Patting Myself on the Back

Christmas Eve was nice, Nonny, Boogie and I went and had sushi, then drove around looking at Christmas lights for a while before Boogie and I headed up to Petaluma to celebrate the Eve with the husband's fam. I guess people thought I wasn't going to go, since P was in transit back to the US, but it was nice, and busy. The food was good, and I liked having a chance to catch up with everyone.

Boogie was exhausted, but she did well, letting family hold her, dancing a bit, and opening presents. Around 1am, she was sitting with a new toy on her lap, eyes glazed over, not moving, not speaking, so I decided it was probably time to take her home to sleep.

The next morning P called to let me know he had missed the last leg of his flight, so Boogie went down for another nap, I prepped a dish for dinner, and Nonny stayed at the house cooking while I went to the airport with Boogie. When we got there, she was all smiles to see her Papa, and when I took her from him so he could get the suitcases in the car, she was devastated and cried her soul out until he took her back. They had a long time to get reacquainted in the back seat because it took us two hours to get home from SFO. Traffic was horrible, and I cried once from something P said, but not an entirely unenjoyable ride. Once I got over the hurt and realized he was reacting from being hungry and tired, I tried to enjoy my solitude in the front seat and actually 19th Ave is quite beautiful when you are forced to take it all in, in slow motion.

Anyway, dinner was awesome, and we have just enough left-overs to gorge ourselves but not get sick of the food. Boogie only opened about half her presents, when she got to one of the baby dolls I bought for her, she lost interest in the others and just wanted to play with her. But then the fussies came, and she got a nice bath with Papa and went to sleep.

And this morning P was up early with her so I was able to sleep in late for the first time in weeks, but when he brought her to me to nurse for her morning nap, she kept getting distracted trying to figure out where "Baby" was. I had to cradle Boogie and her doll both so that she could feel the heavy plastic doll next to her, then put them both to sleep. And she has a super-soft new pillow and blanket, from her Nonny, to sleep with, and super-adorable PJ's from Jojo.

So all-in-all, a typical Christmas for us. It was nice, lower-key than normal, less stress, and Boogie and I both got our Babies, mine from the airport, hers from a cardboard box. And I'm totally subscribing to Christmas being for the kids from now on, and folks wil have to wait for their birthdays for presents. I thought I might mind a bit not getting anything, but I was okay, I love watching Boogie rip strips of paper off and yelling "Wow" when she sees the gifts. And we have more to open today (mostly what I gave her) though I don't know where they are going to fit. Maybe I'll have to clean out more of the baby toys, and go get a toy box asap.

So, Happy Holidays to everyone, hope your days are filled with good food and family.