The Mystery of the Lights

Our Christmas Tree has been trimmed along with my nerves. CJ had been awake about a half an hour Saturday morning and that was about all I could stand. He has a runny nose, which seems par for the course. Since starting daycare/preschool in August he's had swine flu, an ear infection, various colds and a goo perpetually sliding out of his nostrils. He's also teething in a set molars in the back- I assume. His hands spend most of their time shoved up to the wrists in his mouth with that slimy teething drool coating his chin and absorbing into his shirt. Saturday morning he added a bad mood, whining and clingy onto ooze. Which is not helpful when attempting to clean and haul boxes out of the attic. I'd given him one cold/allergy medicine for a couple days hoping to at least dry the goo out of the nose with no success. So I changed him over to good old fashioned benedryl. And no, it wasn't to make him sleep. Benedryl does not make him drowsy. I take one pill and I'm out. I have fallen asleep sitting upright on the couch in the middle of a conversation with Jay. I don't know if its something different with the liquid but he doesn't act any different on it. Once the boxes with the ornaments and Christmas decor came down from the attic his interest was piqued in something that wasn't me. The cow, dog and pig that sing jingle bells kept him occupied so I could help construct the tree. Jay cringed when he saw it but the kids like it. I tune it out, like I do most everything else.

Every year I always have the lights on the tree set on 'random.' They flash and run and twinkle and do whatever else a string of lights can. This year I opted for a simple- stay on. Just little glowing white lights. I set my dial settings before putting the lights on. I got everything set and they looked nice. The kids who have been conspicuously absent during the putting together phase of the project have now arrived full force at the mention it was time for ornaments. Together they placed all the (non-breakable) ornaments on the tree. WC relegated all the candy canes to the back of the tree. And the ginger bread men ornaments he hid in the tree- afraid that Santa would mistake them for real cookies. I attempted to convince him that Santa was smarter than that. No dice. CJ played with the Nutcracker ornaments like dolls ( I should say action figures since boys don't like when you call them dolls).

CJ didn't eat much of his lunch and I placed him in his bed for a nap. We were supposed to go to his Christmas Program Saturday afternoon. But I remained unconvinced that he'd cooperate and allow me to leave him with his class. I decided to see his mood after nap. He ended up sleeping until time we were supposed to be there. So we didn't go. I was in the office working on our Christmas Card when I heard him talking in his bed. I left him alone for a few minutes before I went in. He called out "mommy" and happily jumped out of bed and wanted to know where WC was. His nose was dry and he didn't sound stuffy. And he was in a good mood. He ran off to play with his brother. Later I discovered them and the cat laying under the tree,on the tree skirt. The boys were looking up at the lights- the cat simply found a new nap place until I fill it up.

Sunday morning WC plugged in the tree lights. A little while later when I came into the living room I saw it. They were flashing. How? I asked WC if he'd gotten up into the tree and changed the settings on the controls. He said he didn't. I honestly don't know how he could manage to change both controls to the exact same thing- there are 7 different options. I once had them set on the same setting and still wouldn't do the same thing. I accused Jay of doing it. He swears he didn't. He didn't even know where to change setting at. I believe him. As of last night, they are still flashing...