I had to be at the doctor this morning for 7am.
I don't usualy roll out of bed until sometime closer to 7:30.
So, here I am, in my jammie pants and winter coat - teeth brushed and bra on but that's it - driving to Bolton to have blood drawn on an empty system.
I was on total auto-pilot about 85% of the way, not even thinking conscious thoughts, just going.  Then, it occurred to me...
It's almost the New Year.

The morning was so cold.  The dashboard read 22F.  The wind was blowing really hard.  It was snowing.  But not the kind of snow anyone talks about, just the kind that sort of falls and blows around all winter.  It won't accumulate, won't even last very long but the air is so cold that the moisture that is in it by default is just freezing up.

I used to dread this stretch of winter.  The post-Christmas blues would set in right around now.  Jay has even surprised me on more than a few New Years with a little Christmas gift, just to perk me up as we take the tree down.
These days, I love this stretch of winter.

I love when our wonderful, joyous, beautiful - hectic, sometimes stressful and tiring - Christmas is over.  I love looking forward to next year and I love being done with this year.
I love looking forward to Abby's birthday.  She enjoys the planning as much as I do and it's so fun to do it with her.  This year she will have her little friends over for her birthday party and she is making and re-making her guest list every day.

I love the New Year.
"New year, new beginnings"...
I will make and break a few resolutions - I'll swear that this time I mean it!!

I love looking forward to Spring, then Summer and then of course fall and winter again...  But I love enjoying the cold, crisp, quiet routine of cold winter days.
Nothing going on, nothing too expensive, nothing too exhausting, nothing stressful - just some quiet time to "be".
Hibernate, maybe...  Decompress.  Relax.
 
Spring has yard work and kicks off summer.
Summer is not stressful but it's busy and active.
Fall starts school and activities.  Then of course all the holidays.
Winter is just time to reflect, plan and enjoy what is.

Merry Christmas!

We kicked things off with "Christmas Eve's Eve" - it's a fun way to rev up to the big day.

Auntie Dink and Uncle Thomas sent some totally fun Play-Doh toys that both kids totally loved!

I was able to talk them down that night but we spent a good part of

the following morning elbow deep in spaghetti and ice cream!

Christmas Eve was a quiet day. 

We had a fun morning of playtime and just hanging out.

Mommy was a bit under the weather so I napped when Wyatt napped

while Abby & Daddy prepared our Christmas Eve Feast:

Prime Rib, Spiral Potatoes and spinach!

We took the kids to church and it was really a wonderful, wonderful night.

It's hard to put into words but the feeling was there. 

Christmas, as a family, celebrating our Lord, celebrating with each other. 

It was truly perfect.

When we got home, we put out cookies & eggnog for Santa, tucked the kids in and waited for Santa.

Santa did not disappoint.

Jay and I were up at 6am (me with my ridiculously painful head cold, him with a sick wife).

The kids didn't wake up till almost 8:00!!

That was ok, though, the anticipation was fun for us and being able to enjoy a cup of hot coffee before the circus started was an added bonus.

Barbies, Matchbox cars, Choo-Choos, Polly Pockets and...  of course...

The Barbie Dream Town House!

Daddy finally got his "Kitchen TV" and Mommy's enjoying her new Keurig and gearing up to make her new sewing machine earn it's keep!

There is no "one thing" for me to mention about Christmas 2009.  It was "the best yet" as each year is.  As the kids get bigger, they get more excited, which makes it more exciting.

It also makes it more important that we remind/teach them about why we celebrate Christmas. 

It's not about Santa or lists or toys. 

It's about Joy and Peace and Faith and Celebration of our Lord.

It's about Family and Friends and Charity and Love.

Over the past few years we have celebrated Christmas with my parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins on the weekend prior to the actual holiday.  That day was this past Saturday.
It used to be that we ("we" being my family pre-marriage - parents & sibs) would gather with my mom's family on this weekend.  Then, after we all had kids of our own and sort of spread out across the states, it became our only day to celebrate together.
That has made it the official "Christmas" with my parents and siblings and a day that I truly treasure.  I absolutely love the day with my family.

