Eight Days. Built In Mulligan.

Last night was the first night of Chanukah. My Facebook stream was awash with friends sharing the excitement and success of the first night. Highlights included a new Dad sharing a 1st Chanukah picture of his baby and a contemporary having emergency gall bladder surgery. The surgery was a success. Things didn't work out as I would have liked in my house.

Quality Family Time?

For the next two weeks, I'm watching a business for a friend. Being a funeral director the schedule for the next two weeks is very fluid. Yesterday I was called upon to meet with a family to plan a funeral.

I needed to meet the family in Highland Park, IL roughly 80 miles from my home. With Mommy working 6:30 AM-3 PM, Grandma and Grandpa are on call for childcare. I dropped the kids with Grandma and Grandpa in Huntley, IL which is 40 miles from home but on the route back and forth. I met the family and completed the necessary phone calls and paperwork for the funeral but it was close to dinner time. Grandma and Grandpa suggested I stay and have dinner with them and the kids. No Chanukah with G&G until the extended family Chanukah shindig Saturday night.

While I'm having dinner with the kids and in-laws, Mommy is at the treatment center. Fatigue+Dizziness=Sinus Infection. Mommy picks up her prescription and enjoy a sumptuous Chanukah dinner courtesy of the dashboard diner.

The kids are crazy on the way home and so mean to each other that presents are out of the question. As  I walk in the door, Mommy is laid out in her recliner with a washcloth on her forehead (Antibiotics don't work immediately). The kids are playing the creepy sibling game in  overdrive, so I rush them up to bed for my sake, Mommy's sake and probably for the kid's sake, too. No harm, no foul, but also no Chanukah.

Daddy Still Gets A Gift.

Before putting the kids to bed, they were mollified when I explained that no gift was taken away. Gifts were merely postponed. Still, I got my gift. My gift? Loving my kids with their imperfections. After all, simplest gifts are the best and I still have 7 more nights of hoopla to enjoy. As Adam Sandler says, there are Eight Crazy Nights.