Holidays

Tis the season! For shopping, snow, last-minute runs to the mall, catching up on sleep (hardly), making new year's resolutions (a forthcoming blog post), and parties, parties, parties. It would be so much more festive if only we had 2 months to do all of this instead of the 4 weeks crammed between Thanksgiving and the last official shopping day for Xmas.

We've been in the holiday spirit the past few weeks and I've been negligent, again, in my recording duties, so here goes another catch-up post. One of my resolutions in the new year is to post more frequently (even if it means shorter posts) because I do like the writing process...and I also like getting comments on my posts, hint hint.

As we've done for the past few years, we bought a tree at Russo's and then found a relatively-clear place to put it in our living room. This is getting more and more challenging each year. 4 years ago we had ample space--no toys!--and could put it anywhere. Nowadays...well, it's a different time for us, isn't it? The tree went between the play kitchen set and a little stand that holds children's books and toy trains. We also elevated it (the tree) because we wanted to minimize the destabilizing impact of little hands.

Trimming the tree was similarly difficult with two kids scurrying around. One of them (Andres) proved to be very helpful in the process, while the other (Celia) felt compelled to taste most of the ornaments before clearing them to be placed on the tree. For his part, Andres seemed to enjoy decorating...he was very careful as he placed the different objects on the tree.



He also helped place the angel on top--though it took a couple of attempts.



Our tree complete, it certainly felt more like the holiday season. We decided to celebrate by heading to a tree lighting in Nonantum (site of this past summer's Italian festival).

People in Nonantum like to party--the tree lighting was packed with kids, parents, nonnas, teens, cops, firefighters, and other neighborhood types. It also featured a 15-foot Santa Claus and a bunch of people dressed up in Disney-type costumes. The highlight of the evening was the lighting of the trees in the park, which was preceded by a countdown...and because just lighting a bunch of trees is only marginally festive, they also shot off a bunch of fireworks to celebrate. Why not, right? Nothing shouts "Christmas!" like pyrotechnics.



Then it was time for parties. Work party, party with friends requiring grandparents as babysitters, mild party as befits a trip to my grandmother's house, another work party, another friend party, but this time with kids. Loyal reader Gareth and wife/expectant mother Sarah baked a ton of cookies and kindly opened their home to their friends, many of whom (like us) came with kids in tow. What better way to prepare for parenthood than to see the chaos that 5+ roaming kids can cause? Great idea.

Andres was quite happy to see his friends Tai and Jack and spent most of the afternoon sneaking cookies and playing with them. Games included: play with trains, kick things that did not belong to them, and fall down. They played these games with reckless abandon and, needless to see, they had a great time. Natalia and I enjoyed the opportunity to see frisbee friends for the first time in months while consuming large numbers of cookies.

Up to no good and loving it.

Enjoying a quiet moment with Jack

Why have cookies when hair is on the menu?

We departed just before Meltdown Time and both kids conked out in the car on the ride home. I didn't get too much of a chance to talk to either the host or hostess about their impending change in familial status, but I think it's safe to say that once everyone cleared out, they enjoyed the peace and quiet of an empty house. For a little while longer, that is!