Ode To St. Nick

So, I really like the big jolly man in the red suit, but this is not dedicated to him.  Ha Ha!  Fooled you!  :)  This is to my Nick, who is also a saint.

So far, December has been, um, kind of a crazy month for us...  Lots of good things, and we've been happy and all, but a lot of not so fun things too.  We've had at least two people sick at a time all throughout the month, first a tummy bug that ran (literally) through our family, and most recently a nasty cold that completely knocked me off my feet for a few days.  Amidst that fun, Ellie gets her finger amputated and has to go in for emergency reconstructive surgery.  Whoa.  Anyway, back to Nick.  Throughout all of this, my Nick has just been plain awesome.  He continues to prove to me that I married myself one amazing guy (as if I didn't know it then).

*He was there moments after Ellie's injury and handled the whole emergency so calmly.

*He cleans up puke.

*When kids are sick, they seek Dad for sympathy.  I'm the one screaming for them to run to the toilet, Nick is the one who holds their hair and rubs their back.

*He came home to a disaster of a house with a sick wife on the couch and sent me to take a bath and go to bed while he took care of kids and then cleaned.  I came downstairs in the morning to a whole new house!

*He attended all Christmas school performances (even the 10 minute one), even though it is not easy to rearrange his work schedule to make it happen.  I love it that it's important to him.

*He took Ellie to her follow-up appointment, once again arranging his work.

*He makes ice cream.  Which makes us happy.  :)

*He's been putting kids to bed and reading them stories all week while Mom's voice recovers.  Putting kids to bed?  That earns big time points, man.
*Plus, of course, all the ordinary other awesome things he does like making bread for our family, doing dishes, cleaning up dinner, taking kids to school, loving me, changing diapers, brushing baby teeth, etc, etc.

Nick.  You are my hero.  I love you.  Thanks for holding up well under pressure.  And now, I'm going to clean the house.  It's been awhile since you've come home to a clean house, hasn't it?  Here's to the rest of our December being calm and fairly uneventful.  Cheers!