If it snowed, we'd be crazy to drive in dangerous conditions.
But we'd be crazy to want to cancel our day together, too.
So - we gathered earlier than planned.

Our party was supposed to start at 3 with a kick-off (of appetizers and gifts) at my Aunt Carol's at 11:30.  The whole day was planned.  The gifts were wrapped, the cookies were baked.  I made a pie and a salad, Jay made (awesome) sausage & peppers.
With the impending blizzard - my aunt graciously allowed us to cancel our plans there and we headed to my parents' house for 11.
Everyone was there before noon (we were actually there by 10:30!) and the day went off without a hitch!

We sang our carols, ate our chow, opened our gifts and really enjoyed each other for a good, long time.  And then we all got home safe & sound in time for what promised to be (and didn't diappoint in this neck of the woods!) a fabulous snow storm.

The thing about my family that makes it so very special is so very simple:
We really like each other.
The enjoyment we get from just being together is priceless.

Sometimes,  you have to take a step back, really observe what is right in front of you and realize - honestly and deeply - how luck you really are.
My family loves me.
I love them.
And we had the merriest Christmas.

Abby said it best - "I got everything I ever wanted!"

So did I.

 

A very special Thank You to OmaReenie for the Mets glasses.

To quote Jay, "I just hope we don't choke when we drink out of them!"

Gramps.  Our patriarch at 90-somethin' years old.  He's gotten considerably quieter & the ride to Brewster isn't as esasy as it once was, but his presence is still lovingly anticipated and appreciated.

I really hate the new Gap Kids commercial.
It's a bunch of over-dressed, overly-colorful brats screech-chanting at their "parents" about what they refuse to wear and what they demand to wear.
It's sickening.
Equally sickening is the new Stella McCartney line at Baby Gap.
Who spends $70 on something sized 18-24 months?  Not your typical Gap shopper.

And if you know me, you know how much I love Gap.

So, I thank you, Gap Marketing.  You have allowed me some time to pay off my stupid Gap card as I am too repulsed to shop your brand right now.

Snow day today.  That was fun.  I had planned on taking the kids to the mall.  For someone so energized and organized about Christmas, I sure have not done much shopping.
And I am starting to feel the crunch.
Abby needs a dress (or two), Wyatt needs a shirt and/or sweater.  I need to figure out what I'm wearing and if I need anything, as does Jay.
And that doesn't even touch on what I have to buy still for gifts...  and I love buying gifts - but not having much done yet makes it a little stressful.

So, I was going to go today but got snowed on instead.
On the one hand, that's good - when school's canceled I have Q&K all day and that means a little extra money.  And I'm not shopping - so I consider that double profit!

The kids made a snowman while I shoveled and Jay snowblowed.  That was awesome.  They did a great job and it was definitely a first for Abby & Wyatt. 

Abby loved it so much and tonight asked me if the snowman would come to life.  Silly, yes - but so serious and cute that I wondered how to answer.  I'm still not entirely sure.  She's very clever and has a great sense of humor but I can't tell if she's kidding, testing me or dead serious.
I played it off with the "if you think so then he will" and "not as long as you're awake" stuff.  But...

While they were making the man - Wyatt decided to pull his tricycle out of the garage.  It was hilarious.  He rode his bike down the strip of driveway that Jay had blown and then looked at me and said "Ma!  Help You!"  Translated, that means, "Mom, help me with this, will you?  Shovel a good path for me, I want to ride my bike!"


I have got to find a Barbie 3-Story Dream Townhouse.  Why, oh WHY did I NOT go buy it on Thanksgiving Eve when it was on sale for $99?  WHY?
Now, if I can even find it - at full price - it's at least full retail price of $160.  At Amazon I saw it for $260!  That's crazy.
But I can see myself going mama-at-holiday-times-goes-batshit-for-toy-that-kids-love.
I will find that house.
If it kills me.
If I have to cross a state line.
I will find that house.
At a good price.

