The Holidays

Let's pretend that my last post wasn't almost two weeks ago. Actually, the last post was on my 39th birthday and I forgot to say anything about it. It feels weird to have 40 on the horizon.

We spent Christmas at Ethan's parents' house, which was lovely as always. All three of his brothers and their families came by, as did Ethan's aunt and uncle. Which means that the entire family was under one roof. Rare and exciting. We were thrilled to see Dermot's cousins. We have seen Brynna a couple of times before, but we got to meet 9 month old Zachary for the first time. So much cuteness and sweetness!

We drove up to Perkasie on Christmas Eve in all of the rain. We woke up to ice on the streets, so we left a couple of hours later than we usually do, but it was the right decision. We had a smooth drive up there. We brought all of Dermot's gifts with us, except for two that Ethan decided to save for later. Ethan's brother and his family from SC arrived around dinner time, and much chaos ensued. Ethan's oldest brother had also arrived by this point. Before the family arrived from SC, we let Dermot open one gift. I had grown up with a tradition of opening one gift before bed on Christmas Eve. We were pushing Dermot to open a Lego gift in order to keep him busy, so we let him open his present during the afternoon. This turned out to be a good call. We got him a big Lego Pirate ship from their new pirate line. It took us all afternoon to build it, and we got it done right before the baby arrived. Little Zachary is moving quickly and putting everything in his mouth. The last thing any of us needed was Lego pieces all over the floor.

That night after we put the kids to sleep, Pop Pop brought out the kids' presents and I hung up stockings for all three kids. I really wanted to start a stocking tradition this year, so I got stockings for all three kids. I wanted them to be able to wake up and rip right into their stockings in order to tide them over until it was time to unwrap their presents. Dermot got a Batman stocking and I just got plain stockings for the other two kids. I thought that they may not make the trip back to SC due to luggage space. Dermot and Brynna mostly got candy, but I did find Dermot two tiny lego packs. I also got Brynna some small stuff. All I got Zachary was two baby toys since he doesn't really need candy yet.

I should point out that I actually got up before Dermot. I was one of those kids who couldn't sleep on Christmas Eve and was up at 6, but not Dermot. Brynna was, though. Dermot slept until almost 8. He's been sleepy lately, and I'm letting him pick his own times. After some whining and begging, the kids got to tear open their gifts. Dermot got so much stuff! We bought him the build your own light saber thing that he really wanted, and he's been using constantly. He also got a bunch of action figures (Clone Wars, Batman, Justice League), some more legos, books, board games (mousetrap, sorry sliders, and hulk operation), puzzles, and kid appropriate Spiderman comic books. He also got a microscope that attaches to our tv from my parents. He's been truly grateful (mostly) for his gifts, and even more surprising, he's played with all of it. Yeah! He says the sweetest things about it too. He says, "I love you because you bought me things I like." It's not exactly what I'd like to hear from him since it's so materialistic, but I see the underlying meaning in it. I think that he really gets it that we understand him as a person. At his age I was getting dolls, Barbies, and clothes as gifts and I just hated them.

I should also point out that Ethan totally surprised me with a gift this year. We don't always exchange gifts and there's no expectation that if one of us buys a gift the other one will too. It's completely spontaneous and unexpected between us. I really thought that we were doing nothing this year, and then he presents me with a big wrapped box at his parents' house. So while the kids were opening their gifts, so was I. Ethan bought me a netbook. Basically it's a tiny laptop computer that's just for basic things. I had mentioned, briefly, that it might be nice to get a laptop so that I can teach online courses during the summer and still be able to travel. I really want to take Dermot to Boston this summer, and I liked the idea of not being tied to NJ while I am teaching. I can handle my online courses from anywhere. Ethan took the idea and ran with it. The netbook will also be useful while I'm at the main campus where I work. Since I work at a branch campus, my office is there, but I'm at the main campus usually two days a week. I have nowhere to work while I'm there, and I hate being inefficient with my time. Now I can bring my netbook and check email and work on my lectures and reports. Ethan is really good with gifts.

We left the next day and we haven't been doing much. Dermot says that he doesn't want to leave the house. He and I did stay in all day yesterday and it made us cranky. So today we all went out to the bookstore, which he complained about. We actually wanted to go to New York since the weather was gorgeous here today, but he didn't want to go. Weird kid. Any other time he would have jumped at the chance. He says he just wants to stay home with his family. Too bad kid, we all end up stir crazy and mad at each other when we do that. We already have plans for Tuesday morning and Wednesday evening. I think that Ethan and I are also going to shoot for some alone shopping time while we're all on break. I want clothes and Ethan wants a piano (so do I, but not as badly as he really needs one). Ethan and Dermot don't go back until the 5th and I'm off until the 14th. Of course, I have a ton of work to do, and I will be back at work full time on the 5th too. It's just that I'll be working at home.

I hope that everyone had a fantastic holiday season and that New Year is even better for all of us than the last.