 | Diary Navigation:
|
January 31, 2003
January 31, 2004
I know the Holiday season has long since come and gone, but we had a truly wonderful Christmas vacation I’ve been dying to write about since my Diary went up. I hope you’ll forgive all the detail, and enjoy a peek into our family’s Holiday celebrations.
One of the blessings of living on a student’s schedule is all the time off you get, particularly over the Holidays. In this case, Toby’s school allowed us to be with our family for an entire MONTH. We left on Sunday the 20th of December, and didn’t return to NY until the 16th of January. It was fabulous, and we were counting down the days until we left for months prior.
The Plane! The Plane!
After at least 3 years in a row of spending Christmas with my side of the family, this year we went to Toby’s parents. We were happy to be able to find a flight together with Toby’s sister Courtney and her husband Jon-Paul and baby Hannah, and really enjoyed traveling with them. We stayed the night at their place in Manhattan the night before, as our flight left EARLY from Newark (just after 6, if I remember correctly). Overall the flights (we had a quick layover) were uneventful and Aidan slept and played quietly almost the entire time. I DID feel bad for my niece, whose ears obviously hurt her when we landed. =( Poor thing!
(Side note: I have to mention that as an early Christmas present, Toby upgraded our tickets to 1st class. I was so excited … until we realized that the plane we were on was pretty small, so it wasn’t really “real” 1st class. I think Toby was a little disappointed, but we thoroughly enjoyed the extra space the seats allowed, and the “real” breakfast they served. Plus, Aidan had more room to move around in, and the flight attendants were great about bringing him snacks and drinks.)
Toby’s Dad (Ron, which is also MY Dad’s name) picked us up, and after stopping at Red Robin’s for burgers, we finally pulled up to their place. We’d been telling Aidan all day that he was going to see “Gobbie” (his name for Toby’s Mom), but I think he was still a little surprised and confused to see her walk up to the car. One big hug and a couple of kisses is all it took; he quickly realized that it really WAS Gobbie in front of him, and a little impish smile spread over Aidan’s face. That was it! They were inseparable from then on.
As always, Toby’s Mom (Sharon) outdid herself decorating the house from top to bottom. I’m always amazed at how warm and inviting she’s able to make a place feel, and this year was no exception. From the “choo choo” lit up on the front lawn, to the beautiful garland going up the stairway, to the TWO Christmas trees … I could go on and on about the amazing job that she did. Of course, I can’t forget that Toby’s Dad did a LOT of work too to get the house ready for all of us … they really are a great team.
One Ring To Rule Them All …
The highlight for ME on Sunday was going to see “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”. Sharon stayed with the kids, and Toby, Jon-Paul, Courtney, Ron and Great-Grandma Jeanne and I all went together. Toby and I are HUGE LOTR fans, and had been counting down the days until we got to see it with everyone. It was particularly fun to go with Court and J-P, as we had seen the previous two “installments” for the first time with them as well. (We saw FOTR in London with them when I was pg with Aidan, and TT in San Diego with them and oh, about TWENTY of our closest friends). I know I’m a big fan, so the movie could have really stunk and I probably would have like it, but “Return of the King” is probably one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s b/c I didn’t know how it was going to end, but it didn’t feel like a 3-hour movie to me. I was completely sucked in from start to finish. To say I loved it would be a complete understatement. In fact, I went to see it again the following with my Dad and loved it just as much the second time. I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that it wins the Oscar for “Best Movie”, and if Peter Jackson doesn’t win “Best Director” … well, if directing THREE movies at once doesn’t make you the BEST, then I don’t know what does!!
We had a couple of days between our getting there and the rest of the family’s arrival, so we just relaxed and adjusted to being on West Coast time. I’ve asked Toby a couple of times, and neither of us can remember what we did on Monday. We must have REALLY been relaxing! LOL Tuesday was great, b/c Sharon watched Aidan and Hannah for the whole afternoon, so we all got some time to ourselves. Ron, Courtney and Jon-Paul all went skiing somewhere in Tahoe and had a great time on the slopes. They even bumped into Toby’s Uncle Mike and his family in the ski lodge, who had arrived from Michigan a few days before, and were spending some time at the family cabin before joining us for Christmas.
