The Christmas That Lasts All Season

As promised, here are the photos:


Well, we all weathered Christmas very well considering each and very one of us is nursing colds of one degree or another. Having taken the two weeks off that the girls have off from school has made it less stressful for me, but I still feel like there is too much to do and not enough time to do it. Brigid had school on Monday and Tuesday, so on Monday I took Margaret and Patricia to Burlington for a little shopping and lunch. While there, I found what I thought to be a perfect gift for Auntie Shell, only to get home and find it had chipped in transit (so Michelle, if you're reading this, be prepared for only part of your Christmas present). I was very, very disappointed, to say the least.

We had some whopping snow storms over the days before Christmas, which would assure us a true white Christmas for the first time in many years. But temperatures have climbed so it's more like March out there today, with rain and melting snow, slush and icy sidewalks. Yuk. But the girls have had fun in the snow in the backyard regardless. I'll post a photo I took on Christmas Eve day when I can get to it.

Christmas Eve day was pretty relaxing. Jack had to work, but he was able to get out early in the afternoon since there is no paper on Christmas Day. Baby B and I took a long afternoon nap in anticipation of Christmas Eve mass and party at the Grandparent Downs' house. Mass on Christmas Eve at St. Peter's is sometimes a slugfest for seating no matter which mass you attend, so Jack and Margaret walked over ahead of time to get a pew, only to find it not so crowded this year. Patricia, Brigid and I followed closer to 6 p.m. It was a comfortable crowd, with seats in the back still open. Usually, there is a crowd standing in the back by the door and veiled threats that mass won't start unless people shove over. It was a nice service, with the church decked out in pines and pointsettias. The baby Jesus was carried in during the processional -- once again, a baby Jesus who is nearly as big as his mother and father in the manger scene. I don't get it.

We then went over to Grandma and Granddad Downs' for the annual Christmas Eve gathering with Grandma's cousin and her family. It was a mellow night, and we ate the buffet and enjoyed Christmas cookies then packed up to go home and get the girls to bed. They were happy to comply, and it didn't take me too long to get Brigid to sleep -- even though she had had a long nap, she was tired. The colds didn't help, either. Jack and I finished our Christmas preparations under the tree and then collapsed ourselves. We were joined as usual by Brigid later in the night and we all got to sleep in a little Christmas morning, actually rising about 9 a.m. Margaret and Patricia were already up but were content to watch TV until we joined them. As usual, we had stockings first then breakfast -- a disappointing crock pot casserole I made for the first time that was overcooked and underflavored. But the girls said they liked it. We then went out to open presents. Brigid, in her first year of true understanding of the way it works, was wonderful, handing people their packages, asking for help opening her own. She was very excited to find a Radio Flyer tricycle under the tree from Santa. I have photos to post from Christmas as well, but they are hard copies, not digital, so I'll have to have them developed and put on disk first.


We had a visit from our tenant, Kathy. Jack had to work, so I invoked the stay-at-home rule and I cooked dinner just for us -- standing rib roast, yorkshire pudding, squash, peas and potatoes. It was very good. Apple pie and squash pie for dessert topped it off. Jack had to go back to work after dinner, but wasn't gone long, which was a nice surprise. I got Brigid to bed but not before she had a mini-meltdown demanding "I want presents!" over and over again when she discovered a few gifts still under the tree meant for other people. But she finally understood they weren't for her and she gave up and went to bed. The other two watched part of a movie with Jack before heading up to bed themselves. It was a nice, relaxing day -- in fact, Margaret and Patricia never got out of their Christmas pajamas they received the night before.

Friday we hung out. Jack took the girls and Tessa to the dog park for a romp, and then Brigid and I took a nice long nap, waking in time to get ready to go back over to Grandma and Granddad's for a day-after-Christmas dinner and gift exchange. We received some very nice and generous gifts and had a nice dinner. After dinner, we had a rousing game of "Bananagram," a Scrabble-like tile game where you spell words independently of the other players. It was a lot of fun.

Bedtime was more difficult for Baby B this night, and I'm not sure why, but I ended up quitting about 11 p.m. and put her in our bed with Jack. She was up beyond midnight, talking and kicking. To make matters worse, she woke up about 7 a.m. and just dozed on and off until 8:30 a.m. today so I expect we'll have a tired and cranky Brigid on our hands later.

We still have some Christmas celebrating to do this season with Auntie Shell and Uncle John, and we'll get together with Matt and Kristin, too, so our holiday season is still in full swing. Thank God I'm still on vacation!

