I do really enjoy Christmas. But now I’m ready to move on.

I finished up my shopping on December 23rd and helped my dad finish his shopping for the boys. I picked it all out, he paid, and I took them home and wrapped them We met up at Honey Baked Ham to pick up the ham for dinner on Christmas eve.

CARPIO FAMILY CHRISTMAS

On Christmas eve, we had a Carpio family Christmas. Berni, Andy and Anderson came over around noon. Berni brought beefstik and adobo for lunch. She also made pecan tarts which most of us were snacking on throughout the day.

Zander took one bite of a pecan tart and immediately spit it out. Then he said his throat was getting tight. So I gave him some benadryl and lots of water. After an hour or so, he said his throat felt normal again. Looks like he has a full on nut allergy – not just peanuts. Wow. We’ll have to see Dr. Daugherty about that.

We just pretty much hung out together all day – eating and drinking. Berni brought me some Lychee liqueur that she found – Orchid brand (instead of Soho). So we opened a bottle of Asti Spumanti and mixed it with the liqueur and Chambord. Yummy. Between Berni, mom and I, we polished off the Asti and most of the tiny bottle of liqueur.

Zander and Zevan played with Anderson. They “supervised” him a lot, because he’s 2 and “doesn’t understand” everything.

We sat down at 5:00 PM to our ham dinner. For some reason my dad had run out to Home Depot(!), and missed the start of dinner, but he returned shortly after 5:00 PM. All the boys chowed down on the ham, mashed potatoes and green beans.

Desserts were pecan tarts, key lime pie and rum cake. Mmm… Good stuff.

After dinner, the boys opened their gifts. It was super cute. The ZBoys loved their Star Wars sticker and activity books from Anderson. From us, the boys got to open their puppets and Mad Libs books and their new pajamas. My dad got us 2 Wii games and an extra Wii controller and remote.

And Anderson enjoyed his talking Thomas books and got his first try at the My First Leap Pad from the Zboys. I gave framed school pictures of the boys to my parents and Berni & Andy.

We had a short photo session of Berni and I with light sabers, and they headed home around 7:30 PM. My parents left shortly after that. We watched Frosty the Snowman with the boys before they went to bed. We laid in bed with them, and I actually fell asleep. Doug woke me and we headed downstairs to get the Wii ready (from Santa).

We spent some time setting up the Wii – it was fairly straightforward. Then we tried a few games. With Wii Sports, we tried boxing and tennis. It was really very active – I was surprised. We also tried The Clone Wars Light Saber game and the Mario Kart game. Doug went to bed and I played around with Pokemon Battle Revolution. That was really fun. And then I tried bowling. Then I FINALLY went to bed.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Zander was up way too early. I made him stay in bed for at least an hour longer. But he kept chattering and finally we all had to get up. Zevan somehow snuck downstairs to the tree before everyone else did, so we called him back up and then the boys went down together.

They were very excited to read a note from Santa, attached to the box for the Wii. We immediately went downstairs to try a few games. There is definitely a learning curve for using Wii remotes after playing standard Nintendo controller type games. They tried boxing and bowling. Then we went back upstairs to open more presents.

They got more clothes and each got a tub of Legos. For each other, they got Star Wars Mighty Muggs. Doug got a bunch of clothes and a new Rabbit pepper grinder that Zander picked out himself. I got a gift certificate to Toni & Guy and Imaage

Shortly after we headed back downstairs, and then Zander ran to the bathroom and got sick. WTF? He came back all pale and fevered. Poor guy. He was sick the whole day – running to the bathroom every once in a while to throw up. But he didn’t eat anything. It was so, so sad. One time, I was with him and he said, “I’m sick. What a terrible thing to happen on Christmas!”

So we huddled up on the couch and watched Frosty Returns. It was such a peaceful day. We had breakfast (everyone but Zander), and I read my latest Alex Cross book, listening to the Sirius Holly channel. Eventually Zander fell asleep on the sofa (my poor little guy). The day just went by lazily.

Doug and Zevan went outside to play soccer, while Zander and I hung out on the couch downstairs.

We all kind of missed lunch, so we had a snack mid-afternoon, and eventually had dinner. Zander and I stayed in our pajamas all day. We played more Wii in the late afternoon until dinner time. The Pokemon and Clone Wars games mostly.

For dinner, Zander had a few canned pears. While Doug, Zevan and I had leftover ham and mashed potatoes.