Toby and I had NO interest in freezing our backsides off, so we went out to lunch and did a little last-minute Christmas shopping. We peeked into an all-you-can-eat Sushi bar, but it was crowded and smelled a little too fishy even for me, so we ended up at a little “Asian fusion” restaurant we’d been to a couple of times with Toby’s parents. It’s called Rickshaws (formerly Rickshaw Paddy’s), and it has the BEST curries and Chinese food. We had coconut soup and the best sweet and sour pork I honestly think I’ve ever had. It was SO good! The best part though, was just getting some alone time with Toby. It was so relaxing, and more than a little romantic, to just sit and talk as long as we wanted to, without any interruptions. Ahhh, how is it that just holding hands can be so sexy?? =)
On Wednesday the rest of the family started trickling into town. Toby’s Uncle Mike, his wife Theresa and their 3 kids arrived in the afternoon. Aidan took quite a liking to their youngest daughter Victoria, who is 7 or 8. We got some CUTE pictures of him trying to kiss her … on the MOUTH, of course! She didn’t mind being kissed on the cheek, but a slobbery kiss on the mouth was too much even for her. She kept ducking her head down, only to have Aidan’s little mouth follow her wherever she turned her head. LOL
Toby’s brother Ryon and his wife Alex arrived with their two dogs, Chico and Henry at about 2 am Christmas Eve. I thought I was dreaming when I heard the dogs in the garage, but there was a snow storm coming that morning, so they decided to leave Wednesday night after Alex got off of work to beat it.
So now the whole family was there … and the fun really began! First of all, EVERYONE stayed at Ron and Sharon’s house. Yep, all 15 of us in one house! And you know what? It didn’t feel crowded. O.k.., there were a couple of times where the noise level got to be too much for me, and I had to go upstairs for a while, but other than that it was really FUN having everyone in one place. It was nice to be able to stay up late talking and laughing each night, and then have breakfast together in the morning, without everyone having to head off to this or that Hotel.
A Little Bit of This, A Little Bit of That
Toby’s family has a very fun tradition of doing what we call “International Night” when we’re all together. Each individual family prepares a dish that is NOT “American”, and we all enjoy a delicious meal together. This time Courtney and Jon-Paul made Greek spaenekopita (sp?), Toby made Moroccan bisteeyah (little meat pies), Ryon and Alex made chipotle Mexican stew and Toby’s parents barbequed a rack of lamb. I decided to make my artichoke heart/spinach dip just for fun. It’s not “international”, but it’s SO yummy … and it was quite a hit! We always have a great time preparing everything together, and it made for an extra special and fun Christmas Eve dinner.
I think we had originally planned on opening a couple of presents on Christmas Eve, but time got away from us, so we ended up just hanging out together. If memory serves me correctly, this is also the evening that Toby’s Uncle Mike made ONE HUNDRED Jell-O shooters, which we were all more than happy to “partake” of throughout the evening and the rest of the Holiday weekend. =)
I really enjoyed being around the older kids as they got ready for bed Christmas Eve, particularly Victoria. She was, of course, SO excited about Santa coming. We assured her that Santa would know where she was even though she wasn’t at her own home (Santa knows these things, you know!). There’s a website that tells you exactly where Santa is at in the world, so we checked that out for a bit. After the kids were all tucked away in bed, we took the stockings down from the fireplace and went upstairs to stuff them. Thank goodness Sharon had bought everything for Aidan’s stocking, b/c I hadn’t remembered in all the hustle and bustle (what a BAD Mom I am!). Afterwards, Toby and I stayed up late talking and watching T.V. with Ron and Mike and Theresa. Eventually, we all headed off to bed, wondering what surprises the next day would bring …
(O.k., I thought I could condense our vacation into one entry, but this has proven impossible. It will obviously have to be done in segments. I’ll also give an update next time on our housing situation and what Aidan has been up to while we’ve been living here in Manhattan).
Until Next Time …
Rebekah
 |  |
|
want to keep a diary on iParenting?
Authoring a diary on the iParenting network allows you to chronicle your family's story, preserving it for years to come. It's also a great way to get the most out of the iParenting community. Click here to start...
|
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families. 
