Christmas 2007

Christmas is over. All those weeks of preparation - baking and shopping marathons all come to an end. In a way, I'm sad it's over, but a part of me is kind of relieved that normalcy can return once again.

Christmas Eve was fun. From my earlier post, we headed downtown to see all the decorations and the Christkindlmarket at the Daley Center. Then we came home and I made 2 dishes - a corn casserole and mashed potatoes - to bring over to my mom's. Mark took Ricky to pick up the eggrolls at the local Filipino store and then we all went over to my mom's to celebrate Christmas Eve. Besides us, we celebrated with my sister, brother in law & his parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was a nice small, intimate group.

The cookies and appetizers were so good that I didn't think I would have enough room for the main course. Then when it came time to open presents, Ricky took center stage and we all watched him open his presents. Mark and I managed to take Ricky to 10pm mass - as my parish does not have midnight mass anymore. As you can imagine, Ricky was nutts as it was waaaaayyyyy past his bedtime. He sang many carols at the top of his lungs in a quiet church - complete with the Chipmunk Christmas song. I was trying very hard to stop laughing but it was hard. I don't even think I was able to pray for more than 30 seconds, but oh well.

We got up early Christmas Day and opened presents from Santa. Ricky was so excited. Then we got ready and went over to Mark's sister's house for the entire day. Needless to say, there was lots of eating and not as much sleeping going on so we are all exhausted but happy that we had such a great holiday. Nothing better than having your family all around you - and thankful that nobody is sick or has passed away. All in all, lots to be thankful for.

Checking Out the Christmas Windows & Missing Marshall Field's

Mark and I decided to take Ricky downtown to see the windows, decorations, and stop by the Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza. It was 25 degrees F, but we just bundled him up and went down early - the morning of Christmas Eve. It wasn't too busy down there at all - probably because it was early, cold, and the windows weren't all that exciting.

I remember going Christmas shopping downtown at Marshall Fields as a kid, and loving the windows and eating lunch at the Walnut Room. The very last Christmas that Fields was still Fields and not Macy's (2005), we took Ricky down along with my mom and ate our last Walnut Room lunch. It was good - and they had Mister and Missus Santa Bear and a big Elf came to our table for a visit.

Although the Nutcracker windows were nice, I remember the windows being more exciting in years past, with Harry Potter and other exciting themes. The inside of Macy's was decorated nicely, but I suppose I won't ever be happy with Macy's in general. In fact, my mother was missing Marshall Fields also, commenting to me that she bought ALL her gifts there - clothes, food, trinkets. It was her one-stop-shopping place. And now, this year, she really had a hard time running around to find appropriate, quality presents that matched those she used to buy from Marshall Fields each Christmas.

This time, we just walked around and looked at the windows which had the theme of The Nutcracker. I regret not planning in advance, because we ended up having lunch at McDonalds - which Ricky was just fine with - but with all the scary people at the restaurant, I would have preferred something a little nicer. Then we headed to Christkindlmarket at Daley Plaza.

This was actually my first visiting the Christkindlmarket. Even when I worked downtown, I never found the time to go take a look. They have a huge Christmas tree, and lots of little shops that have all kinds of gifts, yummy chocolate, and ornaments. I was hoping to have the spiced wine, but it was so cold I didn't feel like it anymore - I wanted to make a run for our car in the parking garage.

In all, I found it to be a fun family day. Wished my sister and brother in law could have made it with us, but they had last minute shopping to do also. Maybe next year.

A Good Reason To Drink Your Milk

Ricky sometimes wanders into the bathroom when Mark is taking a shower during the week and talks to his dad while playing with some toys. This is a good time they spend together even if it lasts just 10 minutes. Sometimes when Mark works late, he spends a total of 15 minutes with Ricky in one day because by the time he comes home, Ricky is in bed sleeping. So of course, while he is playing with his toys on the bathroom floor, he may notice his father's private parts.

Mark told me that Ricky said "Daddy, you have a big penis. I have a small penis. I want a big penis. I should drink my milk!!!" Needless to say, I wrote this in his baby book just so I remember to tell him about it when he's a grown man.

Baking Myself to Death

For the last week, I have been baking baking baking! I do enjoy it though - and since I was crazy and decided to give 14 people/families baked goods for Christmas, I have been a non-stop baking machine. I have to bake right up until Christmas Eve. I am screwed.

Crushed By My Childhood Sweetheart: Nick Rhodes

Last Friday, my cousin was able to get me some Duran Duran tickets. Since my husband was at his holiday party for work, I was able to beg my mother to babysit Rick, I went with my cousin to the show.

For those who know me, I have been a fan since grammar school - listening to my big sister's vinyl records with her back in 1984. I loved their music and I loved them - despite all the fluffy hair and make-up, I thought they were hot (well except for Andy -sorry man). My favorite guy was Nick Rhodes - the keyboardist. I thought he was handsome, liked his disposition and bookish ways.

