Sean YD Cafe: Busy Christmas Eve

Saddled with a fever, Veronica probably won't remember much of Christmas Eve 2012.

The day before Christmas didn't seem like Christmas Eve to a lot of us this year. It might be because we haven't had much snow this year (and the first measurable snowfall in Omaha of 2012 didn't occur until last Wednesday). But we can attest that while it might not have felt like Christmas was just around the corner, it was an extremely busy day.

A sundae cone had Veronica feeling a little better.

We had Emily's sleepover guest, Shari, with us through lunch. While she and Emily made video greetings to their friends and posted them on Facebook, I made scrambled eggs, toast and Brown and Serve sausages. Breakfast also included the telling of the Brown and Serve sausage story of how Uncle Paul was a connisseur of them when he was growing up and spending Saturday nights at Aunt Jean's house.

We also squeezed in our second movie in less than 24 hours. This time it was "Rise of the Guardians." I wouldn't recommend this film to anyone with children younger than 10 unless you want your child to 1) take a nap; 2) be annoyed; 3) be left wondering why Santa Claus looks so strange (and almost evil).

The afternoon was spent getting ready for afternoon church at the Veteran's Hospital. The 4:30 p.m. Christmas vigil mass typically fills up well before it starts. In this case, we arrived at 4:10 and, thankfully, Grandma YD had saved us a pew. We squeezed in – minus Julia and Veronica, who stayed home sick – and enjoyed the 25-minute service.

Lots of little pizzas.

Our original plan for the afternoon had us checking into the hotel before mass. But with people being sick, we changed things up a bit. So after mass, we ate dinner first (pizza, pictured at right), then headed off to the hotel around 6:30 or so. The drive across town took about eight minutes, but Veronica was asleep before we even halfway there.

Emily took on her usual role as "mom" of the family (since I list her as an adult on the reservation), carrying Veronica inside. We were given bottles of water at check-in (because of my premium status with the hotel) and hustled to the elevator to check out our room. On the elevator, another guest saw Veronica asleep and asked us if we had a "long drive" to get there. Funny!

The rest of the night consisted of two things for everyone but Veronica and me: swimming and (NORAD) tracking Santa. Veronica slept the night away, with only a 1 a.m. wake-up call (for her and Julia) for more medicine.

Here's the text of Olivia's letter to Santa (pictured below):

Dear Santa Claus,

Sorry we aren't here! We are at a hotel! Holiday Inn Express! By the way, MERRY CHRISTMAS! We will be going to our mom's house on December 26, 2012! You can leave some presents here and some at mom's house. If you can control the snow, I would be really happy if you could give us more snow!!

Sorry we don't have a Christmas tree but you can just leave them on the floor. I baked you some candy cane cookies. They are probably the best cookies you have ate tonight! (Because I made them!) I don't really know what I want but I like Maverick Hockey! My favorite player is Zahn Raubenheimer #13! What time were you here?!?! You know I got an IPod touch for my birthday?!?! Maybe you could give me a new case!!! or an ITunes gift card. Or a new 5th generation IPod touch!! Just kidding!! I like Build-a-Bear workshop too! I actually have a bear that's name is ZAHN Rubenheimer!! I also have a hippo named Dubbie. I'd like some new books!

I love snow and Christmas. Christmas is my favorite holiday! I also like drawing! And I like slippers.

Love,

Olivia Weide

Merry Christmas!

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