Happy Holidays!

Well even though I was apparently on Santa's "nice" list since I got so many amazing gifts this Christmas, I was actually pretty naughty because I haven't written much this month! But I'm sure anyone can attest that December is such a stressful month. And where I was already so busy with my residency interviews, preparing for Christmas made it that much more difficult to sit down at the computer for more than five minutes and come up with something productive to say.

In the midst of all my interviews, I had to prepare for Christmas. First order of business was to attempt Black Friday shopping for the first time. I've never done it before, but I thought since now we have a child to buy for and I don't exactly have that doctor salary yet, we should try to score some deals. I dragged my poor husband to Toys R Us Thanksgiving night. My secret plan was to wait until the store opened at 9pm, then just hop in line as the people were piling into the store. What I didn't plan for was that they only allowed so many people in at a time. So we waited. Outside. In the cold. For an hour and a half.

After all the waiting and freezing, we finally got in. "Hooray! Time to shop!" I thought. My idea of Black Friday shopping fun soon sizzled as we realized we could barely even move around the store. Not to mention, all the toys on our list weren't even on sale! We seriously paid full price for almost everything. And the only reason we did it was because we waited outside for so long that we felt stupid leaving with nothing. I guess I should have done my homework ahead of time to find out what was on sale and what wasn't. Well, I had the last laugh when I went back last week and had a bunch of the items price adjusted for their later sale price. Bwahaha.

Next on my list of must-do's this holiday season was to get Killian to take a picture with Santa. Last year worked out well. He didn't cry at all, and we got a good picture. This year was a much different story. We traveled all the way to the Burlington mall since I've heard they have the "king" of all Santa's there, and boy was he a good-looking Santa. He might as well have been Freddy Kreuger though, because as we inched closer and closer towards him, Killian clung tighter and tighter. And even though the scary fat man in the red suit offered him a candy cane, he still screamed bloody murder when I tried to sit him on his lap. No picture.

It was soon time for my parent's annual Christmas party, which is the most anticipated event of the year.  My cousin dresses up as Santa and hands presents out to every kid there. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to get a picture with Santa since he'd see all the other kids interacting with him and not freaking out. He didn't cry, but couldn't stop touching Santa's beard long enough to get a great picture. I finally gave up and decided to just enjoy the party.

Then Christmas came! This year was Killian's second Christmas. Last year was memorable because it was his first, but this year was even better because he could actually understand it a little more. My husband and I went a little overboard picking out Christmas gifts for him this year, but it was all worth it to see the excitement Killian had when saw the riding pirate ship sitting under the tree or unwrapped his Rock Star Mickey. Of course "santa" (and the grandparents) spoiled the crap out of him, but I think he just as much enjoyed being around our families and all the attention he got.

I feel so incredibly lucky right now, not because I finally got a Kitchenaid mixer, but because I have a healthy, happy family that I got to spend some extra time with this month. Then next month it's off to another rotation doing inpatient medicine. I'll be sure to have lots of stuff to blog about once I'm back in action playing doctor. Anyways, I hope all of you enjoyed your holiday, whether it's Christmas, Hanukah, or Kwanza. All that really matters is spending time with family and remembering the things in your life that make it all worth it.