Evidence We Were Indeed In Buffalo

I promised I would post photos from Thanksgiving, so here are some. The first is Brigid, who has learned to say, "Cheese," when the camera comes out. Here she is at Dave and Connie's house having already stripped down to her onesie. I can't keep clothes on this kid. The next one is a shot of the Thanksgiving dinner table before everyone dug in. It was lovely. Afterward, Connie served pie.


The day after Thanksgiving is the day we drove down to Fredonia to pick up Maggie, Margaret's best friend from school, who now lives in Ohio. Her aunt and uncle drove her up from their holiday celebrations at family in Pittsburgh to meet up with us. The girls were overjoyed and beside themselves when they jumped out of the car. It took us a few minutes to pry them apart so we could all get back in our cars. It was freezing in this nearly abandoned parking lot off the Thruway at the Fredonia exit. It looked like we were making some kind of drug score.


The next morning, we did it all in reverse, saying goodbye to Maggie until the next time would could make a similar connection.
We hope it won't be too far in the future. The girls had a teary goodbye.




We then picked up Cassandra for an afternoon at the (dinky) hotel pool. I don't think the kids cared that it was dinky or freezing cold. They swam a good long time.

I didn't get photos at Sandy's house, but that night we had a great meal that Mike prepared. Plus, the batteries on my camera were going, so I couldn't shoot anything until I got home to change them.

For now, all is well at home. Got to talk to Mom on the phone the other nice. Hi, Mom. Good to hear your voice. I'm going crazy trying to finish things for the holidays and am thankful I have a whole other week before Christmas to do so. Maybe I'll get Christmas cards done. Michelle made her annual cookie tray, and the few we actually DID get to taste were delicious. Michelle, take a deep breath before finishing this ... we think Tessa REALLY enjoyed them. At least, she didn't give us any indication that she didn't like them since she ate the plateful. :( We're very sad. So now, in addition to "Tessa ate my diaper," Brigid has another line she uses, "Tessa ate Auntie Shell's cookies!"

Another Bloody Nose, Another Day in the Life

I promised to post photos taken from our Thanksgiving trip and found many more I've taken over the last few weeks on the camera as well, but I left my camera at home and I'm at work, so I'll have to post them another time, but I'll post them all. Our week has been pretty much routine after our harrowing trip back from Buffalo. Brigid continues her fascination with stripping down once she comes home from school. It's the first thing she wants to do, and no amount of persuasion on our parts can deter her or convince her otherwise that it's not a good idea. Who wouldn't want the freedom of running around buck naked? I'd be less apprehensive if she was on the potty already, but she's not so I spend most of her naked time in fear that she'll suddenly realize pee is running down her legs onto my rug.

She continues to be plagued by bloody noses. She had several in Buffalo and several since returning. I know part of it is the dry air. I haven't tried putting Vaseline in her nose yet (I dread the attempt). I may dig out the humidifier for her at night. But I'm not 100-percent convinced that it's the cause because she started having nosebleeds months ago when it was perfectly humid. She'll just be standing there and start to whimper as the blood rolls -- literally rolls -- out of her nose.

But in between bloody noses, she continues to increase her vocabulary and conversational abilities ten-fold. She carefully calculates and constructs her sentences and for the most part, they're grammatically correct, too. She vacillates between using the personal pronoun, "I," and her own name when describing something she did, wants or needs. But the "I" is taking over more and more. I kind of like her saying, "Brigid did it," or, even cuter, "Brigid do-ed it" (I know, so much for being grammatical. But sometimes kids just need to be cute).

Patricia and Margaret went to the dentist yesterday for a regular check-up and it's great to hear him say their tooth alignment is perfect, considering how much those smiles cost (or continue to cost us in Patricia's case) with regards to braces and retainers. It's also great to hear him say that regarding Margaret's teeth because of the missing tooth. The space holder is doing its job for the future implant. I feel like I've been living at his office, however, because a week ago, I went in for preliminary work for a crown; we had the girls visit yesterday; and next week I return for the crown itself. Just a friendly word of caution: don't bite down on Atomic Fireballs. They are murder on the teeth.

