Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Our Holidays

This was the first Christmas since Sami was born that Michael didn't have to work on Christmas day. What a treat! Our Christmas was simple and sweet. It was just the 3 of us, and we scaled back on spending like most people I know.

Sami's Aunt Bec did her usual overachievement in the gift-giving department much to Sami's (and our) delight. Sam started opening her gifts around 8:30 in the morning and by 11am was still at it. Not that she had that many (well... except for from Aunt Bec), but because she was so deliberate in her gift-opening. She really took the time this year to understand who each gift was from, and she was so gracious about each of them. Making thoughtful comments and really looking each one over, and then exclaiming heartfelt thank-yous with many "It was just just what I wished fors" sprinkled in.

Her "big" gift this year was a classic Radio Flyer red wagon. She hadn't expressed any previous interest in one, and I'll admit it was self-serving -- but she was thrilled with it and said, "I saw one on tv before and I really wished for one!" Even though she had never actually mentioned one before. I wanted it because I missed the days when I could plunk her into her stroller and take long walks on nice days to either go to the library or grocery store or whatever. And now that she can bike and ride her scooter, she always wants to do that on the long walks. Or she'd just walk. But inevitably we'd get to our destination and halfway home she'd peter out and ask me to carry her bike or scooter. Or her. None of which is an option with my hurty hips. Well, and she weighs over 40 pounds now. So... this is a way for us to head out on long walks again with a vessel for bringing home groceries, books, and 4 year olds too tired to walk any further. We already got to use it on New Years Day (almost 60 degrees! woo hoo!) when we all went out for nearly 3 hours of walking and playing at the parks.

Other big hits for her were a realistic dolly named Lilly Bragg and all the accoutrements. We took Lilly in the wagon with us to the big park and left her in the wagon bundled in a blanket while we walked to the opposite end of the park. Later we ran into a guy that had walked by it and when he figured out that it was ours, he told us how it freaked him out when he came upon it because he thought someone had abandoned their baby in the wagon. Funny stuff.

She also got the Candy Land Castle game. This one is a gem for no other reason than it plays quickly. A whole game with 3 players takes less than 5 minutes. Anyone who has suffered through the regular Candy Land board game with a 3 or 4 year old knows why that is a very good thing indeed.

Her daddy found her a Princess bouncy ball. (What are these things supposed to be called anyway? A hippity hoppity ball? I don't know.) The kind with the handle on it where they sit on it and then bounce along? Well good grief. She has lived on that thing ever since. We have plenty of open space in the house for bouncing. And she even bounces all the way to the park. About 3 days after receiving it, as I was drying her off from her shower and dried her legs, she goes, "Ouch. My legs hurt from bouncing." She actually had sore muscles from it. :-) She takes it in her room at night while she's sleeping. She has taken it into the bath with her. She loves the thing.

She also got other small things: a stamper set, replenished paints, bath gels, etc.

Sami and I got Michael 2 books about the Corsair planes and their pilots, like his dad flew in WW2. And some new slippers for his delicate little feet lest they suffer from the debilitating cold of our hardwood floors. :-D And a watch. And a few bottles of "nicer" wines.

And perhaps most importantly of all, I got a GORgeous gold bracelet. Michael has bought me a couple of others over the years, and for some reason I seem to be a bit hard on my jewelry, and both of them have long since broken. This one is heavy and strong and I can wear it all the time without fear of wearing it out in a few months. And I have a couple of "charms" that I want to put on it. A heart that signified our wedding, and a teensy gold ring with Sami's birthstone in it. So that thrilled me. Oh, and he's learning to catch my hints -- I also got new oven mitts. Fancy ones. And some new kitchen towels that he deemed necessary for my "gourmet" cooking. He fancies the idea of me throwing one over my shoulder while cooking ala Emeril.

So all the gifts were nice? But it truly was just the family time that rocked our Christmas and New Years. I worked until 2pm on Christmas Eve, then we came home and had a fairly simple dinner and got Sami to bed early. I HAD NOT WRAPPED A SINGLE GIFT BEFORE THAT NIGHT. Honestly. What was I thinking? But time was not in abundance this year. Anyway, so then I lit into that task, and Michael assembled the wagon. And the wee replica of the big wagon. And when we were done, we arranged everything under the tree and it looked so beautiful. I actually like the idea of having gifts under the tree ahead of time so that the excitement builds for Christmas morning. But with our crazy chewing Katie the cat and the rambunctiuus Jazzy the dog, it seemed best to put them all out at the last minute this year. Oh, and thanks Katie for chewing through the prelit Christmas tree lights so that my only-2-year-old tree now has 3 bands of darkness. Just what I wanted. A stripey Christmas tree.

On the night of Christmas day, we had a very special dinner of prime rib roast with a really good bottle of wine.

I took a vacation day for the day after Christmas too, and while I really wanted to take the tree down, Sami and Michael prevailed. Alas, it is STILL up. Maybe tonight. I'm really quite over it at this point.

For New Year's Eve we again had an (if I do say so myself) a fairly simple dinner that turned out amazing. I made shrimp and pasta, but I poached the shrimp in a buerre monte butter sauce (I find it spelled both ways on the interwebs -- buerre and beurre. So whatever.) that I read about on another blog earlier in the week. Woo. Tasty stuff. Then another early bedtime for Sami. Michael and I opened a bottle of champagne and actually made it all the way to midnight this year to toast in the new year.

New Year's Day was when we enjoyed being outside for most of the midday. It was so beautiful and unseasonably warm. Then that afternoon we had an early dinner of surf (wee lobster tails) and turf (ribeyes). At the end of this dinner we were sated and just sitting there basking in the enjoyment of it. And reflecting on how much good food we had enjoyed beginning at Thanksgiving when it seemed like every single thing turned out so good. On through to all the other meals we'd just had in the past week. And then we talked about how blessed we are and I always have to offer up how grateful I am that we're all healthy. (Especially in the face of some heartbreaking news a co-worker received about a child relative.) And that we're both still employed (so far). And that for now, we're still able to pay our bills and buy groceries whenever we want. Yes, times are tough. We're deinitely in cut-back mode. And we're certainly not likely to ever complete the dream scenarios we had laid out 3 years ago for our housing plans, but it is what it is and we're doing fine.