After dinner, we all mulled about the house. I checked email and Facebook, Doug was on his laptop and the boys played a bit. A while later, we headed back to the couch to watch the classic clay-mation “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

We had grapes for a snack with the movie. And poor Zander got sick again, shortly after eating the grapes. Up came the grapes AND all this pears from a few hours before. Poor, poor little guy. We finished the movie, and then it was time for the boys to go to bed.

After they were in bed, Doug and I watched The Hulk movie. And you know what, it was actually pretty good. I wasn’t expecting very much, but I was very entertained.

After the movie, Doug went up to bed and I asked him to bring Zander downstairs to me. Zander and I slept on the couch downstairs, all snuggled up.

DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS

Zander REALLY REALLY wanted to go to Village Inn for breakfast. We made plans earlier in the week to have breakfast there before going to Grandma & Grandpa’s house. I was dubious because of his stomach issues, but he insisted when he woke up that he was fine.

I fixed him some toast, which he ate and kept down. So we all got dressed and went to Village Inn for a late breakfast. Which was fun and I think might have to be our new day after Christmas tradition.

After breakfast, we went over to Doug’s parents’ house. As we arrived, so did Kristine (visiting from CA) with Geoff, Gavin and Gia. The boys were so excited. Zander, in particular, just loves, loves, loves Gavin. Those two are like peas in a pod.

We visited for a while. The kids all played together. There was a round of Candyland and then some time with the Tinkertoys. Then Doug’s dad went out to get pizza for lunch. I took the opportunity to run out to the 2 GameStops on Powers to check out the used games (Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale). Both GameStops were a total madhouse. I ran into a friend and fellow West Side Mom, Angela while at the Powers/Palmer Park GameStop. They had also gotten a Wii for Christmas this year.

After visiting both stores, I was unable to track down a selection of really good (translation popular $45 used) games, but I did finally pick up Big Brain Academy and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz for the Wii as well as a used GameCube controller and extension cable.

When I got back, Doug, Doug’s mom and the kids had been playing “golf” outside. Zander had since come inside, but the other 3 kids were out there playing still. I watched from the kitchen window. After a while, they all came in. They watched a little TV and snuggled on the couches together. They had a snack. Then it was time for everyone to head back home. They had a big cousin pile downstairs – so hilarious.

We headed home, and spent the evening together, trying out the Wii, having dinner and then bathe and bedtime for the boys.

DECEMBER 27
I woke up this morning to Zander coming in to snuggle next to me. Shortly afterwards, he got up and got sick again! WTF? No food, just queasy. He got queasy a few times, but not as severe as it was on Christmas day.

I was feeling like I needed to work on cleaning the house – the mess of the holidays was starting to get to me. While I was making breakfast, I started cleaning the kitchen and dining room surfaces. It was A LOT of stuff strewn haphazardly around all surfaces. I even threw in a load of laundry.

We had oatmeal for breakfast, and he was able to eat a decent portion of it (with brown sugar and Craisins), and keep it down. A few hours later, he got sick again. But then he said he was feeling okay.

A half hour after breakfast, we all did chores. Doug and the boys worked on the main level. I worked a lot on the family room downstairs, vacuuming the carpet and sofa. I also hit all the bathrooms for a clear off and wipe down of mirrors, vanity, sink and toilet. As well as another load of laundry put away, in the dryer and in the washer. A quick sweep of the bedroom and I was done for the day.

Zander has been wanting to go for a hike for the past week, but it’s been so cold and windy. Today was no exception. But, he really wanted to go, so after lunch, and after they went outside for a short session of soccer (too cold and windy), Doug and Zander headed out for a hike and I stayed home with Zevan.

After a while, Zevan and I were playing, and I asked him, “Hey, do you want to go the climbing gym?” He did, so we got dressed and headed over there. The first route we tried was the only 10.5 in they gym. The holds were good, but too far apart for him. So we tried a few 10.6’s He actually got to the top of 2 out of the 4 routes – with help from me hoisting him up, just because those were reachy, too. BUT he grabbed every hold on his own AND he had to be close for me to even try to hoist him up, so he did a lot of the work. I bouldered a little bit – mainly in the cave, and over the opening. It was a fun little outing for just the two of us. When he climbed his first .6 to the top, he was so excited. When he came down, we had lots of hugs and high fives. Then he said, “I wish Zander were here.”

We headed home, and he ran up to tell Zander his accomplishments. It was so nice. Zander was very excited for Zevan.

They had a short video game session with Dad while I got online – and finally beat my most recent personal high score on PathWords.

Dinner time rolled around, and we were both feeling lazy, so we headed downtown to Il Vicino for dinner. We ran into the Schwartz family and made plans to meet up with them at The Blue Star for New Year’s Eve. After dinner, we had dessert at Josh & John’s.

