A Quiet Christmas
Even though we don't celebrate Christmas (although when the Doodlebug gets older, I'm looking forward to starting our own tradtion of Chinese food and a movie on Christmas day. Even though I don't like Chinese food, I can make an exception one day of the year. Yes, that's right, I'm the only Jew in America who doesn't like Chinese food, except for the occasional dim sum), I like Christmas day. The weather is generally just right for hanging out, watching DVDs, eating good food. I'm always sad when Christmas is over because that means the holiday season is winding down. I know many people despise the season, but starting in September (for me the season of holidays starts with the High Holidays, which segues into Halloween and then Thanksgiving and then it's Hanukkah and Christamas; New Year's, surprisingly, has never really done it for me. It always seems like such a sad end to happy season), I'm suckered into the holiday spirit. I love the smell of pine (which in our house comes in candle form), the Christmas carols (93.7 played them twenty-four hours a day, which drove Adam a bit crazy, but I listened anyway), the crass commercialization (hey, it's not my holiday! Okay, so my holiday is becoming commercialized too, but I won't go there). I dig egg nog lattes, mall Santa Claus, and the good mood everyone puts on. In Seattle, we got to end the holidays in style with a Football and Facials all-day brunch at Andy's house, but now, we have no real closer to the season. Perhaps we'll have to start our own.
Christmas morning in Boston had almost perfect Seattle weather: light rain, slight fog, cool (upper 40s, lower 50s). I've taken up running again, and I want to make it an absolute habit now while Adam is on winter break so that when he's back in school, I make the effort to keep it up. Once you start exercising, it's so hard to stop. In fact, the only thing that got me to stop exercising in the first place was my first trimester nausea (I still like to look at the Doodlebug and say, "Do you know why Mommy is so sore after her short run? Because she gave up running for over nine months because of you!"). So, I went for a Christmas morning run. I brought my MP3 player with me (speaking of which, I'm desperate for new running music. If you have a favorite pump-you-up song, let me know what it is so I can buy it off of I-Tunes or the like!) but it was so nice and quiet out that I didn't bother to turn it on. With so few cars out, I was able to run in the street (which is good because despite the warmish weather and all the rain there are still sidewalks that haven't been cleared of snow). The run was beautiful because the fog perfectly enmeshed all the light-filled trees and I could see into people's houses and in a few, they were gathered near their tree. The few folks out--a couple of joggers, a few dog walkers, a couple of kids on scooters and bikes that looked like they may have been Christmas gifts--were especially friendly. The main commercial area on Mass. Ave. was nearly empty, with just a few cars outside the small grocery that was open. I've never seen the street so empty. Of course, there were a few folks at Starbucks as well. Probably mostly tired parents who were up late assembling gifts. If every run could be like my Christmas morning run, I'd have no problems staying in shape.
Of course, just because we don't celebrate Christmas ourselves, doesn't mean we didn't get a lovely Christmas delivery of our own. The Doodlebug presented it to us in his diaper... and on his pajamas... and all up his back. I have a great picture of it but I won't post it because I realize that not all my readers are parents and therefore they may not take kindly to the photo, especially if they're in the middle of lunch (if you're a parent, then it's nothing that would gross you out).
As a reward, we decided to give him his "big" present early, mostly because 1) he doesn't do well with the 4 p.m. Hanukah exchange (which is when it's sundown here) and 2) Adam and I needed a break. I'm happy to report that one of our presents was finally a hit: the exersaucer. Oh, the Doodlebug didn't know where to go first on it and it allowed him to do his favorite thing: stand up. The bouncing, the toys, the noises! What a happy Doodlebug! And what a lovely opportunity for his parents to actually sit down. On their butts. For a whole eight minutes! All hail the glory and power of the exersaucer.
Christmas morning in Boston had almost perfect Seattle weather: light rain, slight fog, cool (upper 40s, lower 50s). I've taken up running again, and I want to make it an absolute habit now while Adam is on winter break so that when he's back in school, I make the effort to keep it up. Once you start exercising, it's so hard to stop. In fact, the only thing that got me to stop exercising in the first place was my first trimester nausea (I still like to look at the Doodlebug and say, "Do you know why Mommy is so sore after her short run? Because she gave up running for over nine months because of you!"). So, I went for a Christmas morning run. I brought my MP3 player with me (speaking of which, I'm desperate for new running music. If you have a favorite pump-you-up song, let me know what it is so I can buy it off of I-Tunes or the like!) but it was so nice and quiet out that I didn't bother to turn it on. With so few cars out, I was able to run in the street (which is good because despite the warmish weather and all the rain there are still sidewalks that haven't been cleared of snow). The run was beautiful because the fog perfectly enmeshed all the light-filled trees and I could see into people's houses and in a few, they were gathered near their tree. The few folks out--a couple of joggers, a few dog walkers, a couple of kids on scooters and bikes that looked like they may have been Christmas gifts--were especially friendly. The main commercial area on Mass. Ave. was nearly empty, with just a few cars outside the small grocery that was open. I've never seen the street so empty. Of course, there were a few folks at Starbucks as well. Probably mostly tired parents who were up late assembling gifts. If every run could be like my Christmas morning run, I'd have no problems staying in shape.
Of course, just because we don't celebrate Christmas ourselves, doesn't mean we didn't get a lovely Christmas delivery of our own. The Doodlebug presented it to us in his diaper... and on his pajamas... and all up his back. I have a great picture of it but I won't post it because I realize that not all my readers are parents and therefore they may not take kindly to the photo, especially if they're in the middle of lunch (if you're a parent, then it's nothing that would gross you out).
As a reward, we decided to give him his "big" present early, mostly because 1) he doesn't do well with the 4 p.m. Hanukah exchange (which is when it's sundown here) and 2) Adam and I needed a break. I'm happy to report that one of our presents was finally a hit: the exersaucer. Oh, the Doodlebug didn't know where to go first on it and it allowed him to do his favorite thing: stand up. The bouncing, the toys, the noises! What a happy Doodlebug! And what a lovely opportunity for his parents to actually sit down. On their butts. For a whole eight minutes! All hail the glory and power of the exersaucer.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home