Special Helper

Since the arrival of the crew, it’s been difficult to manage everyday things that involve leaving the house.  Basic home maintenance is manageable, but running around town is a feat.  We never enjoyed errands before, but it was nice to go together to take care of mundane things like grocery shopping and oil changes.  Now, any type of errand happens when one of us is en route from work to home in the evening.  This is after one of us worked a full day outside the home while the other contended with four babies all day and witching hour is looming.  Needless to say, many errands take a backseat to sanity.  Yesterday some special friends, Billie and Bob volunteered to care for the crew so George and I could take care of errands together.  We arranged it so we would get the babies late morning feed done, dart out, and get back for the late afternoon feed.

When Billie arrived at the door, she stood alone as she glumly stated, “I’m really sorry, Bob wasn’t able to come with me today.”  I looked back at her with a tinge of dismay.  I was sad to hear Bob couldn’t make it, but I felt even worse to leave Billie on her own with the quads.  She is totally capable of the challenge, but I felt guilty to ask her to stay alone.  I think she relished this quick tease as she brightly announced, “But I brought a special helper instead.”  I thought perhaps Billie brought one of her daughters along, but there was no sign of either of them.  All of the sudden, Santa popped from around the corner of the house with a big a”Ho Ho Ho” and a twinkle in his eye!  I don’t think I’ve been so excited to see Santa in over two decades.

Many have asked if we’d take the babies to see Santa for their first Christmas and the answer has always been a resounding, “NO WAY!”  Not that we don’t want them to see Santa because it is a very special Christmas.  It’s just that it would be excruciating to wait in line with four infants.  Then, we would have to attempt to shield them from the bazillion germs finding sanctuary on Santa’s crimson suit.  I would undoubtedly be the insane lady who doused Santa with two cans of Lysol and slathered his arms with GermX.  I am fully aware that the babies haven’t the foggiest idea who Santa is and haven’t the slightest desire to meet him just yet.  However, it is their first Christmas and I thought skipping Santa was almost a travesty.  However, I knew skipping our first Santa visit was all in the name of good health.  At the same time a tinge of jealousy ran through me knowing how a few of our quad friends had private visits from Santa this year.  Thanks to the coordinated efforts of Bob and Billie, the babies were able to meet Santa this year.  I hope they look back at our special pictures in years to come in awe knowing Santa made a special visit at our house when they were so small.

A year ago I never would hava imagined we would have EIGHT stockings hanging along our mantle.  We used a curtain rod and brackets to hand them instead of stocking holders.  It worked great for so many stokings.

A year ago I never would have imagined we would have EIGHT stockings hanging along our mantle. We used a curtain rod and brackets to hand them instead of stocking holders. It worked great for so many stockings.

Santa sees you when your sleeping (Rylin and Harper) and he sees when your awake (Mason and Sydney).

Santa sees you when your sleeping (Rylin and Harper) and he sees when your awake (Mason and Sydney).

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That is a lot of babies for Santa!

That is a lot of babies for Santa!

Sydney kept tugging at Santa's beard.  Here she has a handful of it!  When I put the girls to bed, I found wisps of Santa's beard wrapped between their tiny fingers.

Sydney kept tugging at Santa’s beard. Here she has a handful of it! When I put the girls to bed, I found wisps of Santa’s beard wrapped between their tiny fingers.

Everyone gathered around Santa.

Everyone gathered around Santa.

Rylin and Santa

Rylin and Santa

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Mason and Santa

Mason and Santa

Sydney and Santa

Sydney and Santa

Hugs!

Amber

28 thoughts on “Special Helper

  1. I’m sure the hormones have something to so with my reaction, but your post has me bawling!! How wonderful of your friend to bring Santa to meet the babies 🙂

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  2. We have some amazing friends, ( Billie and Bob to name a few) They cook, they clean, they babysit, knit and step in as grandparents when we cannot. This was a fantasy that the kids will look back on and smile. It brought a tear to my eye.. Thanks my special, magical friends….you are so sweet and a blessing to all of us. Love, love , love this. I hope you gave Santa something sweet to fatten up that belly before he headed SOUTH !!!! ; )

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    • We do have some wonderful friends who serve as honorary grandparents, aunts, and uncles. They help us maintain sanity with their kind hearts. If we had know Santa was coming, we would have had a platter of goodies ready since he has a sweet tooth.

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    • We are so happy we can share our joy with you! It makes oue blog always more worthwhile knowing we bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye. Merry Christmas!

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  3. I love seeing your pics and updates, the babies are getting so big! I have twins that turn 6 months old on Christmas Day, I always think how easy one baby would be….I’m sure you think how easy 2 would be! Ha!

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    • Lol, you are very correct! We always joke that twins would be a cake walk! We wouldn’t have it any other way though. Merry Christmas and enjoy your precious twins.

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  4. You have the very best of family and friends – what a delight to read Billie’s coming and bringing Santa for some wonderful photos of your beautiful babies and for a very special Christmas surprise for you. We so much appreciate receiving Four to Adore and send you our love and prayers.

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    • Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts, that means a lot to us! Knowing we can share joy with our extended family and friends through our blog is always heartwarming and makes it worthwhile.

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  5. That’s so awesome!! One of our good friends did the same thing, after he volunteered as Santa for the day at church. He even sprayed down his suit with Lysol, lol. It’s so cool to have people in our lives that enable us to still have those special moments, even with four babies, that we can cherish forever. The quads are looking much bigger these days and I love their Christmas sleepers!

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    • I remember when Santa came to visit your house and thought it was a wonderful idea! Special people like this make so many things possible with quads. We are blessed by them. I snagged their sleepers at Target for $6 after Santa showed up! I just had to have them in something special for the occassion.

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      • Amber & Amber, love love love love both your santa pics and that is so cool that you both had a personal santa stop by your way! SO glad I have gotten to “know” you two! Have an excellent Christmas with your quad squads!

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      • I am so happy to “know” you two as well. I have your Christmas cards proudly displayed in our entry way and tell all visitors about our quad friends who live far away.

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