Welcome 2014

2013 went out with a bit of a bust. First the ice storm meant that we were stuck at home for 3 days. We could have gone out and braved the roads if we really wanted to on some of those days I suppose, but why? There was no where we really had to go.

As the ice storm was ebbing, I got a bad cold as did my 3 year old. My husband and daughter got it too, but not as bad as my son and I.  On Christmas Eve we did our normal Christmas Eve Scavenger Hunt. It's a fun family tradition we do with my side of the family and culminates in this fun video:


After our scavenger hunt we went to my sister's house for lunch, tea and cookies. Then we opened all our gifts to each other. My 3 year old was exclaiming "This is just what I ALWAYS wanted!" after opening each gift. It was sweet.

Afterwards, we decided we were all feeling too sick to go to my husband's maternal family's annual Christmas Eve get-together. We grabbed some Chinese takeout and headed home for dinner. It was weird. For years I have wondered whether it would be nice to just go home to our own house on Christmas Eve, but it was too ordinary, it didn't feel much like Christmas Eve.

On Christmas Day Grandma and Grandpa came to open presents with us. My sweet boy who yesterday had exclaimed how every gift was just what he always wanted turned into a greedy little monster who only wanted to rip the paper off a million presents. He was heading into a tailspin as his cold ramped up, and his emotions melted down. "I didn't get enough presents from Santa!" he wailed. "I want to play with a toy from Santa!" When my husband suggested some Legos he answered "NO, those are from Grandma, I want to play with a present from Santa!"

Oh dear.

I coaxed him into a warm tub, then he snuggled under the covers with me and fell asleep for hours. At least his illness explained the tantrums. We stayed home from my husband's paternal family's Christmas party, and another open house party we always go to. Once again, it felt like too ordinary of a day to feel much like Christmas. Especially when we ate Chinese leftovers for Christmas dinner.

Thankfully by the time New Year's Eve rolled around everyone was feeling better. We went to a party at a friends house. It was just three families. Six parents and seven children. The kids all got along great and played together. We even got to play a game with just the adults as the kids entertained each other. It was fantastic. A sign of good days ahead.

We were home and in bed before midnight, but I got to see the fireworks of three towns out my bedroom window. It was a good place to be especially with the frigid temperatures outside.

Welcome 2014, let's see where you take us.