Casey was very excited to celebrate Hanukah this year.  

He unwrapped presents & then insisted they be opened immediately

Played with some paper


Then he got to the best present ever.  EVER.  His very own basketball hoop from Great-Grandma (Rubin).  Seriously, he loves it.  He sometimes wakes up in the night saying basketball (sounds like ba-ka-balllll, but we get the point).

Last year, the Rubzukes family spent Christmas Day sleeping due to a horrible stomach virus.   (Rambling vent here:  Then the stupid covering pediatrician tried to tell us Casey didn't have a stomach virus, which he had graciously shared with his parents & later other members of the family, but an ear infection.  I suppose the rest of us had ear infections, too).   This year was much more pleasant.  

Casey opened some presents at home.  He loved the ball popper Santa brought, as well as the rest of his gifts...and the paper.  That was, of course, the best part. 

For breakfast the little man dined on Rice Krispie Treats made specially by Santa's Elves (really, it was Grandma & she sent some home with him on Christmas Eve). 

A bit later we headed over to see what Santa brought the rest of my family.   We brought our swell new camera lens along.  I don't know any details about it, but I like it.  Casey did, too. 

I got some Mommy's Time Out juice, which was fantabulous. 

Casey looked puzzled. 

Then we ate too much, and enjoyed the rest of the day. 

Grandma & Aunt Cristen got Casey a Santa suit to wear for Christmas...but it did not go over well with Casey. He lasted about 30 seconds, screamed, tried to remove it, and then did a little Christmas reading

We attempted to to see Santa...but there was lots & lots of screaming once we got close to him.

This is how far away we had to get for the screams to cease. Santa did smile though.


Rudolph the red nosed Casey on Christmas Eve.

This is not my favorite picture, but it's the one Casey sat still for.

Casey returned to the dr for a recheck, and he's doing swimmingly--breathing sounded good. He also got a couple of shots, so he won't get kicked out of daycare for failure to comply, which is excellent news. He was an excellent patient, and didn't even cry/yelp/make noise when he got stabbed in the arm. He did eat cookies afterward, though. Then he chased his father down the halls while he was on a conference call from the doctor's office hallway. After a short trip to Target, which was mostly unsuccessful, we returned home to dine. At his insistance, Casey ran around the house with no pants until his bath & bed.

Casey is sick. He went to the doctor Wednesday and has a double ear infection, as well as terrible sounding lungs. Among other things, he's on prednisone. Casey on prednisone = Casey doesn't go to sleep. Yes, this can be a side effect of the stuff, but on the pro side it enables him to actually breathe and we don't have to spend time in the hospital.

Here he was all ready for bed, but unable to fall asleep.

Does he look like he's got a double ear infection???

Weekend Update

After all of the pre-Thanksgiving excitement, things have calmed down quite a bit. Casey was back in daycare this week, and I'm not sure who missed whom more. Carrie spent the week home recuperating. We did manage to get the house decorated for Chrismukkah, inside and out. Casey got a much needed haircut, driven by the intent of a picture with Santa, but the lines were too long. Not a total loss as he managed to score some sweet new sneakers. He hasn't been complaining, but we realized that his size 5 and 1/2 feet have been shoehorned into size 5 sneaks for sometime now.

I'm not sure how much he understands about Christmas, but Casey can spot a Santa faster than he can spot a dog (he's like a dogspotting suerhero), and each Santa is marked with a 'ho-ho'. There are no official Hanukkah icons for Casey to associate with, and he is too young to understand Hanukkah Harry or Yenta Claus, but I'm sure will love to eat and/or throw the gelt.