The boys went to bed shortly after we got home. And Doug is watching The Lord of the Rings downstairs as I type this post.

And that’s pretty much it for the Christmas activities. Whew!

and is one of my most favorite Christmas songs.

I’ve got a two week break from the Save Our School efforts while the board and administration are closed for the break. Not a moment too soon, either. This effort has taken over my life.

My work and home have been suffering. So these past few days I have tried to catch up on both housework and web work. I’m almost there with the web work. And the house – well, it’s at a manageable point.

I had a great birthday last week. I went to see Twilight with May and Candy. The movie was entertaining and a good complement to the book. Of course, in the movie, I think that James was a much more attractive vampire than Edward was…

I went shopping afterwards – by myself, taking my time. Then I came home and then went to the board meeting. The meeting went well.

However, 2 students, 8 and 9 years old, both wrote speeches for the board but the time for citizens’ comments ran out and they weren’t able to speak in front of the board. They were both so sad and crying. It was so heartbreaking.

We asked them to read their speeches to us, the parents, in a hallway in the building. They did – it was amazing. 8 and 9 years old asking to save their school. So inspiring.

For my birthday, Doug got me a year membership at the climbing gym (my happy place) and the boys got me (through Dad) a half day at Tuscany spa – lunch, massage and facial. Can’t wait to do that!

We had Christmas with the Scott family on Saturday – our family, Doug’s parents and Greg and Joshua. We went to dinner at Olive Garden and then came home for dessert and presents for the kids. The boys spent the night there.

Doug and I went to Trinity Brewing and ran into Jeff & Johanna. We hung out there for a while, then went downtown for martinis. It was a FREEZING cold night, but it was fun to hang out with our friends.

Sunday I took the boys shopping for Doug’s Christmas presents. I still have a few things left to buy.

Today I took the boys to my mom and dad’s so I could get work done and conduct client calls. Now I need to head over to my parents house to pick them up.

Facebook has been a lot of fun these days. It’s so nice to just touch base with old friends. I recently got friended by my best friend in middle school. And saw some photos of me from age 12-13 that I had never seen before. I found out an ex-boyfriend is now a triathlete and am looking at him for training tips. I am also finding out that I have a TERRIBLE memory.

What else? Oh, I’m more than halfway through the Alex Cross series by James Patterson. And the boys’ latest audiobook series is The A to Z Mysteries.

I wonder if I will get any motivation to run at all this week while May is out of town.

The boys await me – I should go!

Despite the fact that I overbooked myself earlier in the day at completely different parts of town (haircut at The Citadel, karaoke machine near Dublin & Academy and soup/cake from Shuga’s, south of downtown), the house and I were both ready by the time the first guests arrived (barely).

Ahhh… another grown up cocktail party. I got an antipasto plate from Mollica’s, Brazilian Shrimp Soup and an Almond Butter Cake from Shuga’s, more cheese/meats/bread from Whole Foods, lumpia from mom & dad and coconut cake & flan from Berni.

Sadly, I was unable to track down a bottle of Soho Lychee Liquor, which I needed if I wanted to attempt a version of Shuga’s Blushing Geisha Martini. But I made do with Pomegranate liquor instead.

We had way too much food. I’ll be having my own dutch lunch every day for a week!

The Schwartzes were the first to arrive. Then the Wolfes. Then the Alvarezes and Jacksons. The rest of the night is a blur of arrivals, eating, drinking, singing and talking. Berni and Lara. Greg Johnson. The Welsbys. Andrea Mourning. Jamie. The Haubers. May & Brad.

The soup was a big hit. That is just pure warm spicy tastiness.

The desserts were all to die for. I’m so sad because there wasn’t very much of the coconut cake left over.

Did I mention the karaoke machine?

Most notable Karaoke performances? John Hauber’s rendition of Shook Me All Night Long. My sister and I belting I’ll Be There For You. Kurt’s present to me of Living on a Prayer AND his Eminem impersonation. Lanel and Scott’s duet of Endless Love. And Greg’s Turn The Page.

Next time we have to request the discs with Journey and The Doors at least. And my usual karaoke songs: I Touch Myself by The DiVinyls and I Know What Boys Like by The Waitresses.

I got some neat gifts. Two mixed CDs, a hand knitted bowl filled with chocolate and a hand knitted small purse with yummy smelling lotions, 2 bottles of tequila, a bottle of wine, a GC for Title Nine and Melting Moments cookies. Good stuff!

When asked what 40 feels like, I looked around at my friends and said, “I can’t complain.”

Life is good.