Christmas and Winter Break

Christmas Eve is the anniversary of my engagement. We started a tradition of eating lobster on that evening 10 years ago, and the tradition continued this year. Despite working, my husband came home relatively early to prepare and to enjoy the meal. Santa brought some cool gifts on Christmas, including a Wii. Our family has now entered the club of families with game systems in their home. We've had fun "competing" in games such as bowling and golf. I got a Wii Fit Plus and have already determined that my Wii Fit Age is about 13 years older than my actual age. That should be incentive enough to use the thing to get moving, stretching and training.

We enjoyed our family Christmas at home, complete with mimosas and frittas for breakfast. During the afternoon, we explored our new toys and rummaged through the sea of boxes and packaging. We attended a festive celebration at the in-laws for dinner. More gifts, more people and yummy dinner. With my husband's large family, the extended family is even larger, and at times overwhelming. Let's see, we had a total of 19 people, and we were missing 4! The following day, the 26th, was spent enjoying Christmas and my parents' 47th wedding anniversary, with my side of the family. We all went to my sister's house in D.C., opened gifts, and then walked to Lebanese Taverna for lunch. It was a nice day.

The rest of the week has consisted of purchasing a standing mixer to make chocolate chocolate chip cookies, lunching at Sweetwater, playdates, riding around in my new car (thanks hubbie--it's a sweet ride), playing with old and new toys, lunching at Foster's Grille, and the never ending lesson of sharing, cooperating, and learning to appreciate your sibling. It has been a long, but fun and memorable holiday season!

Countdown to Santa

It has been a long month (for the kids anyways), and an even longer Christmas Eve. R has been dying of anticipation every since his Advent Calendar started on December 1st. He began wanting to open more than one box per day. By day four he was in tears and asked me to put it away, "I can't stand it," he tells me. Therefore I put it away in another room, out of sight, where I set a box each day at his placemat when he came downstairs each morning. This plan worked much better for him and we have made it through his entire calendar with less grief and emotional turmoil. J is much more practical about the whole thing. However I hear in her voice, and in questions of me like, "Do you believe in Santa?," that her maturity may be taking away her ability to BELIEVE. I've encouraged her to believe what she wants, and told her that Santa is Christmas magic. I hope the innocence of my kids' childhood lasts a little longer. It's hard to let go. Reality comes far too quickly.

Blizzard 2009

They said it was coming, and boy did it ever! The official snow total in D.C. was 17 inches, but I know we got at least 18 or more. It's pretty and it came down hard, but it's been a lot of back breaking work clearing, and reclearing the driveway and sidewalks. We did get plowed so now our cul-de-sac feels a sense of freedom because we can get OUT. Felt sorry for Andy the mailman today, as he has to walk to everyone's mailbox since there is a waist high mound of snow in front of everyone's house. My kids have never seen snow this deep and have had fun playing in it. If this is any indication of our winter this year, it's going to be a doozy! Happy "First official day of winter!"

Can I actually catch a snowflake on my tongue?

Do you see that she is about to be pelted by a snowball from her brother??

By the way, Christmas came early. School is cancelled for the rest of the week due to the snow. The kids have 2 full weeks off for Winter Break now. Ho, ho, ho.

Here we go......

After reading about blogs in books and magazines, and now having friends and family that have started their own blog, I have finally begun one myself. I have never been very good about keeping up scrapbooks and photo albums because there seems to always be something else that takes precedence. I hope that by leaping into this project now, I won't let another day go by without the opportunity to document the adventures of life, both big and small. I look forward to looking back on them in years to come as the memories of the days might fade. Here we go.....