong.
But the one thing that helped us hold it together
through all of the mishaps and all the bad weather
was to know that God was still in control
and Jesus Christ is still on the throne.
I hope your Christmas has been merry, and unlike our, not too scary.
All of the events mentioned above did happen at our family Christmas, December 25, 2009..