Christmas Blur

I started to feel this month was slipping away from me about a week ago. It was all speeding up and I wasn't getting to do the usual Christmasy things like bake and get teachers' presents ready at all. I don't know if it was having more work to do or what, but it just felt like time was not on my side.  Nacho and I managed to squeeze in a daytime picnic lunch date of cevapi along the LIC water front, followed by a few shopping trips for last minute odds and ends. And then before I knew it, the last weekend before Christmas hit and we had a few friends over for a donut brunch that morning and then Carolina had a birthday party for a friend and we were finally able to have a family night in on Saturday. The next day was a brunch for Kerry's birthday at M. Wells Steakhouse in Queens which was a nice kid-free afternoon before my sister landed that evening. And then the holiday stretch went from fast forward to warp speed as we set out to enjoy a week of sightseeing along with all the usual holiday blur of eating too much and snuggling in for movies on the couch (including Elf and the complete Star Wars trilogy). A walk on the High Line and lunch at Chelsea Market were a great start to our first day, followed by a stroll through the West Village and a pitstop at the Union Square Christmas Market. 

By midweek we had managed to see the Rockefeller Christmas tree as well as Grand Central all decked out, a few more windows along Fifth Avenue (including my favorites at Bergdorf) and we made sugar cookies and bought sister presents for Christmas Eve. All this while Nacho took off on his Hawaiian vacation work trip which fell nicely over Christmas Eve and had him spending Christmas Day in Los Angeles before flying home on the 26th. This would be our 4th Christmas without Nacho since Elisa was born, making me somewhat accustomed to his absence though I never get used to it. This year in particular felt more stressful culminating in a completely hectic Christmas Eve night, but I managed and really that's all you can do.  I was in bed by about 1:30 a.m. and the girls didn't wake until 7:30 a.m. because they were apparently petrified of coming out of their room while Santa might still be here. Gotta love the fear! The spring-like balmy weather wasn't helping me feel very Christmasy either, so I guess that's why it just felt a little off. Mom and Dad weren't able to fly up after her kidney surgery and his hernia surgeries, so that was another reason we were a little sad this year. But I know everything happens for a reason, so this year was time for Stace and her family to be here with us enjoying all that the city has to offer and we definitely did our best to keep them busy. The girls loved their cousin time even if the big kids are a little beyond playing on the floor. 

Finally, Christmas morning was the first time I'd been alone with the girls on that special morning since Stacey was staying at a nearby hotel and didn't come over until later. It felt a bit odd being the only adult in the house to witness the insanity of opening every present under the tree as fast as possible. But I tried to stay in the moment and enjoy it all, thus no photos of the actual unwrapping. I did take some video which was pretty cute (which I'll try to post here). They were about as grateful and eager as I expected and seeing them enjoy each other's gifts and encourage one another to share was very sweet. The dollhouse was a huge hit as was the Barbie horse that walks and the Paw Patroller which stores all of the vehicles from Chase and the gang. I know there are definitely biases in my toy buying, but I really love seeing the girls engage more in the creative storytelling that dolls allow and they played for HOURS this Christmas...mostly together...in their room...without fighting. So yeah, I'd say Santa knows what he's doing. And about that, there were definitely more questions this year. Elisa left him a note with the question "how do you SEE us??" to which Santa replied "with a telescope of course." She knew that answer already so it was good he said the right thing. And Carolina fiercely debated just how many carrots to leave the reindeer after Elisa said there were only 8 and that Rudolph wasn't real. But we left 9 just in case and they were all eaten up by morning along with the sugar cookie and milk we left out. My girls are strong believers still and so am I. Christmas morning makes me giddy now just like it did as a little kid. So much in life is about coming full circle so it's nice to experience that excitement again. Next year I just hope to share it with an adult who might also be able to open up some toy boxes while the girls are tearing through them. Yeah, that would be nice.