The Recap

I had this whole post typed and then Blogger ate it. I guess it's hungry since I put it on a blogging diet over the holidays. Moody little technology!

Anywho, I am back after my unscheduled little blogocation over the holidays. I had convinced myself that I would indeed write while we were away for two weeks, but what I have learned over the past year is that I don't blog well at other people's houses. This year, I'll plan better for that.

We had a fabulous 6 state, 1,800+ mile, 12 days in other people's houses vacation. It was wonderful and yet we are very glad to be back in our own home and most importantly to have our own shower back. Some people love to come back to their own beds, or maybe even their own kitchen, but for us we love the mega pressure of our shower. It makes both Tim and I feel so relaxed to be back to showers that could also double as a pressure washer. Sort of ironic since I find showers as a whole to be over-rated, but that's a whole different blog post.

Our Christmas day here was on 12/22 and started with two very over eager parents and one super sleepy toddler. Liam slept the latest he has in his entire life and at 9:30 am, his parents couldn't take it anymore--so we went in and woke him up. (Letting your parents sleep in on Christmas was a pretty great gift though.) He immediately sat up and asked, "Did Santa come?".

Christmas has been such a treat this year since he really "gets" what is going on. So, down the stairs we bounded and Liam loooved passing out presents and was pretty adamant that we take turns opening. Santa will have to work harder next year to make sure we all have the same number of presents to open. His stocking was also a huge hit as he must have been an amazing boy because it was stuffed to overflowing. Of all the things he got, PEZ aside, it would seem that his truck sheets are his favorite from our Christmas. What a hoot.

Then, we packed up early the next day and headed up the East coast to visit my hubby's family. Lots of young cousins to play with. He discovered sledding (one trip down the hill was enough for him), and snow tunnels and trains, trains, trains. Not only did Nana have a set there, but Grandma and Grandpa had borrowed a set from some friends in the mid-west--love at first Choo Choo.

My favorite memory from New York was when one of Liam's uncles alerted me to the fact that Liam was running into our bedroom and that his cousin was naked in the other room. As soon as I went to check on him, he came dashing (He 'dashes' everywhere now, a la Jingle Bells.) back out and into the room with the naked cousin where they all started bouncing and screaming "Pajama Party! Pajama Party!" while simultaneously throwing glow sticks in the air. Toddler Rave, not what I expected this holiday season.

After a few days we motored on towards my parents in the mid-west with a stopover in Cleveland to rest and take in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a great museum and one we'd like to go back and visit again. My only beef is that there wasn't a room for the kids to fall in love with music. I think it'd be the perfect place to have some old guitars and drums and whatnot and expose kids to music from the get go.

Since we chose to drive (more on that in another post) we were able to surprise my family a day early. So fun! Liam loved entertaining the masses the entire time we were there. In fact, the big hit of the holiday was when my mom asked him what he had gotten so far and he declared "20 bucks!". It became the stock response the rest of the trip... He knows how to entertain and likes to keep a room in stitches.

A great Christmas with friends and family and more than enough love to keep us all nice and cozy well into the new year.