A "Slice" of Christmas

This will be a Christmas that our son won't soon forget, and for all the wrong reasons.

We woke up bright and early, fed the livestock and gathered round the Christmas tree to exchange gifts in our pajamas before the sun came up. We passed out the first gift to our boy... a folding camping shovel and limb saw.  As he was cutting the zip-ties that held the shovel to the cardboard backing with his pocket knife, he sliced the palm of his hand wide open!

Christmas came to a screeching halt!

We cleaned the wound and butterfly bandaged it together, but it was in a really bad spot that would bleed every time he moved his hand. After making a myriad of phone calls, it was established that the emergency room was the only place open within a 3 hour driving radius. We hated to go to the hospital when an urgent care facility could have taken care of it for a fraction of the cost, but we had zero options on Christmas day.

So my husband took him to the E.R. and he got 7 stitches for Christmas.

The funniest thing about it was that an older gentlemen came into the E.R. shortly after our son got there, with the exact same injury. HA!

They gave him some parting gifts...including a strange handmade blue glass ornament that doesn't match our tree at all, but will forever be hung on its branches as a reminder of his trip to the E.R. on Christmas morning.

His sisters were a wreck, as you can imagine. First they cried because they knew their brother was hurt badly, and although they would never admit it, I'm sure they were sorely disappointed that they had to wait 3 hours before they could open any of their gifts. It must have seemed like an eternity to an 8 year old.

We eventually gathered around the tree again, and finished the gift exchange with much excitement from all parties.  

In the aftermath of flying wrapping paper and boxes, we each sat quietly in different spots in the living room, entertained and reading about our new gifts, when all of the sudden:

CRASH!

The Christmas tree fell over.

Ornaments broke, needles flew across the room, and we spent the next 30 minutes righting the tree, vacuuming up needles, and re-hanging the ornaments.

We just laughed. It was the perfect ending to the morning.

We didn't let it ruin our day, though. We got dressed and headed over the mountain for a great Christmas hike and gift exchange with family.  Then, we sat down to a dinner of homegrown beef and all of the fixings.  

We chuckled as we removed the steak knife from our son's place setting.....just in case. ;)

I hope your Christmas was less dramatic!

Nell