Merry Christmas!

Archer is settling Bear and Wild Man in for the night, both of whom are wearing their Christmas pajamas.  I'm about to fill stockings and put bows on packages.  Archer and I have to assemble the play table we got for Wild Man and Archer.  Then, we'll partake of our own holiday tradition and watch Love Actually, one of my favorite holiday movies.  Earlier today, we had some friends over for snacks, and then we made pizza, a Christmas Eve tradition that we follow whenever we're not traveling (although we managed to keep to tradition last year given our Italian location, but this year we did not have to eat pizza while sitting on the floor of a Rome hotel room).  All in all it has been a really lovely day.  I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Mommy, Mommy!

It is officially the holidays at our house.  Wild Man had his last day of kindergarten yesterday, and to celebrate, we decided to let everyone stay home today, which means both Wild Man and Bear are home from daycare.  For the next 10 days I will hear cries of "Mommy, Mommy!" every five minutes.  I am really looking forward to some time with my boys--all of them.

Almost there

Christmas is only three sleeps away, as Wild Man reminded me this afternoon.  We're almost ready.  We've bought all the gifts for the boys, including a joint gift from Yetta (yes, despite being pissed I bought a gift "from her" to the boys; she'll pay us back at some point, I think).  I've baked two kinds of cookies, and I will bake at least two more kinds tomorrow.  I've also baked buttermilk cakes for all the teachers in our lives (for a total of five cakes); the boys delivered these to their respective teachers on Monday along with gift cards.  I've shopped for Archer, and I've ordered gifts for our parents, which I believe have already arrived.  Today we shopped at Costco, so the fridge is stocked.  What is left?  Tomorrow I have to make a quick trip to the grocery store for a few more essentials, and we have to wrap, wrap, wrap.  On Christmas Eve, we have to put together the boys' train table, which is currently hidden in our basement.  I also have to make sticky buns for Christmas morning and prepare a pumpkin pie along with two other yet to be determined side dishes that we're taking with to our friends who have generously invited us to share Christmas dinner with them (yay, I don't have to cook the whole meal!).  Archer has to make a quick trip to the liquor store to purchase some wine for Christmas Eve and Christmas day festivities.  We both have to help Wild Man and Bear compose their annual thank you note to Santa.  Beyond that, we're ready for the holiday. 

Ultimately I'm glad we ended up not traveling, although I will miss seeing my good friend Prudence, as well as our dear friends Supadiscomama and Harrogate, who now live about three hours from our families in Home State (thanks to some good fortune bestowed by the academic gods).  But we will have a low key holiday, which we're all really looking forward to. 

Oh, and . . .

I'm not sending out Christmas cards this year.  I just can't get it together.  I hope you all understand.

It's official . . .

we're not traveling to Home State for the holidays. 

As I wrote last week, a leak in our roof has derailed our plans to visit family.  Getting the leak fixed has proven fairly difficult.  To make a long story short, Archer has called no fewer than 4 roofing companies.  We've gotten an estimate from 1 company.  Archer has made 3 more calls to said company to ask a few questions about the estimate, and we've never gotten a return phone call.  2 companies are no longer accepting new jobs for the winter; why, you ask?  Well, it is now December in CU Land.  The cold makes it difficult for shingles to cure or caulking to dry properly.  In desperation, I called a handyman a friend had recommended for us, and he's coming out tomorrow.  We're hoping that he will be able to help Archer determine the source of the leak.  Then, either Archer or the handyman can at least cover the area with a tarp for the duration of the winter.  Archer explained all of this to his brother last night, who said, "I just want you and M to know that I totally understand why you're not coming.  It isn't so much an issue of money as you don't want to leave your house for 10 days when you have a hole in the roof.  I wouldn't go anywhere either."  I really appreciated that R said that as Yetta has said, "The hole in your roof is ruining my Christmas." 

We'll be here, and we're fine with that.  I'm making shopping lists and ordering the few gifts I have left to send to Home State online.  We've already been invited to a good friend's house for Christmas dinner, and we'll have our traditional pizza and cookie dinner on Christmas Eve.  It will be a low-key holiday, which I really need after the difficulties of the fall semester.

Just for fun

So I'm blogging in an attempt to cheer myself up.  So far it is working.  I left my office for a bit at lunch today to do some shopping.  I bought the boys some Christmas pajamas.  Everyone gets new pajamas on Christmas Eve in our house, so I got these for Wild Man and these for Bear.  I got these pajama pants for Archer, and I picked out a matching t-shirt.  We also make homemade pizza for dinner on Christmas Eve along with gingerbread and sugar cookies.  What are your family's holiday traditions?

Christmas Boys

 Trying to get these two crazies to pose in front of the Christmas tree was almost impossible.  Luckily I managed to get a few shots of them in between their laps around the first floor.  Here, Wild Man is holding one of his Pokemon toys (a birthday gift from one of his buddies), and Bear is about to attack Pearlie, our cat.

 They are actually holding still in this photo, but neither looks pleased to be doing so.

As long as I'm procrastinating . . .

here is what we got the boys for Christmas.  We decided we liked this table much better than any of the very expensive train tables on the market.  Plus, every train table we looked out came with a large amount of track, which the boys already have in abundance.  I really like that this table can be used for puzzles, legos, or crafts, all things that Wild Man and Bear like to do. 

