Christmas - part 3 - the cards

I was a little late on Christmas cards this year.  I can remember way back when...ok, maybe 5 years ago, when we would send out hundreds of cards. 

For the past 2 years I have been on another planet or planning a trip to another planet (called Russia) so me and the holiday card thing kinda parted ways.  Since this year is a special year I have every intention of sending out a Lot of cards with the highly interesting Friend-family-update. 

Instead it was a week before Christmas and we hadn't even taken any kind of Christmas-y pictures that I thought were worthy enough of a card.  Thank goodness my talented husband has camera equipment at home so we can pull together a rather lame photo-shoot at the last minute.


...and then when I got to figuring out which photos I wanted to use on the holiday cards, I didn't want to use the Christmas ones.  But, I did...in order to save the peace :)

So here is what we ended up with.  In case you didn't get a holiday card from us this year, it wasn't because we forgot you, it is because I ran out of stamps...and now they should be Valentine cards. 

Christmas Part 2 - Christmas Eve, in Syracuse

Christmas Eve was the beginning of our weekend holiday celebration.  We had the Friend family get-together at my sister-in-laws.  We ate WAY too much, but had a great time.  Anya was really getting into the Christmas Spirit...that I affectionately have dubbed "the season for over-stimulation". Too much excitement, too much sugar, too many fun things to do and people to see...all can be just too much for a little girl to deal with.  And, really, who can blame her?

I can tell when Anya feels safe and loved - and that is how she feels at Lori and Rocky's house.  She gets so excited when she knows she might see Aunt Lori.  It is pretty cute...she always wants to sit by Aunt Lori, and when we leave their house, about the first thing out of Anya's mouth is "I just love Aunt Lori.  Bryce and Lucas are fun too. And Mr Aunt Lori is OK too".

Christmas - part 1, the Chicago edition

I have NOT been good about updating this blog.  I get all these great ideas for Blog posts, and then forget.

So I thought I would just sit down tonight and remember all that has been great about this holiday season - anyone want to take bets on how much of this "writing" I actually get done?

Our holiday celebration started the weekend before Christmas when we went to meet our friends, The Ninmann's.  They are from Wisconsin so it was nice to meet them kinda in the middle.  I can't tell you how much this family has come to mean to us.  Every time we get together I find myself wishing that we lived closer together.

Their son Nathan (seen in this pic...he is the one with the bunny ears) is also from Irkutsk.  Our kids all love each other, and play together so well.  Anya just adores these boys.

We had a great time in Chicago...ate WAY too much.  We walked Michigan Ave., went to the museum, of course hit the Shops at North Bridge and 900 N Michigan (because really, it wouldn't be a trip into the city without a stop at both of these places).  I will say, however, now my stops at these addresses is a bit different than in the past.  In my BA (before Anya) life, North Bridge meant that I would spend some time at Nordstrom visiting with the personal shoppers there.  Getting caught up on the latest in the shoe department, and maybe stopping in to see some familiar faces in the cosmetic department. This trip...I only went into Nodies to use the ladies room!


Debbie hurt her leg before they got on the train into the city...and Marty and I were fighting colds.  So it was an interesting trip for the adults!  ...but the kids had a great time, so that is what matters!

the saga continues

Child thought she wanted a ping pong table, but she really wanted a foosball table.  Mommy, Daddy and Santa found this out AFTER they already purchased a ping pong table...and now, more of the story...

The Mommy and Daddy think about taking the ping pong table back to the store, and looking for a foosball table; but they can't.  Daddy thought it would be a good idea to "hide the evidence" so he took the box to the burn pile, and it went up in flames.  [Burn Pile: noun / a word that describes how you get rid of burnable trash (i.e. paper, boxes) when you live in the middle of nowhere]

There isn't enough room in the house for BOTH a foosball table and a ping pong table, and the Mommy and Daddy don't think it is a good idea to get BOTH things for Christmas in one year.

Oi!  What is a family to do?!

Houston...we have a problem

Houston, we have a problem.

Child told Santa she wanted a ping pong table. She has been talking about how much fun ping pong is, and how good she is getting at the game.

So, Santa (and Mommy) had a conversation and decided that maybe a ping pong table would make a fun family gift this year.  Santa searched high and low for a good priced ping pong table, and just when he thought it would cost too much money to get a ping pong table this year, he found one for a very good price. 

Many preparations were made so that Santa could get the ping pong table in the car with out any children seeing it.  The coordinated effort was something that fairy tales are made of!

Then...it happened. The child was looking through a toy catalog that came in the mail.  She saw a picture and came running to Mommy saying, "Look!  It is a ping pong table, it is JUST what I want Santa to bring!  It will be SO MUCH fun!"  ...it was a picture of a Foosball table.

To Be Continued