First up, New Year's celebrations around the world! Lorien's teacher made the last week of classes all about New Year Celebrations. The kids learned customs from Thailand, Germany, China, England and Romania--to name a few. I was in the classroom almost every day that week. I loved being with the kids and watching their excitement over the little projects they were doing. On Friday Lorien's class had a big party to celebrate and act out all of the traditions they had learned. It was a crazy week.
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Squashed in the middle of a week packed with class room activities Lorien and I had a date at the San Francisco ballet to watch the Nutcracker. My friend, Heather, bought tickets a month in advance and asked if Lorien and I wanted to go. I agreed and forgot all about it... The evening before the performance I got a call from another friend wanting to know if we wanted to car-pool. (Thanks a million for calling, Bryant, I would have forgotten all about it otherwise.) My week had been busy and as the time to leave drew nearer I frantically tried to think of a way out with out wasting the money we spent on tickets. When nothing came to mind, Lorien and I loaded up, picked up our friends and drove to the city. I am so glad my attempts to back out of the ballet did not work. The show was spectacular! I've seen my fair share of Nutcracker performances so I can say with authority: San Francisco put on the best show I've ever seen. Lorien was enchanted by the costumes and dancing. We were both entertained by whispered conversation with friends. Even though I drove the wrong way down a one way street--straight into an awaiting police car--and missed my exit for the freeway the evening was a success. I especially enjoyed the time I had to visit with my friend, Marilyn, on the drive to and from the city. She is a fun gal who knows how to be patient with a scatter-brained driver!
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The weekend before Christmas we drove down to visit Will's Aunt Betty Jo and Uncle John (or as Clare says: Uncle Betty-John) who live in San Jose. We were totally spoiled with a mountain of gifts for the kids, a trip through "Christmas in the Park" and dinner at Original Joe's. Our very first winter here in California we met up with Betty Jo and John for dinner and Original Joe's and a walk through "Christmas in the Park". I remember laughing because a father standing next to us was scolding his son about taking his coat off: "You have to keep your coat on." He said "Do you know how cold it? It is 40 degrees, freezing!" I thought of Boston and knowing it was actually freezing there made me laugh. I must have acclimated to the warmer winter temperatures because I thought "Christmas in the Park" was absolutely freezing this year.
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And then there was Christmas! The wonder, the joy, the anticipation--no one was disappointed. We spent Christmas Eve making cookies for Santa and watching Christmas specials on TV. Clare managed to fall asleep at 5:00 pm but only slept for an hour. Will and the kids tracked Santa across the globe via NORAD, Wyatt was especially thrilled every time Santa's sleigh was spotted. As a result of living in the Pacific Coast time zone we are one of the last stops Santa makes. Lorien nearly burst into tears when Santa cruised over Boston at 7:00 pm our time. "Why did we ever move away from Boston?!?"
We got the kids into bed and started in on our "Christmas work". At about 12:30 am we heard Wyatt crying and coughing. He had the croup. Will spent a chilly twenty minutes outside with Wyatt wrapped in a quilt but Wyatt couldn't calm down enough to breathe. So we brought him into our room and opened the window as wide as we could. Will set up our cozy chair and I turned on a television show. Thank goodness for satellite channels that play kid cartoons around the clock. With some random ninga cartoon to distract him, Wyatt was able to calm down, return his breathing to normal and fall asleep. I thought with Wyatt up 1/2 the night we'd get to sleep in a bit but at 6:45 am the girls were up and Wyatt launched himself out of bed like he'd been sleeping for the last 12 hours instead of 4. Oh well!
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Christmas morning was perfect. I'll spare you the gift details and just say we felt very blessed for all that we have and received. Because of Wyatt's illness he and I missed a visit with Grandpa Clay and Grandma Lizz. Will took the girls over to Uncle David's house for a few hours so they could see Grandpa and visit with their cousins. (Sorry we missed you Clay and Lizz!)
Last, but not least, I got our holiday cards out!!! Hip-hip hooray for me! If you do not get a card in a week or so (and you want one) email me your address (anderson.cassie@gmail.com) because I am sick and tired of trying to chase down addresses. Seriously friends, I love putting together our holiday card but I would rather shoot myself in the butt with a potato gun than round up addresses for mailing. I hate it. Happy New Year!