To Buffalo and Back or How We Survived Thanksgiving, the Rodeway Inn, a Snowstorm and a Very Poopy Diaper

(I have some photos that I will post as soon as I can)
Well, we weathered Thanksgiving in Buffalo, with “weathered” being the operative word considering the snowstorm that turned a 7-hour return trip into a 9-hour, white-knuckled marathon. We left Plattsburgh with high hopes at 8:30 Wednesday morning and made good time, arriving in Buffalo after a few stops along the way at 4 p.m. We got two rooms at the Rodeway Inn. Note to self and anyone else who may be reading this: A photo of the Rodeway Inn comes up when you look up the adage, “You get what you pay for” in the encyclopedia. I had to remind myself that it was “$44 a night” every time I entered the place, but, in all fairness, it wasn’t camping and they allowed us to have the dog. But the place was run down and very obviously hadn’t had any work done to it in years. Anyone in the Buffalo area who is familiar with the property, it used to be the old Charter House, a good chunk of which was torn down in the early 1980s.

We had dinner at the Cracker Barrel Wednesday night then let the girls go swimming in the kidney-shaped pool. What they didn’t say in their brochure is that the pool isn’t only kidney-shaped, it’s also kidney-sized. They were also obviously saving the environment by not heating the thing. But the girls didn’t seem to mind.

We had a very slow and relaxing Thanksgiving day, with the girls and I driving around looking for something to do in the a.m. while Jack tended to the dog. We had a bite for lunch at Denny’s (“It’s always open! An American institution!”) and then after Brigid had a nap, we headed northward to Dave and Connie’s for a lovely dinner and family visit. Spoke to Mom in Texas on the phone and Joanne in South Carolina as well. Joanne, if you read this, the next time I see you I’m going to smack that accent out of you if you don’t leave it south of the Mason-Dixon line. Girl, you’re a northerner! Brigid loved playing with her cousin, Stephanie’s, Barbies and accessories. The dogs got along very well (thanks, Dave and Connie, for letting us bring Tessa with us). Dinner was delicious and conversation was even better. Miss you guys already.

Friday, Margaret and Patricia and I drove to Fredonia an hour south of Buffalo to meet up with Margaret’s friend, Maggie. Her family was in Pittsburgh for the holidays – and Maggie lives outside Cleveland, Ohio. They moved away from Plattsburgh in July so we were able to arrange a visit and overnight with Maggie coming back to Buffalo with us. The pick-up went smoothly and the girls had a great visit. Thanks to Maggie’s aunt and family for helping us make it work. It was great to see her again – she’s the fourth daughter I never knew I had. They girls went swimming and then we made the huge mistake of going to the Galleria Mall to hang out and grab a bite to eat. Very busy, very noisy. But we got seats at Johnny Rocket’s (Margaret’s idea) and even had a Build-a-Bear made to donate to the Toys for Tots campaign (I had a coupon). Back to the rooms so the girls could all go swimming and then a snack party in the room complete with a viewing of “Star Wars” on TV. What could be better?

Saturday we got up and hit the road to bring Maggie back down to Fredonia for a rendezvous with her aunt and uncle, who then drove back down to Pittsburgh. The girls were sad to say goodbye, but we promised to make it work again in the future. We then headed north again to Buffalo to meet up with Chet and Marilyn at the Cracker Barrel for lunch. It was great to sit and chat for more than two hours (!) Jack had to take Brigid back to the room for a nap, but it was very convenient because the hotel is just behind the restaurant. After we bid farewell to our friends from Holland (New York, that is, not the Netherlands), the girls and I went over to Sandy’s house to pick up Cassandra, who was chomping at the bit to come back with us to go swimming. We were invited to their house for dinner, so I offered to take Cassandra for the afternoon. She didn’t mind the cold pool, and the girls all enjoyed the bonding time. We then dried everyone off and climbed back into the car to go over to the Keglers’ house for dinner. Mike made a great meatloaf and even better (!) mashed potatoes dinner – yum. Great recipe that included green onions, vinegar and mayonnaise. Sounds bizarre but it was great. Sandy was tired and sore from surgery a week before, so we didn’t stay as late as we might have otherwise.

Back at the motel, the girls went swimming again (!) and then another snack party in the room, this time, watching the “X-men.” We had a leisurely morning and breakfast at the motel and hit the road by 10 a.m. We made the mistake of leaving Tessa unattended and uncrated in the room while we had breakfast – had to pack the crate before anything else went in the car – and Jack and Brigid returned to the room to find a mess on their hands, and everywhere else, apparently. Tessa got a hold of one of Brigid’s very poopy diapers and ate it. Ugh! It made a huge impression on Brigid, however, and she is still talking about it.

Regardless, our leisurely feeling of the morning wasn’t to last long, however, because we hit snow just outside of Rochester and it lasted and got worse as we went east and then north. The Northway was very scary. We arrived home at 7 p.m. It was a nice, relaxed visit, but it felt good to be home.