Bliss: Holidays 2016

I’ve been off work for 17 days and it has been marvelous. Tomorrow is going to arrive with the finesse of a Polar Bear Plunge. I’m dreading it, to be honest. But it is what it is, so hi-ho, hi-ho, off to work with a (forced) smile I will go…

The end of the year had become almost crushingly overwhelming between work projects, Mike’s schedule, and the business of daily life with two young kids. I’ve had two weeks to get things done, hang out with family, spend time with my husband and kids and, quite frankly, just breathe. That last part especially – just breathe.

I read magazines! I read a book!! I occasionally sat and did nothing! I slept in!!
It. Was. Glorious.

We filled, but did not cram, the holidays. The end result is that we did plenty of fun things, got plenty checked off our to-do list and are starting off 2017 feeling semi-refreshed and ready to go.

The kids and I went up to Greenville for a long weekend and celebrated Christmas early with my family.

On our last night, we went to Hollywild Animal Park to see the Christmas lights/village and feed the animals. This outing is a particular favorite for my dad and me – we find it highly entertaining to try and coax the largest animals to our windows for food.

Hannah was more than a little excited to be sprung from her car seat and thought the animals were interesting. L.J. didn’t care for their size and spent the majority of the time hiding on the floor of the van.

After driving through the animal pasture and the lights, we stopped at the Christmas village and L.J. rode a pony for the first time! I was a little surprised he wanted to do it, but he really enjoyed it!

For my birthday, December 23, we took the kids to ride the Pink Pig at Macy’s. None of us had been before, so it was a family first. The line was long, which we expected. The ride was short and cute. Not sure it’s worth making an annual tradition, but the kids enjoyed it. Hannah in particular was mesmerized. It is considered an “Atlanta Bucket List” item – so, check!

After the Pink Pig, we drove the short distance to Brookhaven to have lunch at our old favorite, Verde. As always, it was delicious and we completely stuffed ourselves on chips and tacos.

After lunch we drove through Ashford Park to see what is the same and what has changed, and marveled at the many gorgeous homes that have replaced the small ‘40s bungalows. The transformation was just starting when we left. We wondered anew how so many young families like ours were affording the $800k+ homes (and private school on top of it)…and still haven’t come up with an answer.

We stopped at our old “Little Tikes Park” on the way out and were excited to discover a brand new play scape. Two huge slides!

Later that evening, we went to Mellow Mushroom for a family dinner with Dave, Courtney and Ethan. The boys had a good time together and everyone enjoyed pizza. We are so excited that Hannah will have a baby girl cousin this summer!

Christmas Eve was really quite brilliant. We went to the 5 p.m. Children’s Mass. Our two squirmy children did relatively well – Hannah no longer is content to sit on our lap the whole mass, so that was interesting. L.J.’s done better and he’s done worse. At one point he dashed away from me at a full run and I had to chase him up the side of the church, and then carry him screaming back down, my hand over his mouth to muffle the noise. That was particularly special. Mike whispered at me several times that this is why he doesn’t like coming to church with little kids. Normal Rockwell it was not – but we survived.

The brilliance came on the way home. It was getting late, the kids were done and Mike and I were double done. We got home, fed them leftovers, put them to bed and then had a very nice in-home Christmas Eve dinner date! Now that is worthy of making an annual tradition!

Our before-church family Christmas photo. Everyone is looking at the camera and smiling; it’s a Christmas miracle! Or a little Photoshop magic. I will never tell.

Christmas Day we really did a have a miracle – the kids slept until 7:45! That happens exactly never around here…

Packages were opened, wrapping paper was consumed (Hannah) and cinnamon biscuits were made. Yum!

Side note: don’t put the can of biscuits on the counter before opening presents unless you want to clean exploded cinnamon bits off every surface within a 3 foot radius of the can. It took me forever to get it out of the backsplash. (Maybe the fancy organic biscuit can was sealed differently??)

 

After lunch, we headed up to Grandma’s house to celebrate Christmas with Grandma, Ashley and Josh. L.J. and Hannah were spoiled rotten with gifts! We all enjoyed a delicious chicken parm dinner and cream puffs for dessert.

Poor Ashley – she was so looking forward to snuggling with Hannah. I’m not sure if Hannah was tired, didn’t feel well or just had separation anxiety, but this look was leveled at anyone who glanced in her general direction:

Speaking of explosions, we now have an explosion of pigs at our house and L.J. couldn’t be more delighted.

There’s been lots of playing with new toys and old favorites:

We all benefitted from a Chick-fil-A breakfast treat reward for L.J. for good behavior at school!

(Please, L.J., tell us how difficult your life is…)

The kids enjoyed a NYE playdate with Alaster, while Katie and I enjoyed a nice break from solo parenting while our husbands were away on business. We met up at Catch Air in Sandy Springs, which was perfect for our little crew.

The rest of NYE was spent doing nothing. I was worn out from the kids and Mike had just gotten home. I was feeling a little bummed at not having fun plans on New Year’s, to be honest. We’d been invited to dinner with good friends of ours, but declined due to the exorbitant cost of sitters on NYE. Seriously, you could buy a small kingdom…

We wrapped up our holiday break with a morning visit to a local gymnastics center. It was perfect! L.J. had plenty of space to burn off energy and it was safe for Hannah to crawl around and explore, too. Toddler Time was 9-10 a.m., and there were only about 7 kids there.

At 10 a.m. the place exploded and went from 7 kids to 35, and by 10:30 there were probably 50-75 kids. 95% were Kindergarten age or younger. It was so crowded that they opened up the second play space an hour early. (One mom commented that the crowd was highly unusual, so definitely thinking this will still be a good weekday option if the kids and I are off.)

No fear this one…
”L.J. – jump off the ramp into the foam pit!”
”Umm, no thanks. I don’t want to.”
Hannah: “FOAM PIT!!”

Hannah was ready for a nap at this point and liked watching the other kids play in the foam pit.

Hahahahaha – Dad, L.J. swung out just like me over the Miami River!

Alas, all good things have to come to an end. What a wonderful holiday season we’ve had this year!! I’m sad to see it end, but thankful to be starting off the new year with many fun new memories!