I last saw them a few years back when they played at the House of Blues and I was able to squish my way up to the very front with my husband and only had 1 person standing in front of me. It was my childhood dream come true. It was an amazing show.

This show was good, but nothing prepared me for what I witnessed:

At the end of the show, when the guys came to the front of the stage to take a bow, a girl in the front row handed Nick Rhodes a bouquet of flowers. He seemed to take them reluctantly, and walked off the stage holding them downwards (as opposed to upwards- as you would carry a bouquet you actually cared about) and then he threw them like a piece of garbage across the stage into the back behind the curtains. He didn't even wait til he was out of sight to trash them!! I gasped.

This kind of tainted my larger-than-life view of him all these years. That was really rude to do and I felt so bad for that girl. I suppose I never tried to get backstage passes or tickets to meet & greet because I didn't want my perfect view of them to be tarnished in any way.

This doesn't mean I think he sucks - I guess he is human and has the ability to be a rude jackass just like the rest of us. I guess I just expected more.

Whispers

When I started my part-time job at the library in April, Mark and I were very nervous about how Ricky was going to handle not having mommy or daddy around for hours at a time. To our surprise and delight, it seemed that Ricky adjusted very well. No crying when we left, nothing. He was happy as a clam to have the attention of whoever was watching him that day - be it my mom, my aunt, or my cousin.

For the last few weeks, things have changed. Now Ricky cries and latches onto my leg whenever I leave for work and I can hear him as I lock the door saying, "I want my mommy! I want my mommy!" It really breaks my heart.

Besides the crying, he has started answering back and telling his babysitters really awful things. Here are some examples:

1. Ricky tells my mom, "Come here Grandma - I have a secret." So my mother leans over and says, "What is it?" Cupping his hand, Ricky whispers in my mother's ear, "Get out of my house!"

2. Ricky says to my aunt, "Come here, I have a secret." My aunt leans over and says, "What?" and Ricky cups his hand and whispers in my aunt's ear, "Go to your car and go home!"

3. My cousin is sitting in a chair and Ricky (of course) wants to sit in that very same chair. I tell him to stop pushing her and he sighs very loudly and says, "UGH - I cannot move this BIG ROCK!!!"

Although quite funny, it is really bad. He shouldn't be telling his sitters to go home and answering back. Like everything else with him, I am hoping this is just a phase that will last for a few months and change. Until then, I guess he will just have to suffer through all the time-outs!

How Big is My Stocking?

Today a Twitter friend asked "What gift that doesn't come in a package would you wish you received this holiday season?" And I thought, a baby. Of course.

I looked for a pic of a baby in a stocking and saw this cute one. If only Santa could put a baby in my stocking! If my stocking were hung by a fireplace though, that would be kind of dangerous!

My History With Santa

As a child I always had magical thoughts of Santa up until one Christmas Eve when I was 5 years old. That year I was in kindergarten and was exposed to all kinds of germs, so I ended up having chicken pox over Christmas.

My parents and sister all went to midnight mass with our other family members - leaving me at home in bed with my Grandma to care for me. I asked my older sister how the heck Santa would be able to leave us toys if we lived in a Chicago bunglalow and did not have a chimney? Who was going to open up the gate for Santa and let him in the house? Did Grandma know that she needed to do that? I couldn't sleep because I was so concerned.

Since we did not have a chimney at that house, we put our stockings around our bedroom door knobs. So my stocking was hung at my door knob. I saw my Grandma coming up to my door and I pretended to be sleeping and I saw her load up my stocking while she was standing there looking at me the entire time. My adrenaline was pumping - where was Santa? I didn't hear the doorbell ring!!

The following morning, when my sister and I were looking at what was in our stockings, I confided to my sister what I had seen. In a feat so impressive for a then fourth grader, she explained to me that Santa was so fat that he got stuck at the gate - so he had to give Grandma all our presents for our stockings. Looking back now, she was pretty smart - and did not require any prompting for lying from our parents. She came up with all that on her own on her feet. Not bad!

But I knew she was full of crap. I continued to pretend to believe in the big S man to keep getting my stockings filled every year til my parents figured out that I knew better.

She is also the one who told me about the Stork and made up my fake adoption papers in later years. But those topics are for later.

Anyway, now that Ricky is 2 and a half years old, we always warn him to be good because Santa is watching, etc. Our house is your typical Chicago-style raised ranch house with no chimney - so we keep our stockings on our door knobs. There is no other place for them. Ricky is pretty smart and I am afraid he might catch us filling his stocking. He's so little that we would like to keep the Santa thing going as long as we can.

I can't wait til we move next year - to a house that has a chimney. Then Santa will have no problems.