Holiday Wrap-Up, Part 1

One of these months, I'm going to try and actually keep up with the blog on a timely basis, rather than just writing posts like I'm writing letters during Civil War times, when loved ones got the "news" weeks later.

Nonetheless, here is the update on our holiday season. It's been a busy one. This past week, however, has been very slow. After a big Hanukkah celebration with Noah's family and a quick Christmas morning with my mom, it was just the four of us to finish out the holidays. Noah has had a few days off from work, so we've been really staying close to home, putting together some of Calvin's Lego gifts, watching lots of movies, having impromptu light saber wars (more on this later), and rocking out on Wii RockBand. In other words, it's been blissful

Until Noah and I both got sick two days ago. Then we traded off childcare duty so we could each take turns with naps. We are on the mend now. But we canceled New Year's plans to stay at home, had champagne with our leftovers for dinner, and are now curled up with our kiddos by the fire, making s'mores. Not too shabby.

I think as this year wraps up, we can safely consider 2010 the year Calvin discovered Star Wars. And so our holidays have had a new flavor, starting with the Star Wars cookie shapes that accompanied the usual traditional holiday stars and trees:





Grammy because a whiz at the detail work for the Yoda heads and stormtrooper faces:





The finished products:





Calvin had two things on his Christmas list for Santa this year, both of them Lego Star Wars sets. I did not know this until about a month ago, but apparently Lego has been doing a whole Star Wars thing for 10+ years, issuing a couple of sets each year that come together into some particular Star Wars ship or location or something. They come with characters and weapons and specific Lego shapes like the moss to hang on Yoda's hut.

Oh yes, I have learned a lot about Star Wars Legos this last month, much of it coming from the Lego Star Wars dictionary, which, during a moment of weakness, I agreed Calvin could buy at his school's book fair in November. (I feared it was just a big advertisement for Legos, and I was right, but we were desperate to get out of that place.)

Since then, that book has been tucked safely under Calvin's arm during many of his waking hours. Seriously, he has studied that thing cover to cover and now knows WAY more about Star Wars than I ever will.

So when he said he wanted two certain Lego Star Wars sets for Christmas, I thought, "No problem. I know where the Lego store is." Then I read more about the sets and realized they were released in 2004 and have now reached the collector status, meaning they aren't sold in stores anymore (although you could find them from some Amazon specialty sellers for upwards of $175--ouch!).

So we broke the news gently to Calvin. We told him there was no guarantee he would get exactly what was on his Christmas list, that those were just suggestions, and that were sure he would lots of fun things, but maybe not those exact Star Wars sets. He wanted to know why. So we told him that those particular sets were older ones and might not be in the stores, or might be too expensive. He shrugged, looked at us, and said, simply: "But Santa can just make them. He's magic."

Oh yeah, ri-ight. Santa's magic. We forgot about that.

But luckily, Santa came through. (Thank you, eBay!) And Calvin did wake up on Christmas morning to find the coveted Lego Star Wars X-Wing Fighter set #4502 waiting for him under the tree. Thankfully, he was happy with just the one, because he reasoned, "Santa knew this was the one I wanted the most." Phew!

Here he is inspecting the goods:



As if this wasn't enough, more to come soon...

Giving thanks for pie... and lots of other things!

Thanksgiving was great! And then we took a little family trip to Hershey, PA, to see the sights and buy lots of chocolate. (More on this later.) Then we came home and all got sick, so we spent most of this week cooped up at home wiping noses, some our own, some our kids'.

So this weekend, I am thankful that we have all mostly recovered from the first bad cold of the season. I am also thankful that while we had to spend most of this last week in our house, we at least had a nice big stash of chocolate to keep us company!

But last week, on the actual Thanksgiving, I was grateful (and still am) for many things: my little family, my bigger family, friends, the awesome vacations we had this year, a house, food, coffee, my new coat I got on sale at Target. All the things I probably take for granted most days. I could do without Rett syndrome, but I am grateful there is a community of people supporting us and working for anything to help my girl. And I am very thankful that while there are many things Violet can't do, she is one great snuggler.

So on the actual Thanksgiving day, I was very grateful to spend most of the day in my jammies, cuddling with V on the sofa while the boys spent many hours making pie. They even made a cherry one for me, because I don't like the traditional pecan. Pretty lucky, huh?

Check them out:






I forgot to take pictures of the actual pies. We were too busy eating them (after rushing to make it to dinner on time.) But they were delicious. Trust me.