The Holidays are Here!

I have a few important things I want to remember, so I'm going to spit them out here.  I put off writing about them because I always think my writing should be perfect, and documented in photographs like all the other amazing Mommy blogs I read, but today I decided I don't have time for perfection, and if I keep waiting for pictures it'll never happen.  So here you go, take it or leave it.

Our Thanksgiving was amazing, despite the terrible, rainy weather and the fact that Mom and Jay went to New York.  It was nice to know that we could spend the entire evening at my Dad's house and not feel like we were missing out on something with Mom, because that's the way holidays always work, no matter how nice everyone is about it.  There's always another side of the family that we're NOT seeing at any given moment, and because I'm me, they are always the people I'm thinking about.  So this year, Mom and Jay's trip was a green light for me to sit with the other side of my family and delight in their presence.

Sally's entire family came over to Dad's house for dinner, football games, and BINGO!!  Before dinner, we all stood in the living room and shared what we were thankful for, and all of my aunts and uncles were thankful for Grandma and Grandpa.  They always say that, I guess, but this year it really choked me up.  I don't know if it's because Grandma and Grandpa aren't getting any younger, or because we now have a fourth generation, but there were over thirty people in that room, all of whom were healthy, happy, successful, both professionally and personally, and most of all....together!  Out of 5 kids, Grandma and Grandpa got FIVE beautiful families!  What are the chances?!  I find that amazing.  And I looked at every person there and decided that they all amaze the hell out of me.  What a great group of people to sink into.

Also, since I tend to have super high expectations for myself during the holidays, I was despondent when I showed up to Dad's house with a sick baby.  Sylvia had already thrown up twice that morning and I desperately appealed to Sally to help me figure out what was wrong with her.  She's a Gran now, so she automatically has to know what's wrong with babies, right?  Fortunately, she managed to say all the right things - like how sometimes when babies are teething they swallow a lot of saliva and that can upset their stomach.  Aha!  That makes sense!  Sylvia wasn't ACTING sick, and she didn't have a fever, so Sally's common sense and good logic made me feel much better.  But then, Sylvia threw up all over Sally's freshly cleaned carpets.  Not just baby spit up, either, she puked up PRUNES AND BLUEBERRIES.  Oh my god, I was mortified.  But then, Sally said it was okay.  She didn't shriek or squirm or say, "I just got those carpets cleaned," under her breath - well, maybe she did, but I didn't hear her.  I went to clean the carpet and she made me clean the BABY first!  Psh!  What a good Gran.  That's when I decided I hope that I'm just like her when I grow up.  Babies come first.  Carpets come last.  No matter what.  I think I learned a lot about being a good parent this Thanksgiving.

We made it home safe and sound with a whole weekend ahead of us, so Saturday afternoon I put up our tree.  Mom gave us a fake one and I'm SO glad, because I'm totally done with real ones.  They're stupid.  I was sorting out the branches when Sylvia started getting fussy.  Not "feed me" or "change me" fussy, either, because I'd already done all of those.  This was "MOM YOU'RE NOT PAYING ENOUGH ATTENTION TO ME!" fussy.  I was bummed because I really wanted to get the tree done, so I decided to strap her into my Moby wrap and let her "help."  Buddy, you would have thought I magically whisked her off to a baby's winter wonderland!  She kicked her feet and ran her hands through the fake pine needles (still not soft, but not as prickly as real ones) and she laughed and laughed.  We sang Christmas songs and danced while we worked.  Here's the best part, though.  Once the tree was up, I reached up to put the last branches on, and she leaned her head forward so her face was totally buried in the branches.  She shook her head back and forth and she let out the biggest gut laughter I've ever heard from her.  It was totally precious.

Okay, sorry to rant, but I wanted to get those down.  You are free to continue your regularly scheduled life, if you haven't already!