Holiday Highlights

There's so much to say about our holiday adventures... Too much to say. And too many other posts that need to be written. So before I just throw in the towel and move on to things more current, I thought that I'd "cheat" just a little and post a pictoral timeline for you. Lily's holiday concert, on the other hand, deserves a posting of its own. With video. THAT I do promise you. Later, most likely, than sooner...but you will have it before too much longer. It was a stitch, and you deserve to see AND hear it!

In the meantime, I will give you my photos to narrate what we did over our two week hiatus from life. It's hard to believe that we've been away from school/work for two weeks. I can't believe that we will all rejoin our real lives tomorrow.

As much fun as we had over the past two weeks, I am yet again reminded about how incredible important -- SO. VERY. IMPORTANT. -- schedules are to children. And since schedules are the first things that are abandoned on vacation by 99.99 percent of civilized individuals -- Noah and I included -- Lily is just about climbing the walls right now. Two weeks of no routine = a very hot and bothered four year old. Who has forgotten how to speak like a normal human being and now immediately slips in to the W.H.I.N.E. Which I hate more than cleaning up vomit or poop.

But before I digress too much, let me highlight our holidays...

We started the 2008 holiday season a little bit early, celebrating Hanukkah with our cousins before they left for Florida. So while the rest of the world had yet to light one candle, we joined them for night four.

And as diligent as we were sticking to the dates on the calendar (what's a date, anyway...), the girls were delighted with their very "Jewish" nutcracker gifts!

We then had an awesome "Christmasukkah" celebration at my father's house on the 24th -- even Uncle Alfie was in town! -- with an early dinner so that we could hit the road for Vermont. We left at 8:15 p.m. and had 9 hours of driving ahead of us. You do the math... Yes, Noah drove all night long.


Not 20 minutes in to our late-night drive-a-thon and Noah realized that of the 12 million things that he had managed to pack in to and on top of the car, the one item that had been left behind was Anna's pack 'n play. Which, sadly, was something that we couldn't live without. Even more sad was the discovery that none of our friends in Vermont still have theirs. Hugh buh-mer!

Since it was Christmas Eve and we knew that no stores would be open on Christmas Day, we took a 45 minute detour to a GPS-found K-Mart somewhere just outside of Baltimore (in hindsight, yes, we should have gone home to get ours when we first made the discovery....oh well, hindsight is 20/20), 1 hour before it closed for the holidays. I'll save my editorial comments for another less public means of communication, but suffice it to say it was a cultural experience. Can't remember the last time I was in a K-Mart (don't forget that "Tarjay" is one of my favorite stores), no less one in "the hood." But I did manage to find one pack 'n play that passed my mommy-test, and after regretfully shelling out $75 for it we were back on the road.

We arrived in Vermont at 5:45 a.m. I still can't believe that we made it without stopping to sleep in some nameless hotel somewhere in the middle of nowhere. But we did make it. Noah was the driving hero. The kids slept for most of the trip. Sort of. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, but so did I.

6 hours after we arrived we landed in the ER. Somehow Lily's elbow came slightly unaligned when I was helping her to her feet while getting her dressed. I can now say without hesitation that as awful as it is to see your child in pain, knowing that you, essentially, caused that pain is SO. MUCH. WORSE! Clutching her arm against her, Lily kept looking at me and, through her tears and sobs, asking me why I hurt her. Oy, GUT WRENCHING GUILT. I think that my heart hurt more than her elbow. Thankfully, though, it slipped back in as easily as it slipped out. While we were waiting in the ER for the doctor. On Christmas morning no less. Now THAT was a miracle!

We didn't let our early fumble ruin the trip. We had great fun with family -- Aunt Sara made the trip from NYC, making this the first time that the entire family had been together in a long, long time! -- and with friends. Lily was completely in love with the snow. And, of course, the post snow playing/sledding hot chocolates.

I think that Lily is an addict. A snow addict. We had a hard time getting her inside.

Snow angel in the making...

Snowball fight in the making...

And through it all, Anna slept...

We returned home a little early, which sadly meant that we weren't able to go see our New Hampshire friends, but with sinus infections (Noah and me), pink eye infections (Anna and me), and bouts of wheezing (Anna), I think that we were ready to get back to our own house.

Amazingly, in the blink of an eye, the second week of our two week vacation disappeared. I don't know where it went. It probably snuck by us while we were consuming two bottles of eye drop antibiotics and one Z-pack; using 7 large boxes of Puffs plus Lotion; doing 12 loads of laundry (not an exaggeration); and dealing with one bored four year old.

I wish that we hadn't been sick for the holidays. But, then again, I can honestly say that I'm well rested and, amazingly, relaxed. I got to spend 2 nice, long weeks with my family. And as stir-crazy as she is, tonight Lily told me that she was happy because she loves being around us. Just when you're ready to toss them to the curb with the recycling....god I love that kid!