Less than 2 weeks till Christmas at my mom's house!  We always get together with my mom's family the weekend before Christmas and over the last few years that celebration has become our only Christmas celebration with my side of the family.  Everyone has young kids and we're pretty spread out so it's easier for everyone and frankly, I love it!
We can spend the entire day, there's no rush, there's no other families pulling us in a different direction...  we can just relax and enjoy each other and celebrate Christmas.
My parents are increasingly difficult to shop for and their recent purge of all things not nailed down has made it even harder.  But this year, I think we did a good job and I'm excited to give them their gift.
I also have a few other good ones in my head.
But, like I said, I need to get on that. 

Have you had a bowl of cereal lately?  I don't mean Cheerios.  I mean the good stuff.  I had a bowl of Cookie Crisp the other day at Jody's house.  I was so excited about it.
It was awful.
A few months ago, I had a Fruity Pebbles craving and bought a box.
Gross.
Then I found out that they don't have enough sugar anymore.  The companies have been "under fire" for being unhealthy.
Really?
People had ot complain to the cereal companies because they are not, in fact, an integral part of the "balanced breakfast" they boast of in their commercials?
Really?
Well, thanks, politically-correct America.  For Eff-ing up one more happy childhood memory.
No more sugar in "sugar cereal", no more sitting "Indian Style" and no more cookies for the "Cookie Monster".
Nice.


Have you seen the Walmart commercial with all the little kids waking up and running as fast as they can down to their Christmas Trees on Christmas morning?
THey're all in their little jammies.  Some with feet...  and they run so fast, a few of them actually fall.  It's hilarious and oh-so-cute...  it almost makes up for the Gap nonsense.
But not quite.
You won't find me at Walmart at Christmastime.  No way, No how.  And with no Gap this year... well - it just makes me happy for my zero-balance on my Macy*s card!

I'll wrap up with this:  after tucking the kids in each night, I head downstairs with one final "Good night, God Bless you, I love you."  Just as my mom did every night after she tucked the 4 of us in when I was little.
Tonight, as I closed Abby's door, I said it, as I always do, but for the first time, Wyatt replied "I Lah-loo, Mama".
Then Abby came out with "Goodnight, Wywy, I love you!"
To which he replied "I Lah-loo, Abby!"

I guess it's safe to say that the ground is too cold for Fall Planting now.  Since I fell on my ass in the snow yesterday.

Christmas Time is in Full Season!!  I love this time of year so much.
I love the joy that it brings - be it from shopping, baking, eating, singing, visiting, gifting - all the different pieces that make up the celebration of the season.

We put our tree up last weekend and this weekend I took my annual trip into NYC with the girls.  It was so cold, so wet and then so snowy, cold and wet.  But it was so much fun!

At one point, Debbie and I were a little lost (who knew that Rock Center was sandwiched, I thought we'd see it from the Avenue!) and walking for what felt like 89 blocks in the rain when our bags broke.
And we each had a couple of bags from Macy*s.  But they were pretty ful and made of PAPER - so they didn't last in the rain.
Then, we were walking, in the rain, holding onto our purchases like a couple of little old bag ladies.  Scarves wrapped around our heads, makeup running down our wet faces, crap falling out of our ripped up paper shopping bags that we're clinging to.  It was a mess.
So, of course, we had a stranger take our picture.
Unfortunately for all of you - it was with Debbie's camera, so I don't have it to share.  But here's one at the end of our day:

When we finally reached Rockafellar Center, the rain had turned into snow.  Giant, beautiful flakes falling onto the tree, the lights, the skyscrapers, the flags, the ice rink and the people below.
There is truly nothing like New York City at Christmas.