Christmas

Christmas.
Blessed, magical and wondrous to me.  My greatest Christmas gift ever was born December 25th, 1983 at 11: 52 p.m., our daughter Katie Noel Hazzard. Of course she hates the name Noel!  How could I not name her a Christmas memento in some way?  After all she was  almost named, Holly.  But "Katie Holly Hazzard" sounded like some animation character! LOL.  It is phenomenal to everyone except the "birthday person them self" to arrive on Christmas day you see .

I would be the first to let you know I wasn't real thrilled to land in labor and delivery just after I finished that big fat turkey dinner, AND 3 weeks earlier then scheduled.  However God apparently, had a different calendar lined up for me.   So there we were a major "cold winters night", wind chill 10 below, frost on the inside of the car windshield and house windows.  I waddled to the car carrying my "extra 40 lbs" of what I insisted was "all baby weight", without a coat on.  You see I had my own layer of insulation and it really, really didn't seem that cold to me.

As anyone knows who has ever been pregnant, the monthly visit to the Doctor was OK, but saying HELLO to the Doctors scale, well- that just made you want to run in the opposite direction.  For that is when the realization sinks in regarding the fabulous food fest journey you have been enjoying during the indulging stage.  Not unlike the box of Eskimo Pies in one evening that I consumed, or the many many many Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  Nutritional right?  Dairy in ice cream, protein in peanut butter. So that Christmas night when we walked { I waddled} into the ER & Nurse Ratchett said: step on the scale.  I politely said no thank you.  I just wasn't going to do it.  They couldn't force me.  This baby was coming with or with out a final Mom weight.  I mean WHO in their right mind gets on a scale right after a tantalizing turkey dinner with all the trimmings? Our little entourage that night equaled a total of three Hazzard's  John my husband myself and our three year old son Jonathan, standing in the ER all connected holding hands like three gingerbread men.  Sweet Jonathan feeling rather sleepy had just been tucked into his bed, dressed in his yellow footie pj's when we snatched him up, put him in the car and told him tonight would be the night he would become a big brother.  He could have cared less.  All he really wanted was his new Tonka truck and his bed.
Well, his little sister Katie Noel did arrive that night, screaming like an banshee, dressed up in a Santa stocking cap like all the other newborns born on Christmas day sleeping in her swaddled blanket.  Sweetness and light filled the room, visions of Sugar Plums danced through my head, right next to that big fat turkey dinner and boxes of Eskimo Pies.
Merry Christmas to all and Happy Holidays to everyone.

From the Hazzard Kitchen to yours I wish you warmth, love, security and happiness~

Cathy