And so it was Christmas. . .

The adrenaline excitement of the past two or three days has begun to fade and I am realizing that golly am I tired!  LOL  It was another really fun day here though.  The littles woke at 5 a.m. which I expected.  K however had said that she was too tired to arise so early and that we would not go down to open presents till 6:30 a.m.  We played any silly word games I could think of for 90 minutes but they were really good.

When we came down, the whole gang opened stockings and our cinnamon buns cooked while they did that. One of our traditions is 2 big pans of home made cinnamon buns. They are faves of several of the kids and they nosh on them throughout the day.  After stockings, we ate a bit and then moved on to the presents.

This would be KC with the challenging present he asked Santa for.  Look closely.  Yes, those ARE elf shoes.  He wore them almost all day.  They are festooned with small bells so I always knew where he was as he jingled about his day.  LOL  Thankfully the other kids asked for things that were not so challenging for busy elves! :-)

My mom and her gentleman companion arrived at 10:30 for a second round of gifting and stayed to dinner.  I planned an easy meal and it came together well, looking and tasting nice but not requiring lots of work on this day. The desserts I made yesterday, home made pies which were happily devoured for dessert.  They headed back to their home several states away in mid afternoon. I was able to quickly clean the kitchen up, play with the kids, go for a walk with the dog, my spouse and one kid and do 2 loads of wash in what was left of the day.  Nothing was rushed, it all just sort of flowed together.

Early this evening I called Fiona's school. She was there and was eager to chat briefly with me.  This is the first time in  years that she has wanted to talk to us on Christmas Day.  She sounded happy.  I thanked her for the beautiful gift she gave K and I and told her how special her message on the note was to me. A kind reader recently wrote a lovely comment on Fiona's progress.  I do think that the fact that we have been so constant in her life has made an impact.  I think also the love that the littles have brought to the relationship and the fact that there is only a postive history for them with her has been a part of her healing.  Most of the credit goes to Fiona herself who has struggled mightily and worked very hard with the staff of the Great School.  Many adoption bloggers talk about how love can not cure children who have been severely traumatized. This is true. That would be like putting a bandaid on a wound that needs stitches and wondering why it didn't work.  I think what love can do though, is build a bridge and build strength to want to do the work of healing.  I am immensely proud of Fiona and beyond grateful to the Great School in the City. It is my fervent hope that for her the cycle of dysfunction and addiction will be broken and she will really have an opportunity at a healthful life with people who love her actively present.