The Holidays. All of 'Em.

Somehow the holidays are behind us and it's only now that I've been able to rally myself to post about all of them--from Thanksgiving through New Years. Some of that has been that we've been genuinely busy celebrating a little girl's birthday, traveling to Connecticut, ending the semester, and preparing for Santa's arrival, but I'll be honest: some of it has simply been that when I get an hour after the kids are both in bed, and before I lug myself there as well, I have opted to zone out watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations , Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern (Opa, if you're reading this: Paul and I think you would get a kick out of both of these shows, and Paul thinks you would eat pretty much everything these guys are eating!), or chatting with friends on Facebook. It's not a glamorous life, but it's one I bet we share with many parents.

So, to re-cap in a (somewhat) brief but hopefully not superficial update...

We spent Thanksgiving this year in Connecticut with our dear friends Cindy & Sostena and their children, Aleks and Michael. These are the folks who hosted our wedding almost five years ago.

Beautiful Aleks and beautiful Josephine!

It was very good to be with them and their family and friends, many of whom I've known for over ten years, and even better that Catherine and Lauren could join us there. In typical Aunt Catherine style, she came loaded with beautifully wrapped Christmas presents for both the kids, plus a giant chocolate bar for Rudy. She's been bribing him unapologetically with chocolate since he was very small. And he surely loves her for it.

Paul plays caveman with leftovers.

Rudy all blissed out in the massage chair. Notice his fingers on the controls...

We also got to spend a little bit of time with Heidi, who came, bless her, bearing my favorite H & H bagels (everything with cream cheese) and Willoughbys coffee (Italian roast). One day, when the kids are bigger, I am looking forward to spending an entire day in my cozies, under a blanket on Heidi's couch, in the apartment she and I used to share (she still lives there) with nothing but hot cups of coffee in our hands, cats at our feet, no distractions and hours ahead of us. We are so overdue for a real catch up. Someday.

(No pictures of Heidi, sadly, but here are two small people wearing the hats she knitted for them last year while playing in Larry's Park up the road from Cindy's. I used to take Aleks and Michael there.)



After Thanksgiving, we celebrated the Winter Solstice back home in PA with our friends Kathy and Mike and their boys, Gabe and Nat. Gabe is 4, Rudy is 3 and Nat is 2. Normally this kind of addition equals total chaos and oftentimes power struggles, tears and tantrums. But maybe the kids were in tune to the quality of equilibrium all around us, because we had a downright lovely time--all of us! After dinner, we all sat around the Christmas tree with the lights off, and one by one named something we love about winter and something we were grateful for. Unprompted, Rudy's answer to the second question was, "I'm grateful for my family." Then, we turned the tree lights back on to symbolize the seasonal returning to light. Likewise, we ate clementines for dessert (soaked in balsamic vinegar, sugar and black pepper for the grown-ups; dunked in chocolate for the kids)--bright orange globes of sweetness to remind us of the coming sun.



Then there was Christmas. Rudy and I picked out a 5' tree at Tait farm and at home he very patiently waited while I strung the lights (a job I quite like and cannot understand why it gave my father such consternation every year) before he decorated probably 50% of it all by himself. It was wonderful. He had even painted some paper mache ornaments this year so that we could fill the tree with unbreakable notions now that Josephine is all "handsy."

The blue star and the blue ball you see in the foreground are Rudy B. originals.

Santa did indeed come, and Christmas morning was very much like I remember it as a child: full of boundless energy and excitement and sugar before breakfast. Both kids suffered from a good bit of overwhelm later in the day, but all in all, it was a lovely, quiet, homey day.

The most amazing drum ever. And Josephine's new love: a toothbrush.

On New Year's eve, we indulged in classic cheese fondue, and then later, closer to midnight , on mussels steamed in white wine and garlic. I remember decadent meals like this from my childhood and it's fun to recreate them now as an adult. (though neither of the kids liked the fondue. Eh bien.) Josephine had the good sense to wake up just before midnight, so we brought her down and let her watch some Tony Bourdain with us. Thankfully the Travel Channel bleeps out most of his more colorful language!


We hope everyone had the restful, restorative holiday season that we did. Good wishes and much love to all for a peaceful 2009.