A Tale Wherein My Parents are Assertive

Earlier this afternoon, I called my parents and explained the various options Yetta had come up with for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. My mom asked me point blank what I wanted to do, and I told her that I really just wanted to have a huge glass of red wine, which given my current pregnant state is out of the question. I also told her that C, Wild Man, and I would be spending a significant portion of Christmas Day with her, my dad, and my brother whatever they decided. I assured her I would be ok with whatever they wanted to do, even if that meant I had to have two Christmas dinners or if we just went over to her house to eat grilled cheese sandwiches. She said she'd talk to my dad and call me back later. Now, given past experiences, I fully expected my mother to call and say "M, we'll do whatever you want. If it is easier on you for us to come to Yetta's house for Christmas dinner then that is what we'll do." I have to say, my parents shocked the hell out of me today.

When my mom called, the whole conversation started differently. She asked no questions about Yetta's plans at all. She said they'd be happy to attend Christmas Eve dinner with C's family as our family really doesn't have any elaborate Christmas Eve traditions. Then she said, "But, M, you know, we do have our own Christmas traditions. Your father and I would like to introduce Wild Man to those traditions, so we'd like to have Christmas dinner at our house. We'll have our traditional dinner (which is a very untraditional chicken teriyaki, rice casserole, and stir fry), open presents, and take family pictures. If this causes you major problems, let me know, and we'll figure something out." I said, "Mom, if this is what you and Dad want to do, we'll make it happen. After all, our family traditions are as important as C's family's traditions."

I don't know if I can express what a rare thing it is for my parents to be so assertive. Frankly, I don't care if this causes Yetta or Pita to have a global meltdown. My parents actually told me what they want to do, and I'm thrilled that they did.

The Holidays

Yes, I know it is only mid-September, but C and I are already getting the "What are you doing for the holidays?" question from his family. My family, as I've said before, is more laid back (read: passive) and doesn't think about the holidays until a week before. Both approaches are annoying. So what are we doing for the holidays? I have no idea. C and I are in total disagreement, although we're not fighting about it. I've made it clear that I'll go along with whatever he wants to do, since, in truth, Christmas tends to be a bigger deal to him than it is to me. Here are our options.

1. Stay in CU Land, enjoy a white (possibly) Christmas with just the three of us. This option, as I'm sure you're all anticipating, appeals to me quite a lot. No fuss, no muss. No stress, no tension. Just me, C, and Wild Man. What could be better?

2. Travel to Home State and divide our time between the 2 families. There are actually 2 variations on this option.
A. Fly to Home State, spend about 8 days, dividing said days between our 2 families, and fly back to CU Land. This is an ok option, so long as we are able to devise a schedule before we leave CU Land and get our especially stubborn families to abide by it. The biggest issue is cost. Wild Man will be 2 by Christmas, which means no more flying for free. Do we really want to spend $800 plus to be moderately stressed out for a week. C, who desperately wants to go hunting with his brother, says yes. I say, let's think about it some more.

B. Drive to Home State, with a side trip to Mountain State where my grandparents live, spend 3 days with them, continue on to Home State, spend 6 days with them, drive back to CU Land. Although this plan would be moderately less expensive and allow me to see my grandparents, none of us wants to spend 4 days in the car with Wild Man.

3. M's sister and her family, who will have relocated to the Midwest by then, travel to CU Land to visit us for the holidays. I also like this option. Our schedule and lives are only moderately disrupted and someone actually makes an effort to come see us. C has agreed that if my sister and her hubby actually decide to do this by mid-October (yes, he's a planner) we'll with this option.

So what do we do until we decide? We deflect the questions coming from Yetta and Pita, and we continue to discuss it amongst ourselves. I also try to figure out why I let a holiday visit stress me out so much, at C's request. But then, I already know the answer to that. It stresses me out because

• I'm not in my environment.
• Wild Man is not in his environment.
• We're pulled in 18 different directions (frankly, a summer trip is just easier).
• Yetta and Pita assume total control of Christmas, making my mother, who refuses to speak up for herself, feel marginalized. Note: all three of them irritate me equally about this.
• We never get to see people we want to see. It still comes as a surprise to our families that we have friends in the city where we both grew up and went to college.
• It is just a hassle, plain and simple.

But, as I said, we don't have to decide now. I just wish I could quit thinking about it. On the upside, we aren't getting any questions about Thanksgiving--at least not since C informed his mother that Canada doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving at the same time as the U.S.

A Good Day

Christmas was a good day for our family. It was quiet and low-key, which is exactly what we had hoped for. We took advantage of the fact that Wild Man still doesn't really know what Christmas means yet, and we had a leisurely morning before we opened presents. I think that next year he will be so excited that we will have to drag him away from the presents! So this year, we had a nice breakfast and played with our cats before opening presents. Wild Man wasn't too sure about ripping off paper. He kept looking at me as if to say, "But Mommy, you've been telling me not to open these boxes all week." He did, however, get a kick out of passing gifts to C and me. Actually, rather than handing them out, as I asked him to do, he kept stacking them all up, until he had a rather large pile in front of him. Then he knocked them all over, laughing uproariously the entire time. It was as if he had an enormous set of wrapped blocks to play with!

Later in the day some friends came over for dinner. Wild Man had lots of fun playing with Supadiscobaby, and C and I enjoyed talking to Supadiscomama and Supadiscoadaddy. All in all it was a really great day.

I hope everyone in the blogging world had an equally happy Christmas!