Christmas 2017

This Christmas seemed to come out of nowhere.  I was pretty prepared gift-wise but I was in fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants mode with everything else.  I was a little wistful for last Christmas when Jason was a newborn but this year ended up being even more fun since he's actually able to participate in the Christmas festivities.  He really chose to participate in Christmas Eve mass, by repeatedly making a run (er, high speed crawl) for the trees at the foot of the altar.  I heard someone nearby remark "there goes that baby again."  He cannot be contained!

Christmas felt pretty low key this year because Brian wasn't here (he's still in Spain) and the Berger/Macniak clan didn't make it down, but we still had a really nice, relaxing time. 

The day after Christmas, we headed to Palm Springs for a mini vacay with my cousin Mark and his family, who we miss like crazy ever since we left Chicago.  They were very smart to come West when they did, managing to miss the arctic bomb that hit the whole Midwest and East Coast. 

This past week was bracing, as we all jumped back into work.  By Thursday everyone I talked to was like "How is it not Friday yet?!"  I had planned to spend this weekend getting some quality time with Lily since she was at my parents' house all week (she doesn't go back to school until Monday) but I was hit with food poisoning early Saturday morning and I'm just coming out of it now.  I have been a staunch defender of Blue Apron for a while now but that may be changing... we'll see how they handle my complaint.  In the meantime, be cautious if you have the broccoli calzones; I have a strong hunch that they're to blame since I'm the only one that ate them and no one else has gotten sick.  Arg. 

Me after tamale-making at Kevin & Lizzy's on the 23rd.  I'll be honest; I drank a lot of sangria & was pretty rueful about that the next morning.  As for that night, I had no recollection of how/why I ended up wearing a beaded Mom necklace.  It turns out Lily & Lizzy's niece were the culprits.

The kiddos at Hermosa Fish Shop for a Christmas Eve lunch. Jason was a maniac, eating everyone's food.

Lily & Jason woke at their usual time, 7 AM.  I remember waking up super early on Christmas mornings when I was little but luckily our kids are sleepers.  Santa brought Jason a copy of Harold and the Purple Crayon since Mommy thinks Jason looks like Harold.

 

After all of her presents were opened, Lily immediately went to work making charms for everyone.

I can't believe they both posed and smiled nicely at the same time!  It was a Christmas miracle (or "my-racle" as one of our Italian professors used to say).

We stopped at a MiMi's cafe in Riverside on our way to Palm Springs.  I was really stoked because I love a good chain restaurant and had never been to MiMi's before.  It was actually horrible.  My Korbel mimosa saved the day but everything else was pretty rough.  Jason was the belle of the ball; people love babies!  Once he figured out that he would be showered with attention by anyone he crawled up to, he started crawling up to everyone.  It was exhausting for me & Matt but cute for everyone else!

Lil could barely contain herself during lunch since it meant she was only hours away from seeing her cousins in Palm Springs.

Jason staring longingly at the pool below.

& playing chess with Allison & Janet.

This is what a baby looks like when you give him a lime slice!  I thought he would hate it but he actually seemed to like it.  He would make this awful face and then go back for more.  We were all cracking up.  BTW, if you are ever in Palm Desert, go to Guillermo's Mexican restaurant.  It was one of the best Mexican restaurants I've ever been to and literally the best Margarita I've ever had.  I would go there every week if they were in LA.

Cousins in the pool!

Janet taking Jason for a swim.  He loves the water so much!

I've already got this one framed in our hallway!  The kids are so sweet to Lily.  They include her in everything and are so patient and sweet with her.  It's such a joy to see these kids that Matt and I used to watch when they were younger than Lily now growing up to these amazing adults.

You can see how happy she was to be with her cousins, just goofing around at the beach.  We went to Zuma Beach in Malibu on New Year's Eve and it was so nice.  I forgot how different it is from Hermosa & Manhattan beaches. The waves are so rough near us and you can't really just wade and splash around because you'll get knocked over.  The sand also seemed softer though I have no idea if that's really true. The drive between Malibu and my parents' house was so pretty too.  & for good measure, at Allison & Jacqueline's request, we blasted Malibu by Miley Cyrus.

Jacqueline and Nick at my parents' house.

Jason riding his turtle into the New Year.  So long suckas!  Lily was pushing him with her feet but it kind of looks like he ran her over.