gothamwingard: Christmas Wrap (up)

Well, it’s a wrap. Christmas has come and gone. And 2013 is nearly done too. What a year it’s been. To say it’s been busy would be an understatement. But we made it across the finish line.

Christmas was really special for us this year, and it was a wonderful reward after a year in which our family was apart a good deal of the time. I was traveling constantly for the first half of the year, including a two-month period when I traveled nearly every week. Ken was filming in Los Angeles for two months during the summer and I think we didn’t see each other for almost six weeks. He was also away from Cornelia for a month during the summer and then we were both away from her for a month while we were India in September. Our travel continued even after we brought Margot and Flynn home at the end of September. And all of that on top of just the daily rush. So, although we missed having grandparents, aunts and uncles with us for Christmas, five consecutive days as a family of five in the same place and without work was really memorable.

On Christmas Eve day we all took the train downtown to find Santa. Coco wanted a new whiffle ball and needed to tell Santa. A dog chewed her ball in the country and she needed a new one. So when Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas she told him right away: “a ball.” Then he asked her if she wanted anything else. “A bat for Daddy,” she said.

On Christmas Eve we prepared for Santa’s arrival. We baked cookies and put them out with a cup of milk for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer. Santa must have enjoyed them because they were gone the next morning when Coco came downstairs. The carrots too.

We also coined a new term on Christmas Eve this year. Early in the day Coco spotted a carton of eggnog in the fridge. "I want some leche! I want some leche!" she demanded. I told her that it was special leche and we had to save it for later for the party. So that night when the guests for dinner arrived and she wanted something to drink, Coco asked for "party leche" and that become our term for eggnog this year.

Coco’s Christmas morning was everything it should be for a two-and-a-half year old. She found all the presents Santa left for her and it was quite a bounty – a piggy bank, a ferry boat with cars, a tea party set, a box of crayons, markers and other art supplies, ballerina slippers, a tool box, a Play Mobil pirate ship (assembly required!) and of course a bag of white whiffle balls. Because Coco's only two-and-a-half she played with each toy as she opened it – and we had to remind her that there were more to open. In fact, we didn’t finish opening presents on Christmas Day and had to finish up the following day.

Many thanks to the family and friends who sent gifts for all three kids. They were all very much appreciated.

The holidays were also filled with friends popping in or coming over for dinner. Some friends we had not seen for six months or more. On Saturday Ken and I attended Chip Grant and John Moore's wedding which was a beautiful church service. (Maybe it made up for missing midnight mass on Christmas Eve.) We wrapped up the holiday weekend with a family trip to the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park to see the reindeer, the penguins and all the fish in the aquarium.

Happy New Year to everyone!